| Jazz |
Already familiar with the work of bassist and composer Nils Kugelmann, an exceptionally gifted musician who has released two albums on the prestigious German label ACT, Life Score earlier this year (reviewed HERE) and Stormy Beauty, released a year earlier (reviewed HERE) I was particularly attentive to the arrival of this new recording with pianist and composer Shuteen Erdenebaatar. Both artists are among the rising generation of European jazz musicians, each cultivating a universe that is at once inventive and captivating. From the very first track of Under the Same Stars, they set a scene that feels poetic, deeply evocative, and of the highest musical quality.
This is a quartet project that also features another artist we know from the ACT roster: saxophonist Jacob Manz, who released the excellent The Answer in 2024 (reviewed HERE). After her debut Rising Sun—hailed internationally and showered with awards in 2023, the Mongolian-born Erdenebaatar once again surprises, this time in an exquisite duo with ACT-acclaimed Nils Kugelmann, performing both on contrabass clarinet and double bass. Partners in life as well as in music, Kugelmann and Erdenebaatar draw from their shared passion for jazz, classical, and film music to create a poetic and exhilarating musical journey, one that resonates at the very core of the soul. Their intimacy is palpable, their artistry seamlessly fused into a remarkably unified whole.
Under the Same Stars brings together two young musicians whose musical connection feels both instinctive and profound. “From the moment we combined piano with contrabass clarinet, there was an immediate spark. It was intimate, unexpected, and profoundly alive,” Erdenebaatar explains. Their natural chemistry, honed over six years of collaboration, truly shines. While Kugelmann is best known as a bassist, and has been a cornerstone of Erdenebaatar’s quartet since its founding in 2021, he makes here a remarkable debut on the contrabass clarinet, an instrument rarely heard in this context. And unlike his ACT releases, this record carries a striking sense of freedom, placing beauty front and center while opening their art to a wide audience, equally engaging for lovers of classical music and jazz alike.
Through their duo performances and their work within Erdenebaatar’s quartet, the depth of their partnership has been forged across more than 300 appearances since first meeting in 2020, including over 100 concerts across Europe and Asia just last year. For this debut duo recording, the warm, resonant voice of the contrabass clarinet intertwines with Erdenebaatar’s evocative piano lines, both artists reaching toward the same stars that first connected them as students in Munich. It was there that he began playing bass with her, and where she unexpectedly discovered his hidden gift for the clarinet, a serendipitous revelation that led to this project. “We looked for an existing repertoire that gave voice to the contrabass clarinet in a chamber music context,” she explains, “but found nothing. That absence became our inspiration.” So they began to compose together. “After years of ensemble work, it felt natural, perfect, to explore this journey as a duo,” Kugelmann adds. “Each song became a new conversation, a new celebration of everything we have built together: our shared love for music, our evolving relationship, our individual voices, and our intertwined careers.”
This is the essential point: these two musicians embody the synthesis that this new generation of artists is capable of, building bridges between genres and traditions. Across its ten pieces, Under the Same Stars unfolds like a series of tableaux, a journey that moves from listening to reflection, from beauty to inspiration. It is also the second installment in a trilogy of debut recordings by Erdenebaatar, released on the Grammy Award–winning label Motéma. Drawing on the mythology of the sun, moon, and stars from her native Mongolia, she titled her 2023 quartet debut Rising Sun, evoking vitality, positivity, and optimism, apt descriptions for its radiant sound world. Stars, symbols of hope, dreams, and destiny, inspire this duo’s first offering. The moon, with its mystery and emotional depth, will form the thematic heart of the trilogy’s third volume.
Under the Same Stars is an album destined to accompany your dreams and illuminate your heart, with all the grace, intelligence, and emotional resonance it carries.
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, September 1st 2025
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Websites:
Shuteen Erdenebaatar
Nils Kugelmann
Musicians:
Composers:
Shuteen Erdenebaatar (1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10)
Nils Kugelmann (2, 3, 7, 9)
Musicians:
Shuteen Erdenebaatar – piano
Nils Kugelmann – contra-alto clarinet; double bass on tracks 3, 6 & 10
Jakob Manz alto recorder on track 5
Dalaijargal Daansuren – morin khuur
(Mongolian horsehead fiddle) on track 7
Track Listing:
Mirror Under Water
Train To The Past
Tiny Wonders
Mystery of the Woods
Whispers Beyond Time
Stars Among Us
What Will Remain
Desert Dream
Maybe The Clouds
Road Ahead