Name: Lambert
Occupation: Composer, pianist
Nationality: German
Current release: Lambert's All This Time, featuring bassist Felix Weigt and drummer Luca Marini, is out via Verve/Mercury KX. The album represents a shift in focus for Lambert, from his deep classically-based piano compositions towards a jazz style reminiscent of EST, Gogo Penguin and Portico Quartet.

[Read our Portico Quartet interview]

If you enjoyed this interview with Lambert and would like to know more about his work, visit his official homepage. He is also on Facebook, Instagram, twitter, and Soundcloud. For more thoughts, check out our previous Lambert interview and our Stimming interview with one of his collaborators.



When did you first start getting interested in musical improvisation?  

At the age of ten. When I discovered the magic of Boogie-Boogie Piano. I didn’t need to read music anymore. How great was that!

Which artists, approaches, albums or performances involving prominent use of improvisation captured your imagination in the beginning?

A few years later I discovered Bill Evans's EXPLORATIONS. I fell for it. I felt like: This is what I want to do in life!



Focusing on improvisation can be an incisive transition. Aside from musical considerations, there can also be personal motivations for looking for alternatives. Was this the case for you, and if so, in which way?

Maybe improvisation seemed to be an alternative to the right/wrong idiom you get used to when you go through the process of institutionalized learning. I hoped that there was another way to get somewhere and to develop yourself.

Also, a different form of expression seemed to be possible. I just needed to get into it.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to improvisation? Do you see yourself as part of a tradition or historic lineage?

The fastest way between idea and result. Instant composing. Learning to include imperfection into your expression. Interaction. Flexibility.

The second question is not for me to answer. There are always influences, that is part of the game we game we call art

What was your own learning curve / creative development like when it comes to improvisation - what were challenges and breakthroughs?

The more you learn about music, the more you’ll be aware that there will never be a goal, or a point from where you get it all.

It can be hard realizing it. Or you get yourself inspired by the fact that the process is the actual deal …

Tell me about your instrument and/or tools, please. How would you describe the relationship with it? What are its most important qualities and how do they influence the musical results and your own performance?  

There is this instrument I spent most of my life with. It is my responsibility to treat it well.

I chose it for a reason, or it chose me for a reason. It probably wants something from me. I should respect that.

Can you talk about a work, event or performance in your career that's particularly dear to you? Why does it feel special to you? When, why and how did you start working on it, what were some of the motivations and ideas behind it?

I am so happy every time I play and people come to join me on this journey. The amount of people doesn’t really matter, as long as I am not alone.

I actually can’t believe that is happening. Time again, I wonder why this is happening …

How do you feel your sense of identity influences your collaborations? Do you feel as though you are able to express yourself more fully in solo mode or, conversely, through the interaction with other musicians? Are you “gaining” or “sacrificing” something in a collaboration?

Improvisation is most fun if you do it with people you trust musically. That doesn’t mean you trust that they are always on the same page, but you know things are going to happen, and you can use the magic of the moment together to create new music every time again.

Sometimes you reach this feeling of: Now, everything is possible. That is a spiritual experience you are searching for every time you enter the stage.

It is more likely you'll find this moment together than alone. You get addicted to this feeling.

Derek Bailey defined improvising as the search for material which is endlessly transformable. Regardless of whether or not you agree with his perspective, what kind of materials have turned to be particularly transformable and stimulating for you?

I find the term material not appropriate when you talk about music or improvisation. It's happening in your mind

When you're improvising, does it actually feel like you're inventing something on the spot – or are you inventively re-arranging patterns from preparations, practise or previous performances?

I see it like a language. You learn, you repeat, you transform, you express your thoughts. It will teach you something about your thoughts.

They might be new, or you find a way to work them out to make them understandable to you …

To you, are there rules in improvisation? If so, what kind of rules are these?

No. You can agree to some rules. But that is not the nature of improvisation.

And even if you do agree to rules, you’ll find yourself breaking them anyway. That, too, is part of improvisation.

In a live situation, decisions between creatives often work without words. How does this process work – and how does it change your performance compared to a solo performance?

Yes, I tend to work with trust, more than with words. If I work with individuals I trust their decisions. I noticed that people are more free in their mind, if you let them be and trust them. It takes some time till you find likeminded musicians, but if you do, they're  worth their weight in gold.

If I play solo, I also have to trust myself. I try to tell myself as little as possible, how things are supposed to be. I trust myself that I will know these things in the moment …

There are many descriptions of the ideal state of mind for being creative. What is it like for you? In which way is it different between your solo work and collaborations?

I try not to be dependent on the right time or the right surrounding.

For me, writing music has helped me get there. I wanted to be able to be creative any time it was required of me. So I forced myself to write down a piece of music every day for 7 years.

Later I threw out all this sheet music. The music didn’t really matter to me anymore. The process of writing it helped me to become the person I wanted to be … always able to be creative …

How do you see the relationship between sound, space and performance and what are some of your strategies and approaches of working with them?

Space and room are a big part of the music, because they influence the sound of the music.

In improvisation you learn to live with the circumstances and to use them creatively. The performance room can force you to change your perceptions of how the music was intended to be. It is a challenge to react creatively to it, and use your flexibility creatively instead of being frustrated about it.

In a way, improvisations remind us of the transitory nature of life. What, do you feel, can music and improvisation express and reveal about life and death?

Improvisation is life!