Splendor Jazzclub - Pre-Release Concert Philipp Rüttgers Trio

If you think of Erik Satie — keep his characteristic melancholy, enrich it with serenity and a subtle touch of humour, and place it in the context of a contemporary jazz piano trio — you begin to understand what this album is about: a search for the invisible in Satie’s music.
For his second trio album, German-born pianist and composer Philipp Rüttgers delves deep into the world of this most eccentric of French composers. He worked his way through Satie’s complete oeuvre (Éditions Salabert), collecting fragments and motifs along the way. He carefully rearranged and reshaped them, much like building a new story from existing words. Satie’s abstract and enigmatic qualities remain present, while the music breathes naturally within the language of the modern piano trio. Subtle traces of contemporary jazz vocabulary emerge, but the voice is unmistakably Philipp’s own.

His research led him beyond the well-known Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes to lesser-known works such as Les Fils des étoiles and Uspud (The Sun of the Stars), written during Satie’s time as a member of the Rosicrucian order — before he fell out with the order and founded his own religion, the Église Métropolitaine d’Art de Jésus Conducteur (“Metropolitan Church of Art of Jesus the Leader”), of which, famously, he was the sole member.

Satie’s preference for restraint and reduction clearly resonates in Philipp’s playing: more expression with fewer notes when the music calls for it, and layered complexity when it unfolds. Within this dynamic space, his interaction with drummer Sun-Mi Hong and bassist Omer Govreen gains remarkable depth. The trio listens attentively, creates an organic balance and allows transparency to grow into expressive power.

Every note, pause and interaction is infused with the invisible architecture of the music: its quiet tensions, hidden harmonies and the spaces between motifs. The trio uses this space to bring the invisible into focus, making the mystery of Satie feel fresh and exciting.

Philipp Rüttgers – piano / composition
Omer Govreen – double bass
Sun-Mi Hong – drums

Sliding scale tickets: €5 – €7.50 – €10 – €15 – €20
Accessible to everyone — pay what you can! There is no difference between the ticket categories; you choose your seat upon arrival.