Liner notes by Jo Bickhardt

“The true beauty of music is that it connects people. It carries a message, and we, the musicians, are the messengers.” — Roy Ayers

This album has been long overdue. Presented here are two exquisite artists, who are sensitive, refined, who know when to be discerning, delicate, intense and touching. In the space between, you find many roots presented from Classical, Broadway, Swing and Blues that are manipulated and explored as Jazz.
World renown vibraphonist, composer, arranger Wolfgang Lackerschmid and soprano Stefanie Schlesinger are a musical force. An exquisite vocalist, with keen insight to lyrical texture, resonance and diction, Miss Schlesinger is also an accomplished lyricist, arranger and songwriter. In choosing the 14 tracks for this album, which were selected from dozens of songs that they have performed over the years, it became clear to me that their selections were not just about what they enjoyed performing, but wanting to send a message to introduce new avenues for the listener to discover, and texts with new interpretations, sensitivities and emotion.
The tracks chosen here are a tapestry, a showcase for instrumental emotion. We often take the most delicate instrument of them all, the voice for granted. Its success is predicated on coordination between meticulous discipline and emotional desire. Knowing how and when to strike the appropriate balances, blends and mixtures, is what makes a duo effective. Furthermore, the challenge of presenting these songs with a fresh and appealing approach, illustrates that this duo are masters of arrangement from the very first track. The album is full of gems, Stefanies vocal elegance is on full display with Mozart’s Non So Piu, Daily Rose and the Very Thought Of You. There is an exquisite delicacy between the two of them on Why Shouldn’t You Cry and Camille Saint-Saens’ Mon Coeur.
Each song is a highlight, an assortment of musical eclairs, layered with simplistic, moving vibes and topped with lyrical precision and diction. In reviewing the material for this album, I found that I was immediately attracted to the intricacy of Wolfgang’s mallets giving space to Stefanies vocalization tonality.
From the opening track that features Gershwin’s I Got A Crush On You, Wolfgang harnesses the vibraphones tonal rubato. As classically trained singers are taught to get off or lightly touch consonants in order to keep the vowel tone clean, here I found Wolfgang’s mallets striking the vibes metal bars with such astuteness and delicacy that in many places it is mimicking Stefanie’s vocalization. Thus, two refined sounds, with flawless sensitivity, are sending us messages to connect to this wonderful musical landscape.

 

Cover Art by Line Hoven