| Jazz |
Across the Blue Divide: Sujae Jung and Wolf Robert Stratmann’s Transcultural Quartet
If there’s one trait that seems to bind Korean and European jazz musicians, it’s their shared classical foundation, a discipline that so often shapes the direction of their artistry. From that rigorous training, many find their way either into the open field of experimentation or toward the sculpted lyricism of melody. Pianist Sujae Jung and bassist Wolf Robert Stratmann have clearly chosen the latter path, one that privileges balance, structure, and intimacy.
Their quartet, rounded out by players who listen as deeply as they play, embraces simplicity as a philosophy rather than a limitation. At its core, the group’s sound grows from contrast: between the refinement of Jung’s Korean sensibility and the earthy precision of Stratmann’s German roots. The dialogue between their musical cultures doesn’t erase difference, it heightens it. What emerges is a shared language that sounds both carefully measured and strikingly spontaneous. Every note feels deliberate; every pause, charged with intention. In this quartet, one senses a kind of telepathy, an unspoken conversation where two worlds not only meet but also expand through each other.
Their new album, Confluence, unfolds across five original compositions, each one a study in collective balance and emotional depth. The record opens with a bold quartet version of Jung’s “Tree Huggers,” first introduced on the duo’s recent EP. “I was so moved when I listened back to our recording,” Stratmann recalls. “I was deeply touched by how powerfully our personalities express themselves, intertwining with such grace.” That intertwining, an elegant tension between introspection and release, sets the tone for what follows.
“Summer Whale,” composed in 5/4, swims in darker waters. The piece began as a modest vamp, a space for exploring open eighth-note phrasing and the image of a whale gliding through waves warmed by the sun. But over time, it became something more, a meditation on movement and memory. Later, Icelandic singer Björg Blöndal added lyrics (not featured here) about a blue whale migrating from cold to warm Atlantic waters, transforming the tune into a metaphor for passage and transformation.
Water runs deep through Confluence, not just as imagery, but as an organizing principle. It evokes both the vastness separating Korea and Germany and the current that now unites them. This music lives in that tension: a paradoxical distortion where familiar sounds bend into something unfamiliar, and where dissonance becomes a form of beauty. The musicians exchange calls and responses, gazes and gestures, until their individual perspectives merge into what might be called a sensory identity, an aspiration toward universality through the specificity of shared sound.
That same spirit animates “The Pull,” a composition that leads the listener from darkness into light. Stratmann tips his hat to his early years on electric bass, and to the hypnotic gravity of New York’s music scene, a city that still exerts a magnetic influence over his playing.
By the time the record reaches its closing piece, “After Sunset,” the quartet has fully arrived at its destination. Here, the music breathes in total trust. There is no need for glances or cues; the musicians simply are, coexisting, conversing, creating. The track feels like an arrival not just for the group but for the idea of musical collaboration across cultural boundaries.
Few ensembles achieve this kind of synthesis. One is reminded of Joe Zawinul’s Syndicate, which followed the legendary Weather Report. Admired for its diversity yet never quite reaching its predecessor’s acclaim, Zawinul’s later group may have been misunderstood, too forward, too fluid for easy classification. Yet where the Syndicate struggled against the weight of legacy, Jung and Stratmann’s quartet carries no such burden. They are building something patient and deliberate, letting the sound find its own shape.
Confluence is, in that sense, aptly titled. It’s less a finished statement than an evolving process, a meeting point where geography dissolves and what remains is pure sound, pure exchange. For Jung and Stratmann, the music isn’t about bridging differences; it’s about inhabiting them, letting their currents mingle until the distinction between origin and destination becomes beautifully, deliberately blurred.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, November 12th 2025
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Wolf Robert Stratmann’s website
Musicians :
Sujae Jung, piano
Wolf Robert Stratmann, bass
Steve Cardenas – guitar
Marko Djordjevic – drums
Track Listing :
Tree Huggers (avec Steve Cardenas et Marko Djordjevic)
Summer Whale (avec Steve Cardenas et Marko Djordjevic)
This Wine Tastes Very Dry (avec Steve Cardenas et Marko Djordjevic)
The Pull (avec Steve Cardenas et Marko Djordjevic)
After Sunset (avec Marko Djordjevic)