Shuteen Erdenebaatar & Nils Kugelmann: Quiet Excitement for the Unknown

Under The Same Stars (Motéma Music, 2025) is the second in a trilogy from pianist Shuteen Erdenebaatar, taking inspiration from sun, moon and stars mythology of her Mongolian homeland. The album follows her 2023 quartet debut Rising Sun (also on Motéma) to evoke the vitality, positivity and optimism—a fitting choice for the album's bright sonic landscape. Stars— representing hope, dreams and destiny— inspired this duo recording with the German contra-alto clarinet and bassist, Nils Kugelmann. The mystery and emotional depth of the moon will provide the thematic core for volume 3, Erdenebaatar's 21-piece chamber jazz orchestra album, coming in 2026.

Delicacy meets dissonance from the beginning of "Mirror Under Water," with a barbed improvisation from Kugelmann over roiling piano arpeggios. A realization gradually dawns—"Maybe this time it is about learning to accept imperfection," offers Erdenebaatar. Simultaneously furtive and encompassing, fragmentary melodies and wordless whispers come and go, but it is the piano that defines the track's headlong motion somehow even when repeating a pattern.

Jagged, insistent jazz piano and bass accompaniment buoyed by Jakob Manz on alto recorder, often matching the piano line with a syllable on every note, beckons on "Whispers Beyond Time." Lulled by the flutter of Kugelmann's clarinet on "Mystery of the Woods," Erdenebaatar seems to step outside of the labyrinth for a breath of fresh air. The track's misty atmosphere reduces to just her airy washes of keyboard. On "What Will Remain," the tempo slows with muffled ostinato, ghostly creaks and sudden surges from Dalaijargal Daansuren on the morin khuur, Mongolia's iconic horsehead fiddle, leaving only a more desolate soundscape after it fades. They take the approach-avoid-approach on "Train to the Past," as the chords and melody rise, pull back but then climb again, hesitant but supported by the depth of the clarinet.

Under the Same Stars brings together two remarkable young artists whose musical connection is both intuitive and profound. "From the moment we paired the piano with the contra-alto clarinet, something clicked. It felt intimate, unexpected, and deeply alive," said Erdenebaatar. Indeed, their natural chemistry, honed through years of collaboration, is a wonder to behold, the warm, sonorous tones of the contra-alto clarinet entwined with Erdenbaatar's evocative piano lines, reaching toward the same stars that brought the two together as students in Munich in 2019, where he began playing bass with her, and where she serendipitously discovered his hidden talents as a clarinetist. The idea for this duo was born.

Hushed among the instrumental mist, this album celebrates this meeting of collaboration and friendship, and acts as a more accurate representation of how the duo wants to truly be seen moving forward, ebbing between traditional jazz and classical chamber music. Erdenebaatar explains that they "searched for existing repertoire that gave voice to the contra-alto clarinet in a chamber music setting" but came up empty. "That absence became our inspiration," so they began composing.

The album ends on the invigorating "The Road Ahead," and that's exactly how her piano moves the piece along. Erdenebaatar has a way of lingering on a note, prevaricating around it, and leaving it before she satisfies it, while Kugelmann inserts lingering trills that disappear before convincing that they were ever really there. The duo pull off this unique pairing of instruments with Kugelmann complimenting Erdenebaatar as if she had just cooked a delicious meal, setting the table for him to savor.

Inside the Songs

Mirror Under Water (Shuteen Erdenebaatar)

For me, this piece is a meditation on presence—on being fully aware of life's fragile, fleeting beauty. It's about learning to accept imperfection, to let things simply be, and to cherish the quiet moments that so easily pass unnoticed.

Train to the Past (Nils Kugelmann)

I wrote this piece out of a quiet nostalgia—that bittersweet feeling of watching old memories drift by like scenery outside a train window. It holds both warmth and melancholy, a gentle reminder that no matter how far we travel back, the true destination is always the present moment.

Tiny Wonders (Nils Kugelmann)

"Tiny Wonders" celebrates the small, beautiful things that make life feel almost too good to be true. It's about those simple moments that bring genuine happiness—a morning coffee, time spent with a loved one, or a stuffed animal that stays for life.

Mystery of the Woods (Shuteen Erdenebaatar)

I've always found peace in nature, especially in the stillness of the forest. This piece grew from that quiet space—a sanctuary where time slows, nothing feels urgent and clarity begins to surface. It's not about escaping the world, but about arriving fully within it.

Whispers Beyond Time (Shuteen Erdenebaatar)

This was the first piece I wrote for our duo, and it still feels very close to me. Featuring our dear friend and collaborator Jakob Manz on alto recorder, it feels like a story from another era—something ancient yet familiar, like wisdom gently passed down through generations.

Stars Among Us (Shuteen Erdenebaatar)

Stars may seem distant, but they are part of us, and the brilliance we often seek outside is already within, waiting to be discovered. This piece is about that inner spark—how each of us carries something luminous, even when we forget it at times.

What Will Remain (Nils Kugelmann)

This piece reflects on what truly lasts when everything else fades. With the haunting sound of the morin khuur, played by Dalaijargal Daansuren, it captures both the ache of transience and the quiet beauty of what endures: a melody, a memory, a shared moment.

Desert Dream (Shuteen Erdenebaatar)

This one is deeply personal. My father grew up in the Gobi Desert, but I was raised in Ulaanbaatar, and for 26 years the desert existed only as a distant dream. When I finally stood there in October 2024, surrounded by its vastness and silence, I felt a profound sense of home and belonging.

Maybe the Clouds (Nils Kugelmann)

Shortly after I finished composing it, Shuteen noticed beautiful clouds drifting past the window, and I realized they must have unconsciously influenced the piece while I was composing. Now, when you listen to the piece, that "maybe" becomes a certainty.

Road Ahead (Shuteen Erdenebaatar)

We wanted to close the album with a feeling of openness and joy—not as an ending, but as a new beginning. "Road Ahead" is about moving forward with curiosity and open arms—trusting the path, embracing change, and carrying a quiet excitement for the unknown. 

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