This was in many ways a homecoming gig for Shuteen Erdenebaatar. The young pianist moved from Mongolia to Munich to study jazz six years ago, and on evidence of the packed room at Unterfahrt, the city’s prestigious jazz club, she and her quartet clearly have a big fan base in the Bavarian capital (despite recently moving to Berlin). Since their much talked-about showcase at jazzahead! in Bremen last April, they have been on steep upward trajectory of gigs, festivals and acclaim.
It certainly felt like the hottest ticket in town, with not a spare inch to move in the sold-out venue, which was also live-streaming the concert. Joining her onstage were her regular sidekicks, double bass player Nils Kugelmann, alto sax and recorder player Jakob Manz, and, making his debut with them, drummer Amir Bresler.
They kicked off with ‘In a Time Warp’, the opening track on the band’s debut album Rising Sun which came out in 2023 on the American label Motéma Music. As the title would suggest, it’s a dreamy opener that set the tone and confirmed why everyone is raving about this pianist and band. Erdenebaatar looked incredibly composed and serene, no theatrics despite the dazzling flurry of notes as she covered the whole length of the keyboard, just giving a hint of a smile halfway through. She exuded a quiet authority over her bandmates who on evidence of the mutual grins were all clearly relishing the occasion.
‘An Answer From a Distant Hill’ is a piece Erdenebaatar wrote when she first moved to Munich while feeling nostalgic for her mountainous Mongolian homeland, until she discovered the proximity of the Bavarian Alps. There’s a distinctly Eastern tone to this track largely due to Manz on recorder who brought a refreshingly different dimension to the melody. There’s no denying that the recorder is often considered the Marmite of the woodwind world but in Manz’s hands, any painful memories of school recorder lessons rapidly vanished to be replaced with a sense of marvel at the sound Manz conjured up.
Next up ‘Page #7671’ and another lengthy preamble from Erdenebaatar about the reason behind the track name – basically one she wrote for her 21st birthday. Although actually a reminder of just how accomplished a composer she is – and still only in her 20s! The melody has a depth and progression and Erdenebaatar isn’t afraid to let her bandmates have their solo wig-out moments, namely Manz who was back on sax for this one.
The final number before the break is ‘I’m Glad I Got To Know You’, a good old-fashioned love ballad – it seems like the worst secret in town that Erdenebaatar and Kugelmann are a couple. The gorgeous melody started off almost shyly, before breaking out into full-on unadulterated emotion, inciting broad smiles all round and a definite sense that these musicians clearly relish playing together.
The second set opened with the title-track of the album, ‘Rising Sun’. It’s a cracking tune and one, Erdenebaatar explained, was inspired by a traditional Mongolian song. Rising Sun is actually the first of a trilogy and the second release will be Erdenebaatar and Kugelmann’s duo album to be released in September and then there will be an orchestral album called Beyond the Moon.
The quartet then launched into a brand new number, one that as yet has no name and Erdenebaatar admitted it’s the first time they’ve played it live together. It’s another one with Manz on recorder and it trotted along at quite a pace. It also provided an opportunity for Bresler to have his moment in the spotlight and he really embraced it and let rip. Considering he had only met with the band a few weeks ago, Bresler completely nailed it: the perfect foil to the other three players, never too bombastic, but really blew everyone away during his solo that deservedly got lengthy applause.
Next a beautiful meditative duet called ‘Maybe The Clouds’, written by Kugelmann for their forthcoming duo release. There was something very luminescent and Satie Gymnopédies-like about this, with Erdenebaatar’s gorgeously delicate piano playing underpinned by Kugelmann’s commanding bass. Bresler and Manz then returned to the stage for another new one, ‘Do You See The Stars I See?’ a very catchy number that got heads nodding and feet tapping. The final song in the set was preceded by a confession from Erdenebaatar that she had always wanted to be a pop singer or a sax player. So unsurprisingly perhaps ‘Dreams Reborn’ was a very poppy, bordering on cheesy number, not much to my liking, but thankfully that was quickly forgiven and forgotten with their encore, ‘In Praise of Light’ where Manz gave another splendid performance on the recorder. Lasting impressions were just how accomplished all these young players are – no surprise then that they received the ‘Ensemble of the Year’ accolade at the 2024 German Jazz Awards.
The German Süddeutsche Zeitung has nicknamed Erdenebaatar ‘das Wunderkind aus der Steppe’ and it’s safe to say that she and her quartet are going to be making waves for the foreseeable future, given this splendid performance.
Photo credit Jo Frost
