Oli Bott, Markus Stockhausen, Oliver Potratz, Eric Schaefer - Content-Blue (2023) [Hi-Res]

The path as a goal - The story of the recording "Content" by Roman Rhode

The seven tracks are snapshots. Oli Bott simply calls them "content". In both senses of the word. For the recordings reflect both the quartet's joy of playing and the content: compositions reduced to the essentials that offer an astonishing amount of room for interaction and improvisation. In them, Bott, a cross-genre musician, composer and arranger, conveys his own vision of jazz: as freedom for personal development. "Nothing was rehearsed, nothing counted on," Bott says. "We had no idea how it would start and how it would end, when the theme would come, who would improvise and when."

The basis of the session were some miniatures Bott had written beforehand: two-liners that can be opened up for improvisation, allow variations and tell stories. Bott had initially only invited the musicians for the project to a non-binding, free rehearsal. Although they knew and appreciated each other, they had not yet played together in this constellation. But during the hours in the rehearsal room, everyone revealed an irrepressible desire to make music together - just after the lockdown was lifted in early summer 2021.

The four musicians themselves were surprised by the spontaneous session, during which - under the supervision of sound engineer Guy Sternberg - only a demo tape was made. A single take was enough until Markus Stockhausen happily stated during a break: "A real album is being created here!" All the pieces on it are inspired not only by individual imagination and creativity, but equally by the enormous ability to listen to each other in order to produce an exciting dialogue. "In this form," says Oli Bott, "I could not have arranged it at all." For him, this is ultimately the essence of jazz: celebrating the impulsive, unrepeatable moments of a session. With the seven "Contents", the rehearsal is therefore already the result. Why spend three days tweaking a single take? Less can sometimes be much more.

Markus Stockhausen - trumpet
Oli Bott - vibraphone
Oliver Potratz - bass
Eric Schaefer – drums