The Bürgerverein Dottendorf/Gronau grew out of an idea in 2011 of Burghard Mandt and Herbert Kaupert. The aim being development of the Ortszentrum Dottendorf as a local cultural venue and a centre point for local residents. I think it’s fair to say that, as far as the former goes, it has exceeded even Burghard and Max’s expectations. A look at this years calendar will reveal that some of the most vibrant present and rising stars in the jazz world are lining up to get in the door at Dottendorferstrasse 51.
Tonight it’s the turn of singer/pianist Olivia Trummer. Past concerts by Trummer include appearances at the Montréal Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival and Ronnie Scott’s in London. Tonight… Dottendorf!
I’m not surprised to find that it looks like a full house in Dottendorf. The venue has long since ceased to be a ‘Geheim Tip’ for local jazz lovers. Olivia Trummer herself has shared the stage with the likes of Kurt Rosenwinkel, Eric Clapton und Bobby McFerrin. Tonight she also has a very special ‘guest’ musician – her new husband Makar Novikov on contrabass. The two were married in May and their glances back and forth make it clear the romance is still very much in bloom.
There is an old saying that lovers have two hearts that beat as one. In the case of Trummer and Novikov you can take that a stage further – their music also interplays to perfection. Most of tonight’s set was based around a new cd that hasn’t been released yet so apologies in advance about song titles. I remember particularly the visual and musical interplay of ‘When I’m With You’ (Anywhere’?). The quirky lyric “What a strange day if there were no tomorrow” (‘Timeless Fearless Love’?) with dreamlike vocals, and ‘Remember’ with some memorable scat singing. On ‘Close to You’ Novikov took the chance to deliver a beautiful contrabass solo and there was also space for drummer Amir Bresler (from Omer Klein’s band) to show his excellent shuffle-beat qualities.
A wonderfully harmonic concert in what are currently such unharmonic times. As Trummer pointedly noted, It’s a shame the political World cannot reflect the unity of her multi-national band, a musical world where a German pianist, Russian bassist and Israeli drummer make music instead of discord. The lady remains an optimist though, hence the lyric “We’re living in dark times. But there will always be a light, on the horizon”. Beautiful thoughts on a day of beautiful music in Dottendorf.
