Cologne-based saxophonist Luise Volkmann is a passionate border crosser. She has also applied this maxim to the third album by her 13-piece band Été Large. The title, tellingly, is The Stories We Tell.

These stories reflect a new commitment to simplicity. Everything superfluous must be stripped away so that the passion can manifest itself all the more clearly—and the stories that need to be told. Luise Volkmann is a brilliant storyteller who delivers her stories with narrative power and poetic sensitivity. Music is not an end in itself; it’s about something. Every note, every syllable triggers something in the listener, but also globally in the long term, because the energy of the songs often takes unexpected paths. The composer is aware of this responsibility, and this mission is palpable, even if it is conveyed here in an absolutely unobtrusive and unpretentious manner.

The Stories We Tell marks the tenth anniversary of Été Large. With this album, the leader and her collective have succeeded in focusing on the essentials. In her arrangements, Luise Volkmann takes a very cautious approach to the possibilities of a large formation. The sounds of the individual instruments are given plenty of room to breathe. Because ultimately, it is about the spaces in between, which only the listeners can fill with their imagination.

In this way, Luise Volkmann creates a world that is closed in itself and yet open on all sides. A music that doesn’t stop when it fades away — her hymn-like tunes linger and grow with every listen. Été Large is a band you can listen to while constantly marveling.

So Luise Volkmann has the last word here:
“In times of growing polarization, I want my music to have the power to place ambivalences side by side. I can be angry or sad about different things and still have understanding for other feelings or attitudes. Making the complexity of thought and action tangible and creating the basis for open dialogue is important to me. That’s why I place verbal and non-verbal storytelling equally.”