Sarter Kit - What I Am And What I’m Not

As the leader of new outfit Sarter Kit, 25 year old saxophonist Tara Sarter is creating a unique form of minimal, experimental jazz drawing on humanist principles and shared experiences. Her uncluttered and emotionally heavy debut album What I am and What I’m Not creates an open, instrumental soundworld, where breaks and silences command equal gravitas as the notes and beats. Sarter was born and raised in southern Germany, near the French border, taking her first steps into music in fifth grade. Her school offered a chance to learn an instrument and though initially steered toward the trombone, Tara deemed the instrument too big and loud and insisted on the alto saxophone - despite its equal propensity for volume. What followed was a transformative immersion in music. By the age of 13, Sarter was the youngest member of her school’s big band, regularly performing weekend concerts, embarking on tours across Europe and learning to find her footing within a close-knit yet challenging musical community. Sarter says she doesn’t really have any musical heroes, but an admiration for Kenny Garrett helped to shape her sax playing. The early years in the big band instilled a love for live performance and the interconnectedness of music, setting the foundation for her later projects. Tara later received a scholarship to attend a music school before beginning her studies at a university in Weimar, where she is now based. Although her path through formal education has been non-linear, with other creative projects interspersed, this fluidity has shaped her independent approach to music and solidified her belief in pursuing authentic, collaborative artistry over a rigid academic approach, by her own confession she’s “not really one for theory.” The formation of Sarter Kit was organic and unplanned, perhaps happenstance or perhaps the delicate guiding hand of the universe connecting people together.Pianist Elias Stemeseder, then a teacher at her university invited Sarter to perform a concert with him, an opportunity she both relished and found unexpectedly daunting. This collaboration soon expanded into a festival performance and the addition of Lukas Akintaya on drums, with the ensemble solidifying around a shared sense of exploration rather than formal organization. As one experience led to another, Sarter was taken totally by surprise when Munich based, tastemaker label Squama Recordings offered to record and release a record. What I am and What I’m Not is both a reflection of and a response to the tumultuous period in which it was created. The writing and recording process coincided with deeply emotional times, marked by global crises such as the war in Ukraine and the escalating conflict in Gaza. These events weighed heavily on Sarter, creating a sense of dissonance between the act of recording and the broader realities of the world. Yet, through this tension, What I am and What I’m Not emerged as a poignant and raw exploration of human emotion, resilience, and connection. Musically, the album is characterized by its minimalist approach. While many contemporary, experimental jazz records lean into dense, technical arrangements, What I am and What I’m Not creates a striking impact through restraint. The masterful drumming of Lukas Akintaya dances between oblique patterns in odd meters, into rolling grooves and afrobeat inspired rhythms. On keys and synth, Elias Stemeseder creates tension and releases, with lingering chords and fragile melodies. Stemeseder’s synthesizer work throughout the album is subtle yet masterful. Stalking the silence between the sax, drums and piano, creating a haze of digital textures within the margins of the music. Much of the album was recorded live, preserving the raw, unedited energy of their performances. Beyond its musical qualities, What I am and What I’m Not is a reflection of Sarter’s belief in the power of music as a form of human connection. For Sarter, music is not about proving technical prowess but about creating something meaningful, something that transcends barriers and speaks to the shared experience of being human.