Bummel

It’s a pleasure to announce that today Lambert releases his fourth single, Bummel, in the lead up to his forthcoming album titled All This Time.

Bummel is the latest track to be released after a string of well-received singles including his take on the classic tune Cry Me A River and own composition Stolper Jim. Lambert’s Bummel combines his love for jazz and improvisation with electronic elements to create a track showcasing his own unique sound.

Teaming up with bassist Felix Weigt and drummer Luca Marini, the trio blends jazz, modern classical and electronic elements to find a contemporary sound reminiscent of the likes of EST, Gogo Penguin and Portico Quartet. As Lambert recalls, it took lockdown’s privations to bring him musically home. “I called Luca and said, ‘Please, I want to make some jazz music. During the worst lockdown, maybe this way of making music might connect us.’ It didn’t bring me back to jazz, though. It never went away. When I don’t know what to play, it’s always jazz I reach for.”

Lambert’s studies at the Amsterdam Conservatory were often an exercise in disillusionment, as disapproving teachers brought him down. Moving to bohemian Berlin in 2008, its free improv scene was just as hostile to a young pianist who appreciated the popular, tuneful beauty of Bill Evans, and the further out melodic flights of Brad Mehldau and Keith Jarrett. A wild gig where the crowd roared on his Fender Rhodes solos aggravated more austere bandmates, who
summarily sacked him. It was a turning point.  This new creation, bringing rock and pop notions of alter egos and mystery to neo-classical concert halls, was an instant hit. Lambert let the boy who’d been bruised by jazz become a new man.

“When I started being Lambert, I was embarrassed by my jazz background,” he says. “The first album, Lambert, was promoted in the neo-classical world, I used a more classical touch, and I got a great reception. I kept secret that I still identified as a jazz musician.”

Beneath the mask, though, Lambert could be anyone. Liberated, he began to move between worlds. False and the Stimming x Lambert collaboration Positive, combining improv with electronic production, dropped progressively greater hints at his secret musical identity. “And now,” he says, “I feel free to make an album that actually sounds like jazz.”