Julia Hülsmann is one of the first German women that Manfred Eicher signed for his label ECM. For years she has been giving directional impulses to jazz in Europe and has developed her own evocative piano language, expressed in various formations from duo to octet.

Described by ZEIT as the “lyricist of jazz”, the pianist is known for her various projects with vocalists, but above all for her piano trio that has existed in the same line-up since 2002 and for other instrumental projects through which she has helped shape contemporary jazz in the country .

A commission for the 2018 Bonn Jazz Festival, a new duo with the vibraphonist Christopher Dell was born. According to the Reclam Jazzlexikon, Dell is considered the leading vibraphonist of his generation. He is one of those musicians who move as naturally in the context of free improvisation and new music as in jazz. At the same time he has developed an unmistakable style, playing with a deeply satisfying maturity and personality.

This project opens up a whole new space of timbres and complexity that are seldom found in a duo. The percussive and shimmering sound of the vibraphone blends in an incomparable way with the piano and complements it. A concert in this setting creates an exciting dialogue between two different and yet harmonious musical personalities and improvisation artists, a question and answer game at the highest level.