How is it that I even have a copy of Space Night 10? Italian native, Berlin-based pianist Giacomo Aula has made a pilgrimage to Minnesota over the past two summers, largely in order to play and tour with local saxophonist Doug Little. During his last visit, I had a chance to talk with Aula about his music and recordings. He mentioned several projects including Space Night, on which he is a guest artist. Curious to expand my limited experience with European jazz, I suggested a review for Jazz Police. Fortunately Giacomo was able to provide me with a copy of Space Night. While there is no American distributor at this time, the recording is available through several European online outlets (see below). And hopefully, as more Americans encounter this soaring celestial music, a new market will be established. This only bodes well for the future of jazz on both sides of the Atlantic, not only so that we all can expand our appreciation of the diversity of the genre but also to help promote jazz as a more global music. Space Night goes a long way toward furthering this perspective.

Nils Wülker

Not yet 30, Bonn native Nils Wülker studied classical piano and trumpet until he found his jazz inspiration in the British group US3’s version of Herbie Hancock’s “Canteloupe Island.” Soon he was pursuing jazz trumpet studies with great German players as well as American Bobby Shew. He further studied at the Hanns Eisler College of Music in Berlin and was a member of Germany’s Federal Youth Jazz Orchestra. Today he leads his own ensembles and is busy with composing, recording, and radio projects. Among diverse influences, Wülker cites not only Miles Davis, Woody Shaw, and Maria Schneider, but also pop artists such as Erykah Badu, Me´Shell Ndegéocello, and Sting. Wülker will be releasing a new recording in 2006, My Game.

The Production of Space Night 10 (Sony BMG)

The CD cover indicates this is “Volume 10.” In Germany, “Space Night” is a popular, long-running television series, particularly attracting a young audience. Not a scientific program, rather it presents stories and pictures of real space adventures, sometimes featuring ex-astronauts and others from the European Space Agency, NASA, etc. New music is composed for each edition of the series. For Volume 10 they wanted to involve some performing musicians and commissioned German trumpeter/ composer Nils Wülker to write the new music for the “Space Night” program. Rather than a video soundtrack, a more personal jazz score was desired. The core group of musicians include Wulker’s own quintet: Jan von Klevitz on alto and soprano sax; Rene Decker on tenor sax; Lars Duppler on piano and Fender Rhodes; and Dietmar Fuhr on bass. Guest soloists, including guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, drummer Jochen Rückert, and pianist Giacomo Aula, were invited to expand the musical palette.

This project was recorded in multiple sessions in 2003, and produced by German broadcasting company Bayerischer Rundfunk. Sony BMG joined on to produce and distribute the CD (and subsequent DVD) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Notes Aula, “The project has really a specific personality. We had a wider live audience than jazz listeners only, especially when we performed in unusual venues like space museums or planetariums.”

Space Night: The Music

Aurally, Space Night reflects how I imagine outer space from a human perspective—filled with wonder, peace, and passing stars. In fact the individual tracks are named after specific stars and constellations (“Prospero,” “Swan Nebula”). The CD as a whole plays as a multi-segmented suite, like an intergalactic Kind of Blue, particularly with the bookend tracks “Abell 70”/”Abell 72” (and midpoint interlude, “Abell 9”). “Abell 70” launches the recording, Lars Deppler’s Fender Rhodes creating a celestial backdrop for Wülker’s Milesian horns. The meandering melody floats over subtle percussion and drifting celestial bodies. Klewitz creates similar floating, singing figures on alto, and the tune fades out with Duppler’s electronic bubbles vaporizing above Wülker’s muted trumpet. The overall feel is EST with brass. “Abel 9” is subtitled “Interlude,” a brief three-minute fantasy featuring a bass clarinet/piano duet among guests Frank Lauber and Aula, with faint bass and percussion. Lauber switches to alto over Aula’s lyrical counterpoint. “Abell 72” closes the recording. A muted trumpet returns to the opening track theme, bringing the suite full circle, with the added element of Muthspiel’s guitar and Jens Dohle rather than Ruckert on percussion. The combination of Rhodes and guitar throws this further into the galaxy, with Dohle fragmenting the beat and driving the space module. Overall, the finale has a more upbeat feel than the opening track, less a sense of wonder than of excitement. The “Abell” compositions serve not only as alpha and omega, but as the compositional thread running through the entire work.

But there are many gems in between: On “Thebe,” lush piano and basslines set the stage for Wülker’s mellow flugelhorn to cast out the melody, slowly soaking up the vibes of the ensemble, then passing off to Klewitz on alto. Dohle provides some nice combinations on toms, while Duppler’s piano and Wülker’s horn give it more of an American post bop flavor. Rhodes and flugelhorn join forces on “Crescent Nebula,” creating a celestial theme answered by Klewitz on soprano. One has to think that a space walk would evoke the same sensations. Simply, this is some of most beautiful horn music in outer or inner space.

At more than 7 minutes, “Prospero” is the longest track, a two-way conversation between Wülker (flgh) and Klewitz (as) over a counter melody from Duppler’s piano, firm basslines from Fuhr, and laid-back but energetic percussion from Ruckert. The track picks up energy and swing as it moves along, with some dissonant chords in the closing chorus that give it an edge of excitement. "Metis” begins with a singing voice from the flugelhorn and a simple melodic line. Without sax on this track, Muthspiel’s beautiful guitar lines blends with the Rhodes, while Furh majestically manages the bottom lines; Dohle’s deep drum beats are perfectly placed.

On “Pinwheel Galaxy,” Wülker blows with a harder edge on trumpet in tandem with Klewtiz’s alto, yielding a funkier beat. This track is a showcase for pianist Lars Duppler, who gets the most out of single-line phrases that run and climb and finally weave a safety net for sax and trumpet. Jens Dohle provides the percussive antics that keep it swinging ahead with plenty of well-placed crackle. It all feels like a galactic big band chart. Moving through space, “Hypernova” is aptly titled, reminiscent of some of the funkier work of Kenny Garrett and modern keyboard masters—-of which Duppler proves most worthy. Rene Decker contributes a playful twisting solo on tenor, and the front line collaboration is—-forgive the pun here--stellar.

“Swan Nebula” seems to come from the farther reaches of space. Wülker’s muted trumpet, then Lauber’s alto, sigh over Aula’s gentle keyboard and Fuhr’s graceful bassline, opening the door to a languid trumpet line. Aula’s solo is touched with melancholy, darkly beautiful, the piano then shifting back to a supporting role under Wülker. Aula’s belltones offset the whine of the mute, and the pianist closes with a gentle legato flourish. On the slowly paced “Deep Field,” the flugelhorn moves through the melody as Duppler’s piano counters with a repeated phrase mirrored by the guitar. Muthspiel is featured on this track, creating a celestial tapestry of his own with significant support from the rhythm section. An underlying sense of urgency simmers beneath the surface calm of Wülker’s horn in the final segment, augmented by the strings' riffs as the tune fades. “Andraster” opens at a solemn, hymnal with flugelhorn over piano and bass clarinet. Aula takes over with a more intricate line that spins a brighter tale, as if climbing out of the initial depression. Lauber’s alto picks up the storyline with his own weaving, and Wülker brings it back to its stately starting point.

Space Night, Volume 10 is a rare find on several levels. The heavy reliance on flugelhorn and muted trumpet yields a palette of sound that evokes Miles Davis in the company of Nordic nomads, exploring territory that is at once remote yet accessible, serene yet on the verge of discovery. The musicians are likely unfamiliar to many in the U.S., although Aula already has a following in the Midwest with two recent summer tours.(His Looking Glass Sessions recording is available here, and he is a major contributor to Twin Cities' saxophonist Doug Little’s new release, The Phoenix.) Anyone put off by some of the ruminative European jazz aesthetic will find that Nils Wülker and company offer a sound with more movement without sacrificing lyrical melodicism.

For North Americans looking for Space Night or other information about Nils Wülker, the easiest connection I found was through the Global Electronic Music Marketplace at www.gemm.com (but search "Wuelker" rather than Wülker. It seems modern print conventions are replacing the umlaut with “ue”… don’t ask me, like I said, I am monolingual). Other options include both British and German Amazon.com and Bayerisher Rundfunk in Germany at www.br-shop.de and www.br-online.de; www.amazon.de is another reliable source if you can translate the German! We can hope that someday soon, Space Night 10 will have American, if not interstellar, distribution.

“I hope there's some serious space out there for open musicians who want to live in both worlds [American and European jazz], and just play true music as an expression of their inner feeling and not as a binding reflection of other people’s expectations.” –Giacomo Aula

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