Safe Place

Julian & Roman Wasserfuhr - Safe Place

CD / Vinyl / digital

Julian Wasserfuhr trumpet & flugelhorn
Roman Wasserfuhr piano, bass & drums (#10)
Jörg Brinkmann cello
Paul Heller saxophone (#6 & #7)

‘Safe Place’ was originally just one song, but Roman and I soon realised that it needed to be the title of the whole album. That was because it describes so well the feeling and the intention behind the music,’ says trumpeter Julian Wasserfuhr. The album “Safe Place” is a collection of music which gives you a feeling of being thoroughly at home. ‘Home’ here doesn’t mean so much a specific location, but rather an idea of familiarity, warmth, self-reflection. And the album – which also marks 20 years on the ACT label for the brothers Julian and Roman Wasserfuhr – offers an opportunity to reflect on what is essential: clear melodies, atmospheric musical images painted in warm colours, and an interplay between the players which has not just remarkable precision but also ineffable lightness.

For the Wasserfuhr brothers, the concept of ‘home’ also represents their connections with people who are significant to them. First and foremost, naturally, they have their own relationship, inseparable in life as in music. But there are also firm musical friendships such as the one with cellist Jörg Brink-mann, with whom they recorded their previous album ‘Relaxin’ in Ireland’. Brinkmann clicked immediately with the ‘smallest form of a band’, as Julian and Roman call their duo. It was the beginning of a long collaboration, and the experiences which they shared, such as a tour of Central America, brought them even closer together. It therefore made sense once again to add the rich colours of the cello, as a means to broaden the possibilities of their combined tonal palette. In addition to cellist Jörg Brinkmann, another guest is added to the trio for two tracks: saxophonist Paul Heller. ‘Paul just has a fascinating way of playing,’ says Roman. ‘Working with him was actually an experiment at first, since our music is more like chamber music and he tends to play in larger ensembles. But especially in combination with Jörg, it was something wonderful.’

Even if ‘Safe Place’ is intended to be understood as an abstract idea, this music has also clearly not been immune to events affecting the world in the past few years. ‘Of course that plays a role,’ says Julian Wasserfuhr. ‘The way people treat and communicate with each other has always been very important to us in the past. But it is precisely the current time, with its conflicts and contradictions, that makes us think – about the world, but also about ourselves.’ And so ‘Safe Place’ has become an extremely personal and emotional album. It seems as if the great tragedies and triumphs of the world are reflected for Julian and Roman Wasserfuhr on a small and intimate scale: in the gentle, warm breeze, ‘Vent Chaud’, with which the record begins, in the dreamlike ‘Dodo’, based on the French term ‘faire dodo’ – a lovingly child-like way of saying ‘going to sleep‘. ‘Luzifer’ describes Julian's concern for his ailing cat, while “El Caballo Valiente” tells of the will to live and the courage to face life of a fallen horse. “Solitude”, on the other hand, portrays the isolation and loneliness of the Corona pandemic. Roman says of the only cover on the album, Sting's “Fields of Gold”: ’We've covered Sting's music before. And ‘Fields of Gold’ in particular is just a wonderful song, describing such a beautiful place that it is also a ‘safe place’ for us‘.

The last two tracks “Safe Place” and “Perfect Tiny Moment”, once again reflect the album’s essence: ‘Safe Place’ was initially created on the guitar, even though I can't play the guitar at all,’ says Julian. ‘I went to Roman with this initial idea, and he then developed it.‘ The two of them then played the song last year with the WDR Big Band, and then also gave it a try out with Jörg Brinkmann in a small line-up. “To this day, it remains the song from the record that we love to play on stage the most. In other words it's the absolute ”safe place’ for all three of us.’ The minimalist ‘Perfect Tiny Moment’ also expresses exactly that: the one small moment when all seems perfect, when everything simply is – and absolutely feels – just right.