The Next Door is the second album by the quartet of the German pianist Julia Hülsmann, following Not Far From Here from 2019. In between the group toured a great deal, and Hülsmann says their interplay has become more intuitive as a result. The programme is almost entirely original, with pieces by all four members, plus one cover, Sometimes It Snows in April by Prince. Its roots lie in the post-bop and modal jazz of the 1960s, approached with a contemporary ear.
The quartet is Hülsmann's long-standing trio with Marc Muellbauer on double bass and Heinrich Köbberling on drums, extended by tenor saxophonist Uli Kempendorff. The trio made its ECM debut with The End of a Summer in 2008. This album was recorded in March 2022 at Studios La Buissonne in Pernes-les-Fontaines, in the south of France. Gérard de Haro engineered the session and Thomas Herr produced it. Hülsmann wrote five of the twelve tracks, Muellbauer three, Köbberling two and Kempendorff one.
Empty Hands opens on clear piano chords and fills in gradually, while Made Of Wood turns to a modal frame and straight swing. Jetzt Noch Nicht appears twice, first as a brief duet for piano and saxophone, later as a fuller version for the whole band. Muellbauer's Valdemossa, which closes the album, is a bossa nova built on the harmony of Chopin's Prelude in E minor. It is named after the Mallorcan village where Chopin wrote that piece. Köbberling's Lightcap takes its title from the bassist Chris Lightcap, a partner in his trio of the early 1990s. Its sketch-like frame has been compared to the drumming of Paul Motian. Kempendorff's Open Up sets a melody spanning three octaves against a written bass line.
In The Arts Desk, Sebastian Scotney wrote that constant touring lets this band take "clarity, transparency, openness and trust" to astonishing levels. Mike Gates of UK Vibe heard a group moving between 1960s modal customs and post-bop swing, and concluded: "This quartet just seems to grow in stature with each recording it makes." London Jazz News praised the Prince cover for bringing out the song's melody and groove, and found that the quartet works as naturally as the trio did before it.
This is the CD edition, ECM 2759, released on 26 August 2022.
