Nils Kugelmann: Stormy Beauty

Anyone can be excused for making the early assumption that the vibrant elegance of Stormy Beauty is the effort of a well-travelled, veteran bassist and his trio. It is not. But it sounds as if it is.

Strikingly concise, persuasive and effective, the young German bassist and composer Nils Kugelmann's debut is an eye-opening and ear- pleasing listen from beginning to end, and then from the beginning to end again. With fellow young interpreters Luca Zambito on piano and drummer Sebastian Wolfgruber, Kugelmann's deceptively intricate, neo-classically tinged pieces stir to life and expand upon the tried and true with a potent volubility most players earn and grow into as years go by.

Kugelmann, recipient of several Promising Young Artist awards across Europe, comes here, if not fully realized (where would future growth and potential come from?) then at the least as a confidently solid player and composer who has chosen his path and will clear the way for listeners to follow. Tracks (the word rings impotent here) such as the fluidly spacial "About the Moment of Beginning," "Symphony for the Rain;" the euphoric "Song for a Golden Blossom," "Wild Leaves Falling;" the charging bop blues of "Finding Your Place," the Phillip Glass styled "Late Change," or the moody episodic title track do not just pop into every twenty something's consciousness. There is a deeper understanding here, a bigger outward-facing vision which Zambito (a winner of the Munich Young Artist Award) and Wolfgruber enthusiastically share and bear witness to. More than a debut, Stormy Beauty sets the stage for three new voices to engage imaginations and, hopefully, enlighten futures.