Susanne Abbuehl

Pianist, singer, composer

Susanne Abbuehl blends modern poetry, original lyrics, chamber jazz elements, and classical music influences to create a music that is highly literate and hypnotic. For example, her debut album, April, features her musical settings for poems by Modernist writer e. e. cummings and original lyrics written for musical compositions by Carla Bley. Her second album, Compass, features lyrics adapted from poems by William Carlos Williams and James Joyce, in addition to original lyrics written for musical pieces composed by Sun Ra and Chick Corea. Abbuehl performs these lyrics in a quiet alto voice, which is accompanied by understated piano playing and a small combo of players, including clarinetist Christoph May and pianist Wolfert Bederode.

Abbuehl studied at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where she received a master of music degree in 1998. In an e-mail interview she stated that her musical influences as a child were formed "through my parents’ musical choices—(they listened to classical and jazz)—Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Purcell, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington." In her teen years, her interests veered toward pop and jazz. "During my year in Los Angeles at age 17," she recalled, "I got to know the American Songbook, composers like Gershwin, Berlin, Dietz/ Schwartz, etc., and started to sing standards. I had studied the harpsichord before that, and then switched to piano and accompanied myself. I saw Miles Davis perform live in L.A. and that left a deep impression." As an adult, her musical influences expanded to include Middle Eastern and Indian singers, in addition to modern composers. "During my studies at the Royal Conservatory, I was lucky enough to be able to study with my favorite jazz singer, Jeanne Lee," she explained. "At the school, I studied both jazz and classical voice. As far as instrumentation and setting goes, classical music has influenced me more than jazz. I love Stravinsky, Wolf, Monteverdi, Berio. Within jazz, main influences are instrumentalists: Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley, Miles Davis, Don Cherry. As far as vocalists go, my favorite ones are classical Indian singers Rashid Khan and Prabha Atre (my teacher) and Lebanese singer Fairuz."

Debut Album

Abbuehl's debut recording, April, was recorded and released by the prestigious ECM label, run by German producer Manfred Eicher. "Manfred heard a radio recording I did," was how Abbuehl explained her coming to the attention of ECM. "Much of the music I love is on that label, and there is no other label with a life span of over thirty years for this kind of music." Working with Eicher was a learning experience for Abbuehl. "Manfred's quality as a producer is that he is able to break down your comfort zone and then lets you sing closer to what you really want to sing than you could have done on your own."

April featured original lyrics written for musical compositions by Carla Bley, and musical settings she composed for the poetry of e.e. Cummings. She selected the specific titles of Cummings based on her "immediate attraction to certain poems that had a song-like quality already. I love his improvisational skills with language, they way he invents new words, works with rhythm and sound." As for Bley's music, she stated, "I mainly love her early pieces: small draft-like compositions with a very strong core. I heard them being performed by Paul Bley, Jimmy Giuffre and others. As Carla once put it very accurately: great music is simple and complex at the same time. This goes for these compositions."

Abbuehl's memories of recording the album were generally positive. "I was happy to have recorded with the musicians that I had worked with for a very long time. I met Wolfert [Brederode, piano] and Christof [May, clarinet] during my first year at the Conservatory, and we have collaborated ever since. I was exhausted right after the recording, and only heard the music some months later, during the mixing, which was great. To me, the album is one moment in time, and there's nothing I'd do differently."

Compass

For her second album, Abbuehl once again employed the same musician lineup, which she believed helped define her distinctive style. "Through a very long collaboration, we have created a certain sound with the group. Christof studied both jazz saxophone and classical clarinet, which I think is very important to his playing. Wolfert also studied classical as well, and has a very broad range of musical influences. Lucas [Niggli, drums and percussion] comes from contemporary classical music as well as from rock and jazz. In their own groups, they play different music than with me. I like the process of creating common ground, coming from different places. It would be boring to play with people who all want to go in the same direction."

Compass featured arrangements of several Luciano Berio-composed folk songs. "The Folk Songs cycle is simply one of my favorite song cycles," she commented. "I search in my own work for a folk-like quality, maybe you could describe it with words as ‘unmannered,’ or ‘natural'—but it doesn't quite describe it. His setting of these songs is so wonderful, and I wanted to see what a change of instrumentation as well as adding some improvisational spots would do." She elaborated similarly on the rationale for her selection of Sun Ra and Chick Corea music as settings for her own lyrical compositions: "I loved ‘A Call for All Demons’ from the start, heard several interpretations by Sun Ra of the tune. Here, it's the drive, the roughness, the mystery of the theme, the abstract blues, that draw me to it." As for Corea, she stated that she "always loved his Children's Songs. Before releasing our recording of this song with words, I wanted to have his blessing to do so, so I was happy when he wrote to me that he loved the interpretation and thought that the words add a new dimension to the song."

Abbuehl's previous involvement with other groups and recording efforts has included collaborations with Jeanne Lee, French pianist Stéphan Oliva, and compositions for film and theater. When asked if she has other literary efforts besides the lyrics written for albums, she responded: "Not really. My profession is singing and composition. I love poetry, and I also love to write words for music, but without a musical context I'd find it hard to write." The chief poetic influences on her lyric writing include Cummings, but she said she has other affinities as well: "I love poets like Robert Creeley, some things by Robert Lay, Gertrude Stein, William Carlos Williams, and Chinese and Japanese poetry." Her appreciation for these writers is based on her own reading of their poetry, and she confessed, "I never read literary criticism of their works, only the works themselves."

For the Record …

Born July 30, 1970, in Bern, Switzerland. Released debut album, April, 2001; released second album, Compass, 2006. Education: Royal Conservatory of The Hague, Master of Music degree, 1998.

Addresses: E-mail—SusanneAbbuehl@aol.com; Website—Susanne Abbuehl Official Website: www.susanneabbuehl.com. Record company: ECM Records, 825 Eighth Ave., 19th Fl., New York, NY 10019, phone: 212-333-1016, fax: 212-445-3509.

Selected discography

April, ECM, 2001.

Compass, ECM, 2006.

Sources

Online

Susanne Abbuehl Official Website,http://www.susanneabbuehl.com (September 14, 2007).

Additional information for this profile was obtained from an interview conducted with Susanne Abbuehl on September 14, 2007.

—Bruce Edward Walker