The release of Confluence by NYC based Jung Stratmann Quartet is a collaborative effort featuring the combined musicianship and compositional styles of Sujae Jung (piano) and Wolf Robert Stratmann (double bass), assisted on the album by Steve Cardenas (guitar) and Marko Djordjevic (drums). Released in 2025, the album clocks in just under a half hour.

Korean-born pianist Sujae Jung teams with double bass player, German-born Wolf Robert Stratmann and the results make for a breezy album of easy-on-the-ears acoustic-based jazz that never wears out its welcome.

The 5 tracks here were composed by either Sujae Jung or Wolf Robert Stratmann with track 2 “Summer Whale” being a co-composition. The addition of electric guitarist Steve Cardenas gives the album a kind of Metheny-Mays late 1970s fusion sound while drummer Marko Djordjevic provides the album with a solid jazz beat.

Interestingly, Ms. Jung has several side projects including Intertwined, which combines Korean music and jazz but her music with Jung Stratmann Quartet is mainly airy and accessible Americana style jazz. Her lead off track, “Tree Huggers” is among the best on the album combining memorable melodies with expert musicianship.

NYC continues to be a melting pot of various musical styles and cultures and, although as proven through the decades, the Euro-Asian team of Jung Stratmann Quartet is the latest example of the continued abundance of sonic diversity of jazz culture in NYC in the 2020’s. In fact, a track here called “The Pull”, written by Stratmann, is an imaginative, lighthearted tribute to the nightlife and after hours music scene in New York City.

Jazz fans looking to enjoy a lighthearted, laid-back half hour of acoustic jazz are advised to give a listen to Confluence by Jung Stratmann Quartet. www.sujaejungmusic.com / www.wolfrobertstratmann.com

 

RMR SPEAKS TO JUNG STRATMANN QUARTET

RMR: Can you give us some timeline as to when the Jung Stratmann Quartet came together, how many albums have you released and how does the Confluence album bring your sound up to date contextually within the band’s framework and mission?

Sujae Jung: This album is actually our first release as a quartet, and also our first time recording together with Steve and Marko. Many of our compositions are inspired by nature and by moments from our everyday lives. Living in a huge city like New York, it’s not always easy to stay close to nature, and sometimes its importance fades into the background of our daily lives. Both Wolf and I grew up in places where nature was a big part of our surroundings, so composing and playing these pieces feels like our own way of rebuilding that connection and interweaving it with our big city lives.

Just as different musical elements come together to create something beautiful, playing with Steve and Marko allowed the music to become more colorful, more textured, and more alive. Their voices help the pieces grow in new directions, and ultimately we feel the quartet sound brings our music to listeners in a more vivid and dynamic way.

Wolf Robert Stratmann: Right! And I would add to that the following: Sujae and I have been playing music and living life together now for 6 years. We started playing together back in 2019 after our first Ensemble lesson at the Royal Conservatoire during our undergrads. Those were humble beginnings, and I am so proud that we have gotten to the point where we can collaborate with artists who we not only admire but also who have been our friends and teachers at the same time. Playing with Steve and Marko makes a lot of things so easy. Often I tend to be so critical with myself but when Sujae and I play together with Steve and Marko, I can forget about all of it and just take the music for what it is in that very moment.

 

RMR: Can you tell us where you are from originally and how and when and if possible why did you come to NYC? The mystique of New York still goes on with every generation of artists and musicians. What are your favorite places to play music and listen to music in the city and have you played live in other states and other parts of NY State or other states yet?

Sujae Jung: ⁠I’m originally from South Korea, and I moved to New York in the fall of 2023. The story really begins with my husband and musical partner, Wolf. As we were finishing our bachelor’s, we both wanted to continue with our master’s degrees—and, of course, stay together while coming from different countries. Wolf had always dreamed of studying in the U.S., especially in New York. So we decided to visit, and even though I had moved to the Netherlands in search of “freedom,” I felt an even bigger sense of freedom here. The city’s diversity, music scene, and energy pulled me in immediately. After that trip, I auditioned for schools and was accepted to The New School.

Even though I’ve been here only about two and a half years, luckily, I could play in some places. The Stone stands out the most—it’s where I performed my recital, watched Wolf’s and my friends’ concerts, and saw so many inspiring artists. I also love venues like Soapbox Gallery, where we performed for our Duo E.P. releases, The Jazz Gallery, where I saw one of my musical heroes, Kenny Barron, Mezzrow, Smalls, Blue Note, and Village Vanguard—places that shaped my musical life in the city. I haven’t performed in other states yet, but I hope to as new opportunities come in the future.

Wolf Robert Stratmann: Yup, New York, always a fun time guaranteed! I am from Bielefeld, Germany. Some folks in Germany joke that that town doesn’t exist, ha! It is a nice beautiful city though. I think my dream of New York started when I bought a picture of the Flat Iron Building for me room during my high school days. After I finished High School I moved to Berlin to learn about music production but also to start playing the electric bass. My teachers Björn Werra and Simon Pauli took great care of introducing me to many of the famous bass players that came out of New York City, so naturally I engrossed myself with much of the music from there.

In the beginning of 2019 then I finally managed to do a three week trip with a good friend to New York City. We slept on the floor and the couch of an apartment where another friend was living and let us graciously stay without having to pay her rent. Those were wild three weeks! We went out literally every night to see concerts and dive into the music scene. One of the most memorable ones for me was the first time I saw and heard Wayne Krantz. He played at the 55 bar back then. Sadly that place does not exist anymore but I remember as it was yesterday when Wayne turned up his amp and the sound wall he created with Evan Marien on bass and Cliff Almond on drums, washed over me like a big ocean wave. I had sore muscles in my cheeks from smiling so much. Nowadays places that have been hosting a few of the old 55 bar heroes are the Bitter End and Nublu. Although I have been doing mostly acoustic music in the past 6 years, I always try to stay connected to my electric roots and the people that made me pick up my instruments to begin with.

Performance-wise we have mostly performed locally, aside from very few occasions upstate. We went to the Living Jazz / Jazz Camp West in 2024 on the West Coast too, where we met a lot of wonderful new friends and were lucky to do an open stage with Allison Miller and Richard Howell. Shout out to the two! I hope they are well. Performing in the US in general as a foreign student is tricky. There were a lot of legal restrictions. We stayed mostly local because that was also the safest bet for us.

 

RMR: Also tell us how the band added two additional players Steve Cardenas (guitar) and Marko Djordjevic (drums). Describe the chemistry of the quartet sound and in your estimation what tracks stand out as favorites?

Sujae Jung: Wolf and I first got to know Steve during our time at The New School. We’re both huge ECM lovers, so when we discovered there was an ECM ensemble taught by Steve Cardenas, we immediately felt, “This is where we need to be.” We learned a lot from playing in his ensemble, and later, when Wolf started taking private lessons with him, I joined a few sessions. The trio chemistry was so natural that Steve eventually said, “We should get a gig together,” and we followed through right away.

Wolf met Marko a few years earlier through his previous teacher, and we reconnected with him while preparing for our school auditions in NYC. His positive energy and his playing felt like a perfect fit for the direction we were heading. After performing together a few times, working with him on the album felt like a natural next step.

As a quartet, the balance is beyond what I imagined. Steve’s gentle but clear musical presence and Marko’s reliability, mixed with surprise, create a beautiful contrast with Wolf’s and my compositions. The blend feels grounded yet open, especially in rubato moments. Our single “This Wine Tastes Very Dry” captures that chemistry well. And honestly, as a composer and a player of this album, I can’t pick a favorite—I love every single track.

Wolf Robert Stratmann: Right. Another shout out to my old mentor Roberto Badoglio, the Italian and Berlin based electric bass virtuoso, who put Marko and me in contact back then in in 2019 when I visited New York for the first time. It is really a great coming together of so many strains of influences of our personal and artistic lives on this album! My favorite track might actually be “Tree Huggers”. It just sounds so happy!

 

RMR: The lead off track on your new album Confluence is called “Tree Huggers” What inspired that track? What are a couple of your other personal favorites on the Confluence album?

Sujae Jung: There was a period when I was writing mostly sensitive, introspective pieces—ballads and rubato music. “Tree Huggers” came toward the end of that phase, when I suddenly wanted to write something brighter and more positive. At the time, I was completely absorbed in Keith Jarrett’s My Song album—especially “Country” and “Questar”—and that 70s–80s warmth naturally influenced the piece. My favorite memories are still tied to nature in Korea: Hiking with my family, spending time in parks, and feeling surrounded by mountains and trees. I’d heard that hugging a tree can be emotionally healing, and I loved that image. I wanted this tune to give listeners that same comforting, uplifting feeling.

Another track that’s very meaningful to me is “After Sunset”, which also comes from my memories of Korean nature. I grew up in Busan, a city surrounded by the sea, so the ocean has always been a big part of my life. Right before moving to the U.S., I went to my favorite beach to watch the sunset with my family, and it was the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen. There was a summer festival happening—people dancing, surfers chasing waves late into the evening, families and couples watching the sky turn gold over the water. The sunlight was so strong it even tinted the blue sea yellow. In that moment, I thought, “I have to write a song about this. I want people to feel what I’m feeling right now.” No matter how beautiful buildings or city lights can be, the beauty of nature has a different depth.

Wolf Robert Stratmann: Another fun one is “Summer Whale”. Sujae and I wrote this on a hot summer day in The Hague. It was summer break and yet we were always practicing and working out some music. The beach was calling loudly though and so we said to ourself: Ok, if we manage to write a tune, then we can go out to the beach! The idea started with the imagery of a blue whale floating in the ocean. Then we thought it could be fun if the chord progression has a bit of an upward motion. Later on, our good friend Björk Blöndal wrote some lyrics in Icelandic to it. She gave the whole piece a fantastic story of a blue whale that is on his annual commute but gets a little home sick. I hope one day we can make a great recording with her together once more.

 

RMR: What keyboards and basses do you play on the Confluence album and can you give us a brief description your musical training and the contrasting compositional styles and musical acumen on the album, hitting on the high points. Also you have some side projects and other bands that you play with. How do your other projects fit into and compare to the Jung Stratmann Quartet sound on the new album?

Sujae Jung: On Confluence, I play a Yamaha grand piano. I started learning classical piano when I was seven, and I’ve been playing ever since. I didn’t study jazz seriously until high school, but that classical foundation has always stayed with me. Touch is everything for me—I try to communicate my emotions through the weight, clarity, and honesty of each note. That’s also why I continue to practice classical piano. As a pianist and composer, I’m deeply influenced by Bobo Stenson, Keith Jarrett, and Kenny Barron—their voicings, their singing melodic lines, their simplicity that somehow speaks even louder, and their sincerity. Those qualities guide me both in writing and improvising.

Outside of the quartet, I’m involved in two other projects with very different identities. In Airplane Ears, an improvised drum-and-bass trio, I play a Soma Terra Synthesizer and the Korg Minilogue XD. There, I focus on simple but strong hook-like melodies and clear rhythmic ideas. In Intertwined, where I blend Korean traditional music with contemporary jazz, I play both the Soma Terra and the piano. That project is all about exploring Korean rhythms, ornamentations, and the beauty of Korean landscapes through sound. Even though the three projects are very different in concept and texture, the connecting thread is honesty.

Whether I’m improvising, playing something electronic, or writing something rooted in Korean tradition, my main goal is the same: to express a sound that is truly mine—not copying anyone, not performing on autopilot, but staying sincere to the emotion and intention of the music. That’s the element that ties all my work back to the Jung Stratmann Quartet as well.

Wolf Robert Stratmann: My current upright bass is an old German bass from the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. It’s like a Juzek or Pfretzschner but has no label inside. The story that it must have been put together by different workshops. It sounds incredible, but because of that missing label it did cost significantly less than a Juzek or Pfretzschner of similar age and quality would have cost. I use Genssler BoM strings nowadays but on the album I use a mix of Evah Pirazzi on E A and an Olive D from Pirastro, and then a Gamut G gut string. A bit Joe Martin inspired. I just can’t go without the guts any more. The cool thing about Genssler’s is, that they sound like gut, but they are synthetic. So no animals harmed, ha!

Nowadays, I am really consumed by creating all this original music, Sujae’s Intertwined, Airplane Ears and a lot of experimental music that I for now put under the umbrella of my Project Natural sound. I mostly play upright nowadays but then when I play electric, I usually gravitate to my trusty Fender P-Bass. It’s a custom shop, looks older than it actually is, but sounds like it has been around for the past 50 decades. I switch between flats and round-wounds, sometimes I use a pick and then a bunch of pedals. Those change a lot, that keeps me inspired. Usual suspects though are my 3 Leaf Audio Octaver, the EHX Frequency Analyzer and the CAPO pre-amp from Jed Freer. I also use their Sisma amp and Minerva Cabinet.

I really always loved making music on a huge bandwidth. That’s just me. Some may be satisfied with one thing, but I like looking at things from many different perspectives. Sometimes I have to go down many rabbit holes. It’s a lot sometimes because you wanna do things fully and not half. Otherwise why do it all? For the future I hope to come up with a way to let all these different musical streams flow together in one project. That is my challenge for the coming years.

 

RMR: What were some of your choice musical influences and possibly some of your own personal album favorites both growing up and what about albums and artists are you listening to these days?

Sujae Jung: As I mentioned earlier, I’m deeply influenced by musicians like Keith Jarrett, Bobo Stenson, and Kenny Barron. Those influences came after I began studying and playing jazz more seriously. Before that, I actually grew up as a K-pop fan—I loved idol groups and their music, although I eventually lost interest after learning more about the inner workings of that industry. I also enjoyed listening to GoGo Penguin, especially during the time when I studied in Seoul, and of course, I admire the greats—Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane. All those sound worlds shaped both my playing and my approach to music. I shouldn’t forget to mention Ornnett Colman.

Wolf and I both took an ensemble led by Jane Ira Bloom at The New School, and got a chance to learn about Ornnett’s music deeply. His music blew my mind immediately, and I felt how lucky I am that I got to know about him and his music. The freedom in his music, the melodies that are so beautiful, something like that I had never heard before and it instantly influenced my compositions and playing. These days, my listening is quite broad. I still listen to Korean traditional music, and I continue to explore many ECM artists. Keith Jarrett and Kenny Barron remain constants on my playlist. Since starting Airplane Ears, I’ve also been listening to electronic artists like Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin. And recently, I've been especially drawn to the music of Marcin Wasilewski and Julia Hülsmann.

Wolf Robert Stratmann: That’s like a deserted island list thing here! Oh man, there are so many. From the top of my Head, here are 10 albums and people and I would take with me then! 

Boards of Canada: The Campfire Headphase

The Beatles: Rubber Soul

The Frames: Longitude

Robert Badoglio: Lapse Of Worry

Kevin Scott’s King Baby “the Big Galoot”

Wayne Krantz: Krantz Carlock Lefebvre

Bobo Stenson Trio: Reflections

Ornette Coleman: The Shape Of Jazz To Come

Buster Williams: Something More

Hank Jones, Charlie Haden: Come Sunday

Nowadays I listen to a lot of Korean Traditional Music. I have made a playlist for KCCNY a while back. K-MUSIC PLAYLIST No. 10. Maybe you can find it online.

Jazz-wise I listen to a lot of Kenny Barron, Barry Harris and Bud Powell these days. Every second Sunday I try to steal myself away to the Barry Harris Workshop in Manhattan and enjoy learning a new thing or two in this lovely little community. And of course I can’t go without listening to my Electric bass hero Anthony Jackson. Rest in Peace AJ!

At this point I also have to give a special shout out to my mentor Kevin Scott who has been through thick and thin with me the past 6 years. I can’t even put in words how much and in how many ways he has influenced me.

 

RMR: What plans do you have for 2025 and 2026 as far as writing, recording and playing live concerts and will there be a follow CD release to the Jung Stratmann Quartet Confluence album. What kind of album would you like to write and record next?

Sujae Jung: ⁠We’ll be celebrating the release of our quartet album with a concert on December 3rd at Ki Smith Gallery. After that, things will shift quite a bit because we’re preparing to leave New York and move to Germany, so many of our 2026 plans will naturally take place there. Before the move, we’ll be performing our first duo concerts in Korea early next year, and I’ll also continue studying Korean traditional music, which has become an important part of my artistic direction.

Two other albums shall be released too. Our electronic project Airplane Ears will be putting out its debut album, produced together with our musical hero Kevin Scott, which we’re very excited about. I’m also working on the first album for Intertwined, my cross-genre project that blends Korean traditional music with contemporary jazz. For the Jung Stratmann Quartet, the New York release concert will likely be our final performance in the city for a while, but we’re already thinking about future opportunities—possibly a European tour or more quartet concerts with Steve and Marko. And yes, we’d love to make a follow-up album when the timing is right.

Wolf Robert Stratmann: Not much more to add to that, other than that we are grateful for the opportunity of this interview and that we hope everyone will stay safe and well out there!