Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Robert Keßler Trio - Bloodline (March 2021)

Bloodline - that means something like family tree. Every artist must honestly decide for himself to whom he feels obliged and why. To himself and thus to those who can identify with his statements, or to external factors such as media expectations, zeitgeist or a canon. Guitarist Robert Keßler has made a very clear decision, and his album 'Bloodline' bears witness to this step.

'Bloodline' is not a concept album, and yet the CD follows a very clear concept. This concept is called life. Not some imaginary life or life itself, but Robert Keßler's very personal balance sheet of the last ten years. His role as a family father, patient friend and selfless coach for countless young musicians as well as all the other factors that put his own musical ambitions on the back burner for long stretches. 'It wasn't a matter of just focusing on myself,' Keßler holds. 'That's rather difficult for me. That's why this record comes ten years after the last one. In the past years, it was not my turn, but that of children, students and other people.' He is a quiet as well as alert observer of his surroundings and also of his own reflection. In the end, we come face to face with a musician with the rare gift of knowing himself. Robert Keßler does not define himself by his conflicts, but is - at least outwardly - a pragmatist of everyday poetry. Amusement and pensiveness are the essential personal ing edients with which he gives his pieces their special flair.

1. Jesaja 41,10
2. Theo
3. Mann Mann
4. White lake
5. Along came Betty
6. Bloodline
7. Mach die Äuglein wieder auf

Robert Keßler - Guitar
Andreas Henze - Bass
Tobias Backhaus - Drums