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"Excellent, like discovering new life in the

back garden."   Plan B

"Ohlmeier is an unusually eclectic performer, who seems to push and drive this music forward whenever he’s at the plate."

Jazzwise Magazine ,Duncan Heining

"Lothar Ohlmeier has one of the most attractive tenor sounds you're likely to hear, rich, sonorous and affecting"

gig reviews by Chris Parker/London

Lothar has, over a career of more than 30 years, performed and recorded with a litany of jazz and improvised music’s most respected bandleaders, notably Tobias Klein, Tom Arthurs, Jorrit Dijkstra, Benoit Delbecq, Jim Black, Ingrid Laubrock, Steve Arguelles, Julie Sassoon, Jaap Blonk and Harry Spaarnay amongst many others. Revered for his exceptional control of tone, virtuosic phrasing and mastery of musical settings from contemporary classical music to jazz and free improvisation, Lothar continues to seek out new settings and protagonists to experiment and collaborate with.

Four new releases  in 2024

The Album LEFT SIDE RIGHT is the first of four albums that will be released in spring 2024.

Tobis Klein on bass clarinet / alto saxophone and myself on bass clarinet and tenor saxophone  got some great response in blogs and press.

Left side right is the name of the album by this phenomenal duo, and if you just listen to the excerpts I am showing you here, you will know that two men are going on a musical adventure together, and that you, as a listener, can consider yourself lucky that recordings have been made allowing us to enjoy it now. In short, a sublime record that only gets better the more you listen to it, and that, as we all know by now, is the true mark of true quality.

Holly Moors

 

A CD on which two bass clarinets play a starring role, performed by two musicians who have worked together in various capacities for 30 years, then it might turn out nice? Nice? 'Left side right' is a dyke of an album and a paragon of high class improvisation. 

It is the broad gesture and the bringing to life of tiny details that make free improvisations valuable and interesting. These are plentiful on Left side right. With the knowledge that both musicians never hold back and manage to forge a tight unit as gifted individuals, this album adds value that sticks. Even after many listens.

The bass clarinets are manifestly present because of their sound character. That could hardly be any different. But Lothar Ohlmeier has brought along his tenor saxophone and Tobias Klein his alto saxophone. In doing so, they enlarge the overall sound of the five of their own pieces in an almost delicate way. Not that they thereby give the bass clarinets any rest, but rather that the two saxophones' sonorous humming drums take away some of their impressive efforts in a measured way. To their own credit. Thankfully, makes it all even more beautiful.

RINUS VAN DER HEIJDEN

JAZZ NU

What could be better than a bass clarinet? Two bass clarinets! After two duo CDs with Oguz Büyükberber, Amsterdam-based German Tobias Klein now presents an album with his compatriot Lothar Ohlmeier: 'Left Side Right'. The pair have been hanging out together for over 30 years, including in the revived group Dalgoo. For their first duo album, they recorded five improvisations in Berlin, demonstrating a hefty dose of lyricism and sense of beauty. From the very first notes of 'Effortless sweetening', the listener is drawn into a wonderful world of sound offered by the rich overtones of the two bass clarinets. Klein and Ohlmeier set out their lines thoughtfully, and their virtuosity is particularly evident in their listening behaviour that leads to those brilliant harmonies. However, the pair do not shy away from the shakier sounds either, and the contrast with that unruliness actually accentuates the beauty. After all, only beauty gets boring in the long run. In 'Burning Money', they pick up the saxes in a piece that is more about phrasing, but again, the collective sound is something to enjoy. 'Peptide' uses (fake) air, noise and 'extended techniques', but always with musical adventure in mind. 'Left Side Right' is a varied album that gains even more depth on repeated listens. 

Herman te Loo 

Jazzflits 

When I'm sent a disc where two bass clarinets play the main role, in addition to tenor and alto saxophone, I'm at home. Because the bass clarinet has really become a favourite instrument for yours truly in recent years. Here they start with "Effordless sweetening", where they go quietly and beautifully into a beautiful duo sequence that almost sounds classical. But this doesn't last longer than the first song. In "Burning money" more happens, but not so that they "take off". This is a duo for alto and tenor saxophone, and one immediately thinks of the World Saxophone Quartet. It seems as if the sound here is turned up a bit, the interaction and communication is perfect and the song is creatively and finely resolved. In "Peptide" the bass clarinets are back in place, and we get a slightly lingering and calm piece, where they let the air passing through the instruments become part of the music. A lovely ballad in the modern landscape.

Then we get "Sweet sorrow", which is also a ballad-like piece, where the two bass clarinets almost wrap themselves around each other like a loving couple, before ending with the title track "Left side left", where Klein's alto saxophone enters into a nice conversation with Ohlmeier's bass clarinet. Klein is more "assertive" here, and I feel Ohlmeier defends himself in the many "claims" that come from Klein. But they part as friends, and can pack up their instruments knowing that they have made an outstanding duo disc of musical conversation that fascinates.

Jan Granlie

salt peanuts

CONCERTS

02.05.25  Azolia @ Kult, Braunschweig

21.09.24  Dalgoo @ Studio Jazz, Nürnberg

29.08.24 Julie Sassoon 4tet, Jazzclub, Singen

29.05.24  Inside Colours, Atrain, Berlin

24.03.24  Azolia @ Studio Jazz, Nürnberg

22.03.24 Azolia @  Porgy and Bess Jazzclub, Wien

22.02.24  Inside Colours, Vortex, London

18.02.24  Dalgoo, Amsterdam (NL)

11.02.24 Julie Sassoon 4tet, Jazzkeller69, Industriesalon, Berlin

28.01.24  Inside Colours, Brucknerhaus, Linz

26.01.24  Inside Colours, Magdeburg

20.01.24  Azolia @ Nürnberg

09.12.23 Julie Sassoon 4tet Jazzclub, Villingen

08.12.23 Julie Sassoon 4tet, Cafe Museum, Passau

07.12.23 Julie Sassoon 4tet, Jazzclub Unterfahrt, München 

16.11.23  Azolia @ Bflat, Berlin

10.10.23  Julie Sassoon 4tet, ‘Inside Series’ at Schlot, Berlin

21.07.23  Azolia, Festival, Wien

20.06.23  Rudi Mahall, Olaf Rupp, Rudi Fischerlehner, Lothar Ohlmeier, Galiläakirche, Berlin

 

13.05.23  Inside Colours, Wuppertal

 

28.04.23  Inside Colours, Berliner Philharmonie, Berlin

09.03.23  Julie Sassoon 4tet, Bflat, Berlin

05.03.23  Inside Colours, Hechingen

24.02.23  Lothar Ohlmeier Isambard Khroustaliov, Kühlspot, Berlin

05.02.23  Dalgoo, Zaandam (NL)

18.12.22  Bass clarinet Festival,  Bimhuis Amsterdam

05.11.22  Schwarm 13, Georgensaal,  Berlin

14.10.22 Dalgoo, Saarbrücken

09.10.22  Azolia @ Bflat, Berlin

 

08.10.22  Azolia @ Saxstall, Tharandt

 

07.10.22  Azolia @ Das Kult, Braunschweig

06.10.22  Azolia @ Schwerin

19.08.22  Inside Colours, Berlin, Schlot

30.06.22  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ Berlin, Theaterschiff

18.06.22  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ Lana JazzFestival, Italy

17.06.22  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ Zoglau 3

20.05.22  Azolia @ Kunsthaus sans titre, Potsdam

 

01.05.22  Ohlmeier, Kroustaliov, Fischerlehner@  Kaleidophon, Ulrichsberg

28.04.22  Ohlmeier, Kroustaliov, Fischerlehner@ Biegungen im Ausland, Berlin

23.04.22  Dalgoo @ Plusétage, Baarle-Nassau

 

22.04.22  Dalgoo @ Jazzen Leer, Leer

10.04.22  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ jüdische Kulturtage - Vienna

01.04.22  Azolia @ Studio Jazz, Nürnberg

11.03.22  Inside Colours, Regensburg

06.03.22  Inside Colours, Bflat, Berlin

26.02.22  Dalgoo @ Saxstall, Tharandt

25.02.22  Dalgoo @ Kunsthaus sans titre, Potsdam

24.02.22  Dalgoo @ Klub Dragon, Poznan, (Pol)

21.02.22  Dalgoo @ Jazzkeller 69 im ZigZag, Berlin

10.12.21  Baskind, Seidel, Ohlmeier @ Au Topsi  Pohl, Berlin

08.12.21  Solo @ Kühlspot, Berlin

04.12.21  Inside Colours, Regensburg corona cancelled

 

28.11.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ jüdische Kulturtage - Vienna corona cancelled

 

26.11.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ van der Heydt Museum - Wuppertal

 

18.11.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ ZigZag - Berlin

 

24.10.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ Synagoge - Hechingen

23.10.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ Hospitalhof - Stuttgart 

 

22.10.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ Bunker Ulmenwall - Bielefeld 

 

21.10.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ Tage der jüdischen Kultur - Forum Gestaltung  - Magdeburg

14.10.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ Jewish Museum, Amsterdam

26.09.21  Azolia @ Le Bois du Cazier,Marcinelle, Belgium

25.09.21  Azolia @ Lokerse  Jazzclub, Lockeren, Belgium

24.09.21  Azolia @ Jazzfestival Bochum

 

22.09.21  Azolia @SChleswig-Holstein-Haus, Schwerin

21.09.21  Azolia @Women in (e)motion, Radio Bremen

 

29.08.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ Cottbus

29.08.21  Azolia @ Cottbus

28.08.21  Azolia @Saxstall , Pohrsdorf

27.08.21  Azolia @ Ilmenau

12.06.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ Gruveniushaus, Sassnitz  corona cancelled,,

10.06.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ von der Heide Museum, Wuppertal

09.06.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ place tba, Köln

08.06.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ Jüdische Kulturtage, Wien

20.05.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ Synagoge, Hechingen

02.05.21  Ohlmeier, Kroustaliov, Fischerlehner@ Ulrichsberg, Kaleidophon corona cancelled

30.04.21  Ohlmeier, Kroustaliov, Fischerlehner@ Ausland Berlin

16.04.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ Bunker Ulmenwall, Bielefeld

06.03.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ Gruveniushaus, Sassnitz  corona cancelled

04.03.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ Wien, Abschlusskonzert Jüdische Kulturtage corona cancelled

03.03.21 Azolia @  Porgy and Bess Jazzclub, Wien live stream

01.03.21  Julie Sassoon 4tet @ Glad Haus, Cottbus corona cancelled

06.02.21  Olaf Rupp, Frank Paul Schubert, Lothar Ohlmeier @ Pandatheater, Berlin, live stream

 

 

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg  2018  

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