Podcast

Descent is the follow-up EP to my record Ascent and features the same line up: my trio buddies Robert Landfermann & Jonas Burgwinkel, guitarist Nelson Veras and me. Four previously unreleased tracks from the initial recording session. In this audio commentary I talk about the composition & recording process behind this music.

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I got into Jakob Bro‘s music through my friend Moritz Baumgärtner. He showed he a couple of tracks sometime in 2009 and I immediately fell in love with the sounds I heard. “Balladeering”, “Time” and “Pearl River” are the records I’ve listened to the most, but I also love his recent works for ECM with Joey Baron, Thomas Morgan, Palle Mikkelborg and Jon Christensen. But there’s also so many treasures to be found in his earlier works, in his collaboration project BRO/KNAK and his recordings as a sideman with Tomasz Stanko, Paul Motian, Jakob Buchanan, Jonas Westergaard and many more. Furthermore, I’m a big fan of the documentary “Weightless” about the recording of the “Balladeering” album – to see how this music was created is priceless! I secretly wish that a film like this one would exist for all of my favorite records…

In this conversation we talk about how Jakob came to fulfill his lifelong dream to play in Paul Motian’s group, his relationship with Thomas Morgan, composing, practicing, putting together a band, finding a personal approach to the guitar and much more.

Being a longtime admirer of Jakob Bro, it was really great for me to get to talk to him. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

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Billy Hart. What can I say? This guy has given us all so much through his music, his playing, his energy and wisdom. It would take forever to list all my favorite recordings of him, so I’ll spare you that.

In 2019 my dream came true and I got to work with him in the studio. Let me tell you, I have never experienced anything like it before — feeling his beat up close is otherworldly! During the breaks I kept asking him questions and he took his time answering all of them in great detail. I was struck by his humility and honesty.

We kept in touch after that and also talked about doing an interview. One day in September of 2020 I called him up to ask him if we could schedule a date for it. His reply was: “Well, how about NOW?” That wasn’t exactly what I had expected, but I told him I needed to bring my kids to bed and then I would call him. Normally, when I’m about to interview somebody, I spend days listening to that artist exclusively. Reading interviews & books, watching videos, going back to my favorite albums and also discovering new ones – all that is part of my process. Well, this time was different. But I had to remind myself that I have been preparing for this interview for all my life. I still remember those moments when my father played “Crossings” for me for the first time…

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