NEWS
Emil Sommer Quartet in the Studio
Finland Studio - 30th of April/1st of May
(2017) And so it happened! 12 crisp new songs recorded in the amazing Finland Studio for our debut album "Have a Seat".
In our live setup we played for two days straight with a small thunderous intermission (actual thunder stopped us from recording due to crackling in the mic!)
The tunes vary in style and mood as you will hear as soon as it is out, so there is something for everybody, which is also the general idea of the album: To invite you to come and sit and have a listen.
We started out recording some of the slow tunes and worked our way through the repertoire - welcoming the talented singer Karmen Rõivassepp for her feature song at noon on the first day, what a thrill to record such a voice right after a thunder storm!
It was a smooth and perfect ride through the days thanks to Jacob, the skilled technician at the studio, and the guys that brings the music to life: The band!
Tour of Europe and the jazz history gigs
For just about a year we have been contacting venues around in Europe, plotting in a mini tour at the end of October 2019.
We are thrilled to be visiting some of the great cultural cities of Europe this very fall. We will be introducing material never seen before, and which will only be experienced live.
"The Jazz History Gigs" all started as part of my masters degree.
I was curious as to what people knew about the sound of jazz. Many lectures exist focusing on the political and historical development of the environment around jazz, but not so many with concrete examples of the turns and twists in the music.
So this is a lecture focused on the auditive development in jazz, and it is absolutely fascinating to be able to do that!
To Jazz, or not to Jazz? (2018)
A master project from The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus
This year I'm finishing my Master's degree from the Royal Academy of Music Aarhus (RAMA).
It's a project that focuses on the general publics feeling towards jazz and instrumental music with the younger generation as a target group.
The primary goal of the project is to open the eyes, ears and hearts of these new listeners to jazz. So that they might experience the same joy that I have for so many years. But I can't just blindly force jazz and/or my music on them, I have to know what they seem to be missing in these genres.
Therefore I worked out a questionnaire to explore, which aspects seemed folly: The music, the musicians or the environment.
And from the vast amount of data I recieved, I started composing, finding the tendencies, adding or subtracting elements from allready existing tunes - and it turned into the album: "Have a Seat"
To test whether or not I have actually found a working way of composing we will be performing a series of concerts at the high schools that were the main focus group of my questionnaire. And here we will live-evaluate while we play, giving the audience a chance to be a part of the concert actively and interact with us in a completely new way.
We can't wait!