Photograph by © Peter Hundert

Can you tell us about your new album?

The new album of the Clara Haberkamp Trio with Jarle Vespestad on drums and Oliver Potratz on bass is called Plateaux. Inspired by Guattari and Deleuze’s book “Mille plateaux” that focuses on a poststructuralist and deconstructive way of thinking. That’s what I kept in mind when I composed the pieces that express a complexity in form and content but also cyclic musical processes. Jarle Vespestad and Oliver Potratz adapted that idea immediately in there way of playing and improvising. That might sound like a contradiction but this album is the most emotional I’ve ever produced by including evergreens like Danny Boy or If you could read my mind in the program. And also there we intended to point out the wide spectrum of meaning and emotional content that each song carries in itself.

What other projects are you currently involved with?

I’m involved in several Duo projects such as the Duo Azadi together with the Iranien Cellist Atena Eshtaghi and the Duo Candour with the bassist Lisa Wulff. Right now, I’m composing for a Chinese – German project with the classical percussionist Shengnan Hu, three musicians from Shanghai and three german musicians. And I recently started playing in Duo with the trumpet player Jakob Bänsch. Besides I’m doing some cooperations with Yamaha music.

What are you currently listening to and what was the last CD or download you bought?

The last LP I bought was Judee Sill Heart Food. I am currently listening to Aphex Twin, but more for analytical purposes. I listen to Fred Hersch a lot and to Hip Hop music.

What is your all-time favourite album and why?

My all-time favourite albums are Songbird by Eva Cassidy and The Art of the Trio, Vol. 1 by the Brad Mehldau Trio

Who has caught your attention recently that we should be listening out for?

I would check out the trumpet player Jakob Bänsch. He’s an astonishingly mature musician at a very young age who just won the German Jazz Prize.

Click here to read our review of Plateaux by the Clara Haberkamp Trio