Long-time jazz collaborators Sujae Jung and Wolf Robert Stratmann return with a sharp, intimate, and quietly ambitious project in “Confluence,” the latest release from the Jung Stratmann Quartet. Together with guitarist Steve Cardena and drummer Marko Djordjevic, the group delivers five original pieces inspired by nature and the unifying spirit of jazz music.
What stands out immediately is the conversational balance between the four players; Jung’s touch on piano is both lyrical and skeletal while Cardenas uses that space to color the edges with subtle harmonic inflections. Stratmann’s bass is often the narrative spine: melodic when called for, but also driving the tracks with forward momentum.
https://jungstratmann.bandcamp.com/album/confluence
https://www.sujaejungmusic.com/
Djordjevic’s drumming functions more as architecture than ornamentation, with an uncanny sense of measured restraint that lets silence be as important as sound.
This album favors space over flash, with melodies that breathe and grooves that arrive without force. Confluence sits in modern chamber-jazz territory, borrowing the lyricism of contemporary European jazz, and occasional impressionistic touches that nod toward ambient or minimalism.
The album opens with “Tree Huggers,” a bright number with a memorable motif and showcases Jung’s gift for balancing simplicity with subtle harmonic shifts. “This Wine Tastes Very Dry” is the centerpiece, with its elegant tension, spare ornamentation, and a directness that works as a metaphor for the record’s aesthetic. The album closes with “After Sunset,” a gentle and understated piece that perfectly captures the mood of dusk.
Structurally, the pieces often blur composition and improvisation. The album was recorded by Jason Rostowski during an exclusive live performance, and it retains that authentic character even in the digital release. The result is an EP-length program that moves between contemplative balladry and subtle rhythmic life without ever sounding disjointed.
Confluence is not a showy record meant to impress through fireworks. Instead, it’s an artful, tightly punched statement from a band that values listening as much as soloing. The record’s pleasures are cumulative, and the more you return to it, the more the quartet’s internal logic and the subtle rewards of their interplay reveal themselves. For listeners who appreciate chamber-like contemporary jazz, Confluence is a thoughtful and convincing listen.