Music as language  

“We humans all improvise and compose in the language that we speak and write,” according to Laura Jurd. And she thinks that that applies equally to music – with pitches, rhythms and textures: “I automatically felt attracted to jazz from a young age – it’s music that centres around improvisation.”

For the young trumpeter, who now lives in London, art is about immediacy – and about community: “The older I get, the less interest I have in the classical relationship between composer and interpreter. Music that is created out of community, out of cooperation and equality is much more worthwhile.”

Between nature and Man

Having grown up in a small village in the south of England, the musician Laura Jurd feels deeply rooted in the experience of nature. “You can feel a wisdom deep in the forest that reflects the experience and duration of everything that lives in it.” So it comes as no wonder that she enjoys playing within the wood-panelled walls of the Elbphilharmonie Recital Hall: “It feels as if Man and nature have come together here”.

There are good reasons why Laura Jurd is regarded as a true all-rounder: she has been playing the trumpet since childhood, she composes jazz and contemporary music, and she is leader of the quartet Dinosaur, ticketed as a “British supergroup”.

At their Elbphilharmonie debut in May 2021, the four musicians took Hamburg jazz fans by storm. On the programme: their grandiose anniversary album “To the Earth”.