Fabienne Ambuehl on Thrive

After a sold-out concert at the Vortex at the beginning of February this year, Fabienne Ambuehl is celebrating her success after the launch of her new album, Thrive. Full of energy and highly imaginative, the album consists of eight original compositions all by the pianist and singer and certainly stands out with its unique sound.

Having featured the album as Recording of the Week back in January, I was fortunate enough to sit down with the artist herself to delve deeper into the album’s conception, as well as an array of influences that have shaped her distinctive jazz sound. From poetry and vocal techniques to future music, Fabienne let me behind the scenes into how Thrive came to be and what is in store for the future.

First of all, congratulations on Thrive, the album! How has life been since the release? 

It's been really exciting! I'm very happy that this music is finally out and I'm able to share it. I've had lovely and heartfelt comments from all over the world. And it's been super great to launch it at the sold-out concert at the Vortex, which was just amazing to share it with a really warm audience. Also, it’s such a special place for me because years and years back I went to a John Taylor concert by myself - and I found love, my now partner, at the Vortex. Of course, the release was sadly overshadowed as well. Just a week before Thrive was released Martin Hummel, the manager of Ubuntu Music, died unexpectedly. It's a big loss for jazz and the community. He's done so much for the album and really supported me, so that was very emotional for all of us. 

Thrive really stands out as an album that has quite a lot of influences and it's very different in terms of genre. So where has that unique sound come from? 

Yeah, that’s really interesting - I think for myself it doesn’t really feel like that, but I get it. People are like ‘where does this come from?’. What I think we're like as people, but also as artists I guess, is really permeable. We kind of soak up things and then find subconsciously that they come out again. You might not hear it as much on the album itself but discovering my voice through CVT (Complete Vocal Technique), which I was able to study in Copenhagen, was a big impact for me because I'm really interested in the voice, including the speaking voice. I had this rather small voice and was kind of limited in my singing, although I had really good teachers. But then doing CVT really freed me up, so I really enjoy having discovered this part of my voice as well. In terms of influences, I'm really in awe of what classical singers can do, and had two classical teachers who pushed me quite a lot so I really like exploring that kind of clear and ringing sound as well. 

I had an amazing teacher who sadly passed away last year, and in the lessons there was no sound that was considered ugly or too beautiful – he was just exploring. He would show me how whales sing or the sounds the planetary system seems to be making. So I think that actually, in retrospect, it really tickled that curiosity in me to explore more. In terms of musical influences I am a big Nancy Wilson fan. I love Brad Mehldau, Aaron Parks, Fred Hersch, Wayne Shorter and groovy, slightly bluesy jazz from artists like Joshua Redman or John Scofield and the soundscapes from the Brian Blade Fellowship. “Binocular" was inspired by a groove of one of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s songs, and “Soft Days” by The Beatles. So yes, there’s quite a broad field of influences there. 

I think you've already touched on this in terms of your studies, but what were your early experiences of music like? 

I grew up in this quiet village, but there were a lot of children. I was given a recorder at the age of three and I just went onto the street and played it. I played until I was 14 and really loved it. We had a neighbor who played the piano and the blues a lot, and I really wanted to learn that. I had a teacher who was classically trained, but she discovered early on that I really loved the improvising. There was a teacher who set up a jazz band and I was encouraged to be in these ensembles, I think I was maybe 14 or 15 at the time. We were able to record a big band album, which of course was a big thing for us and I really enjoyed playing jazz music together with other people. 

Obviously poetry plays a significant part in the album, especially Emily Dickinson and D.H Lawrence. Where did that come from? Were you drawn to those authors as poets? 

Basically, I really love language! I love German – if I hadn’t gone to study music, I probably would have gone to study Germanistics (German studies). I just find working with words as another way of composing. I find it harder to write lyrics really, or to do the same thing in English in the same clear way I'm able to do in German. I think Emily Dickinson came about because we had a workshop on songwriting and awareness of female writers. I was definitely drawn to her works, for the aspect of nature and the way she plays with pictures. And then I just pick up random books of writers and poetry here and there, I love London for that. So D.H. Lawrence was in a collection of poems I have here at home. I’ve found the words can just help a little bit to paint a picture, or add another layer, and it’s nice to not always frame them into conventional song structures.

You're based in London, but you moved just before the lockdown. What prompted you to make the move and what impact did this have on your music making?

The first time driving into London I just felt instantly at home in a way, so I was curious to try and also felt like I could do with a change. But I found it hard to really cut ties with Switzerland, so I was going back and forth quite a lot for about a year. I was in both places a bit, which allowed me to work with bands here as well as in Switzerland. It was a bit like not really knowing where your base was, so I completely quit all my work in Switzerland in February 2020. We were in a big house share and I had an amazing music room with my partner (he is also a pianist), so we played a lot together. But we also taught a lot online and explored a lot of duet playing. I started arranging standards, which haven't been released, during that time too. 

Moving on to the compositional side of things, it's all original pieces on the album. What was your approach to composition like and was it the same for each piece? 

It's very different for each piece. It’s a feeling, a memory of things or something that's happened, or sometimes you just sit down and it's like 'okay, I need a new piece!'. I don't really compose off the instrument. So it's often like a chord progression or a groove, and then if it goes in too much of a direction where I feel I’ve had this before, then I challenge myself to try explore the melody longer or different compositional techniques. My composing is extremely intuitive. I'm a perfectionist and like spending time on compositional details. Some songs are influenced by other pieces: “Immaculate Rain” is influenced by Becca Stevens’ album Regina, a beautiful album. The sound color created by playing with pop and folk elements was influenced by her.

You're joined by a really talented ensemble. How did you come to work on the album together?

It’s a pleasure to be working with these incredible musicians. In the studio, everyone contributed to make the music sound the best it could. In a live context, I would play "Thrive" so much slower and really give it time, and the guys being more experienced in the studio were like, ‘just give it a bit more movement’ when I was recording my solo. So it was beautiful to have them really feel involved. I've been working with Jon and Matt for a while already in a trio setting for some years and I was just really drawn to Tom Ollendorff’s album A Song for You, so I asked him to join us in the studio. Then on “New Ones” I just heard Ant’s sound really, he’s just so melodic. I was co-producing with Matt on bass, so we invited Ant for that track. Working with Matt came kind of naturally. We lived within walking distance and I think he really likes my music and I like his, so it felt natural working together. I remember he said ‘just let rip’ in “My River” during a rehearsal and that was definitely really enriching and helpful. 

It may be too early to say, but have you got any more plans for more music in the future? 

I definitely want new music to be out there much, much sooner than it was from the last album to this one now. I have unreleased songs, especially one song that we played in the concert, which I had so many reactions to! It's not on the album, and it’s like a free vocal intro into a short folk-influenced song – people seemed to be really touched by it. I have many other compositions that are like 80-90% finished, some are 100% percent finished. So, yes, there is new music. And then there's the idea of arranged standards material I talked about earlier. But I think it will be another one with originals first. I've heard many people say, 'oh, we want more voice'! I'm just really looking forward to playing and sharing the music live. I've been conducting choirs for six years too, and have always loved the energy that comes and goes in return between the audience and the musicians.