During my time as Concert Promotions and Marketing intern at Turner Sims (if you’re in the Southampton area, make sure to check out their concert series!) I got to interview a lot of great artists. You can check out my interviews and reviews on the Turner Sims blog, as well as here on The Rosie Word.
I will be uploading interviews in a series called “Musical Chats”, so stay tuned for more interviews with great artists!
I got the chance to interview Norwegian jazz trumpeter Mathias Eick ahead of his appearance at Turner Sims back in October. Mathias and his fantastic quintet performed music from his recent ECM release Ravensburg – make sure to check it out here.
We chatted about his signature sound, Norwegian Jazz and his writing process. Enjoy!
RS: How would you describe your sound to an audience member who has never heard you before?
ME: It’s an airy emotional sound with a lot of personality in it. The music is lyrical, energetic and speaks to you in a new way. That’s at least our goal!
RS: The Guardian says that Norwegian jazz is some of the world’s ‘most animated and productive’. That kind of links in with how you’ve described your own sound. Do you think Norwegian traditions have an influence on your music? Or are there other key influences on your musical life?
ME: To me, life itself has the biggest influence on my music. Becoming a father, growing into adulthood, experiencing many facets of life is the emotions I’m trying to communicate through my music. That said, on Midwest, our album from 2015, I dug into the folk music scene in Norway to find inspiration, and it worked. To this day, I still have a violin player in the band thanks to that.
RS: Would you say your most recent album, Ravensburg, was also mainly inspired by these family relationships, like becoming a father?
ME: The music on Ravensburg is all about the close relationships in life, family, children and friends. It all started with a poem I was asked to write some music to, and it became the first song I composed for the album, For my Grandmothers. One of my grandmothers lived for many years in Ravensburg in south Germany, and I always got these large jigsaw puzzles when I was a kid. After that song, I started composing music out of an emotional perspective, bringing the theme of the album home in a way.
RS: When making an album, do you always have this kind of specific narrative in mind that you want to explore, or is it more of a collection of lots of different ideas?
ME: I really try having concepts for each album I make. It’s kind of easier to create in that way, when I have a direction emotionally. So I tend to use a lot of time figuring out narratives, I’m there right now actually!
RS: And finally, what is your dream day off?
ME: I guess a hotel close to Nürbürgring in Germany, so that I could go racing cars for a few hours. I’m going to make it happen!
RS: Hopefully sooner rather than later! Thanks for your time Mathias!
THE ROSIE WORD. 