With the album “Songs From The Treehouse”, Tim Collins and Martin Gasselsberger have captured the essence of childhood nostalgia through emotional, intricate, and playful compositions. American vibraphonist Tim Collins and Austrian pianist Martin Gasselsberger first performed together in 2013, and from the very first note, it was clear they were musical kindred spirits. Since then they have performed many concerts in both duo and quartet settings, and now with the release of the album “Songs From The Treehouse” (GLM Fine Music), this deep musical connection is on record for all to hear.
“We wanted to capture the intimacy and playfulness of our concerts in an album”, says Collins. “I love that the most nuanced expression can come through…we’ve played together so much that we can almost read each other’s minds.” The running theme throughout “Songs From The Treehouse” is simple: happy childhood memories. The CD release features twelve songs, while the vinyl features nine. Of those songs, six are composed by Collins and four by Gasselsberger. The two covers include a Billie Eilish song and piece by Austrian guitarist and composer Harry Pepl.
It is a stroke of luck for the German jazz scene that New Yorker Tim Collins came to Munich twelve years ago. The 45-year-old belongs to the small group of the world’s best vibraphone players. American critics already attested to this when he was still playing in his home country with musicians like Ingrid Jensen or Aaron Parks: Collins “is nothing less than exemplary,” wrote Downbeat Magazine, for example. Across the pond, he has proven it in collaborations with a wide variety of greats from John Hollenbeck to Danny Grissett to Henning Sieverts or Shinya Fukumori to the world musicians Quadro Nuevo or the young whiz kid Shuteen Erdenebataar. Now he underlines it with his fifth album “For Good People”.
music & spirit for the cold season