In Full View

Personnel: Tom Arthurs (trumpet, flugelhorn); Julia Hülsmann (piano); Marc Muellbauer (double bass); Heinrich Köbberling (drums).
Recording information: Rainbow Studio, Oslo (06/2012).
Photographers: Volker Beushausen; Monika Rokicka .
Pianist Julia Hülsmann's 2013 album, In Full View, is her third for ECM and her first with her quartet. The German-born Hülsmann usually works in a trio setting, but with In Full View she has expanded her sound, collaborating with British trumpeter Tom Arthurs. These are ruminative, long-form pieces that bring to mind the sound of such similarly inclined artists as pianist Keith Jarrett and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler. Hülsmann has a languid, harmonically rich approach to playing the piano that is beautifully offset by Arthurs' own investigative, somewhat plaintive improvisational style. Many of the tracks here, such as "Dunkel," "Richtung Osten," "Forgotten Poetry," and the quartet's fittingly brooding take on Leslie Feist's "The Water," mix classical and folk song-influenced melodies with expansive modal jazz forms that fit nicely into the ECM jazz tradition. ~ Matt Collar