Gebhard Ullmann celebrates twenty years of his band Basement Research with a striking new CD Hat and Shoes to be released February 10, 2015 on Between the Lines. Featuring the renowned multi-instrumentalist Ullmann, trombonist Steve Swell, saxophonist Julian Argüelles, bassist Pascal Niggenkemper, and drummer Gerald Cleaver, the band’s 7th CD showcases improvisors at the top of their game and Ullmann’s rich, dynamic compositions. This is Ullmann’s 50th CD as a leader/co-leader.
Basement Research’s first album – featuring Ullmann with Ellery Eskelin, Drew Gress and Phil Haynes – was released in 1995 on the Italian label Soul Note. Many albums later and following careful changes in the line-up, the consistency of the research project is still clearly detectable: discovering the basis of improvised music, the mechanism of musical dialog, the search for previously unheard sounds and the secret of nonverbal, intuitive communication between individuals. This only works live and in real time. It is not a matter of chance that all previous six albums by Basement Research were released in connection with or as the result of a tour.
