Stephanie Lottermoser’s brilliant and highly anticipated new album Hamburg, her follow-up project to This Time, which was number two in the German jazz charts in 2018 and which was characterised by Jazzthing, as containing feather-light songs (…) with a surprising level of thoughtfulness, could certainly be included in this group but for some decisive differences which set Hamburg apart from the above mentioned recordings: the autobiographical elements in the storyline and the musician’s thoughts on important social topics of our time, which had a determining influence on the structure of the songs. Hamburg – the album – does not only focus on the city itself but lets the eye wander further away.
The result is an exceptionally entertaining album, agreeably close to the live sound of the band, intertwining elements of funk, jazz, pop and soul splendidly and of a quality rarely to be found on national productions. A world away from any clinically-academic jazz arithmetic.
With Hamburg and together with guitarist Lars Cölln (Flo Mega, Malia, Max Mutzke, Wolfgang Niedecken), percussionist Felix Lehrmann (Sarah Connor, Nils Wülker, China Moses, Randy Brecker), bassist Thomas Stieger (Sarah Connor, Klaus Doldinger, Wolfgang Haffner, Nils Landgren) and keyboarder Till Sahm (Cosmo Klein & The Phunkguerilla, The Marvin Gaye Show, Silbermond), the fantastic musicians who form her working band since two years, Stephanie Lottermoser has certainly arrived at the top class.
