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Jazz Articles about Gebhard Ullmann
Gebhard Ullmann: Suite Noire
by Budd Kopman
Suite Noire is essentially the last recording of what could be called “early Ullmann," which however, contains some of the seeds that will flower later. Once again partnering with Andreas Willers, multi-reedman Gebhard Ullmann has created an atmospheric and, for the most part, dark work that will surely intrigue. One of the seeds is the first track, “Tapping The Foot, Tapping The Brain," which opens with both melody and accompaniment overdubbed, producing many parts, by Ullmann on ...
Continue ReadingGebhard Ullmann: Per Dee Doo
by Budd Kopman
Musicians are like all of us, in that who they are now is the sum total of their life experience up to that point. For a musician like multi-reedman Gebhard Ullmann, who has worked to create his own musical world, the past is still part of him and hence an album like Per-Dee-Doo is the understandable desire to express the past in the present.The tunes chosen will be familiar to most listeners and come from many different eras. ...
Continue ReadingGebhard Ullmann: Ullmann - Rava - Willers - Lillich - Schauble
by Budd Kopman
On the very fine Ullmann-Rava-Willers-Lillich-Schäuble, reedman Gebhard Ullmann combines his longstanding trio (guitarist Andreas Willers and drummer Nikolas Schäuble) with bassist Martin Lillich and renowned trumpeter Enrico Rava. By the time of this recording, Rava was fifty years old and had been recording for more than twenty years. Despite being a stylistic chameleon, whose playing can range from the romantic to the avant-garde, his sound is immediately recognizable. Thus, he can fit right in with a tight, ...
Continue ReadingGebhard Ullmann: No Age
by Budd Kopman
The musical world that Gebhard Ullmann's No Age inhabits is admittedly quite different from Out To Lunch (Nabel, 1985). While the vibe resides distinctly within what would be called “New Age," the music, playing and production are so well done, and with so much extra spice, that it lands outside that genre and is indeed “No Age." The immediacy of Out To Lunch has been replaced with an electronic sheen which comes predominantly from a synthesizer and ...
Continue ReadingGebhard Ullmann: Out To Lunch
by Budd Kopman
The intense and quite strong Out To Lunch is just about the earliest recording available on which multi-reedman Gebhard Ullmann is the leader, with his discography listing the LP, Playful (Biber, 1985), a duo with guitarist Andreas Willers. That this release almost shares its title with the acclaimed Eric Dolphy album Out To Lunch! (Blue Note, 1964) is an indication of Ullmann's fondness for the album in particular and Dolphy in general. Musically the relationship to the ...
Continue ReadingGebhard Ullmann: Die Blaue Nixe
by Budd Kopman
Die Blaue Nixe is one of those recordings that suspends time, almost daring you to enter its sound world. If you have the courage, or at least the desire, to have intimate contact with in-the-moment music, you'll be amply rewarded by the time spent with these three superb improvisers. Gebhard Ullmann, who plays many reeds, has been concentrating on bass clarinet, tenor and soprano saxophone. For this recording, he assembled a trio featuring pianist Art Lande and ...
Continue ReadingGebhard Ullmann / Chris Dahlgren / Art Lande: Die Blaue Nixe
by Dan McClenaghan
This sounds like music that hangs out in a dark corner of the room, gently beckoning the listener into a different dimension.Multi-reedist Gebhard Ullmann, with over forty CD releases as a leader/co-leader to his name, records with a variety of different ensembles, large and small, but he seems to have a special affinity for the trio format. Ullmann's 2005 Bass x 3 set featured two basses behind some of his deep-toned reeds--bass clarinet and bass flute--with a feeling ...
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