Michael Wollny & Joachim Kühn – Duo (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:44 minutes | 693 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
The duo recording by the pianists Joachim Kühn and Michael Wollny marks the beginning of a collaboration between two extraordinary partners: The label ACT and Château Palmer, one of the most important Grand Cru wineries in Bordeaux – and a constant companion of jazz. And it uniquely combines the worlds of music, wine and visual arts.
With Joachim Kühn and Michael Wollny, two icons of European jazz piano meet, as well as two close acquaintances, friends and mutual inspirers. With an alert mind, great sensitivity and almost limitless expressiveness.
Read moreMichael Wollny – Wunderkammer XXL (Live) (2009/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 57:40 minutes | 616 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
“The most exciting jazz pianist in Germany” was the title of Die Welt after the publication of “Michael Wollny’s Wunderkammer” in autumn 2009. And the Frankfurter Rundschau spoke of a “big step further in a completely new direction”. In fact, the album marked the beginning of a new era in the career of Michael Wollny. The pianist, who always manages to surprise his listeners and himself with his music, was subsequently elevated to the Olympus of European jazz: he received the coveted ECHO Jazz as the best pianist nationally, the Hamburger Abendblatt named him the “strongest (jazz) musician personality that Germany has produced since Albert Mangelsdorff” and the FAZ sees him as a “perfect piano master”, “who brings everything you can ask for from a perfect jazz pianist: virtuoso technique , exuberant fantasy, Discipline and the ability to creative chaos, sensuality, as well as aesthetic sense“.
Read moreNils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – 4 Wheel Drive II (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 49:18 minutes | 981 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
After the extensive retrospective of his ACT years, which, in three albums (3 Generations), offered a magnificent overview of his innumerable talents through a series of prestigious collaborations, trombonist, singer, composer, producer, and conductor Nils Landgren returns to the stylistic unity of the supergroup that he’s been a part of since 2019. He’s joined by some of his most loyal companions from the label (Michael Wollny on piano and Wolfgang Haffner on drums, both German, as well as Swedish bassist Lars Danielsson) to record the second volume of their alliance, following 4 Wheel Drive.
Read moreNils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Wolfgang Haffner & Lars Danielsson – 4 Wheel Drive Live (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 56:22 minutes | 1,09 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
It scarcely feels necessary to mention the pre-eminent status of all four of these artists, because that is evident from hearing the music. When Nils Landgren brings such feeling to his own melody “Le chat sur le toit”, or when Michael Wollny dazzles with the blues-infused piano solo in “Lady Madonna”; when “Polygon” opens with a bass intro from Lars Danielsson, or when Wolfgang Haffner sets up the power groove to propel “4WD”, then it’s clear what’s happening: four leading figures in European jazz who know each other well and who have appreciated each other’s work for many years have now got together. True, their paths have crossed many times before, and in all kinds of configurations. The formidable duo of Landgren and Wollny comes to mind, for example, as does Haffner’s long-term role as an anchor in the Funk Unit, or Danielsson’s vivid bass presence in Haffner’s trio…but here for the very first time are the four friends as a quartet. They decided to record an album together at the Nilento Studio in Gothenburg: “4 Wheel Drive”.
Read moreNils Landgren, Michael Wollny, Lars Danielsson, Wolfgang Haffner – 4 Wheel Drive (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 50:41 minutes | 983 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
4 wheel-drives may cause pollution, but they go fast! Nils Landgren was keenly aware of this power when he decided to name his album 4 Wheel Drive. Alongside him, the record’s three other wheels are Michael Wollny (piano), Lars Danielsson (bass) and Wolfgang Haffner (drums). These musicians, who are some of the driving forces of today’s European jazz, play with impressive unity under the leadership of a charismatic yet never despotic leader, Swedish Nils Landgren, who plays trombone (and sings). They revisit hits of 4 major pop artists, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Phil Collins and Sting, whose songs comprise eight out of the twelve tracks on the record, choosing a fan-friendly repertoire while always adding a distinctive twist. These songs’ melodic strength in today’s collective unconscious is never weakening the band’s inspired improvisations. Even Landgren’s intimate and delicate vocals bring an innovative light. – Clotilde Maréchal
Read moreMichael Wollny with Emile Parisien, Tim Lefebvre & Christian Lillinger – XXXX (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 44:44 minutes | 860 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
The beasts are loose! At the end of 2019, just a few months before the curtain fell over the world, pianist Michael Wollny (who has gone electric for this album), saxophonist Émile Parisien, bassist Tim Lefebvre and drummer Christian Lillinger all entered the A-Trane club in Berlin with no set-list and no roadmap. Over the course of eight sets, these four fascinating, crazy, contemporary jazz scientists conversed, provoked, fought, embraced, and entwined. What they created here was electro, krautrock, free, progressive – it was more than simply jazz. The sound defies classification, and maybe it’s better that way. With the help of producer Jason Kingsland, who mainly deals in rock productions (Kaiser Chiefs, Band of Horses, Belle and Sebastian), they turned almost eight hours of live recording into 45 minutes of studio material. The result is a fascinating experience. Naturally, XXXX is rather less accessible than Sidney Bechet’s Petite fleur. But the listener can’t help but be carried away by the generosity of these wild exchanges and the energy of the four musicians who never fall into the trap of a complacent, inward-looking jam. Sensitive souls steer clear! Curious souls, get stuck in! – Marc Zisman
Read moreMichael Wollny With Christian Weber & Eric Schaefer – Oslo (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 57:13 minutes | 1,15 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
With Oslo, Michael Wollny and his trusty rhythm section (bassist Christian Weber and drummer Eric Schaefer) confirm that their project is as solid as ever. Recorded at Rainbow Studio in the Norwegian capital in September 2017, the album confirms that Wollny is one of the most skilful German jazz pianists of his generation. An improviser, here he deploys his staple piano style, with plenty of spaces and silences. His playing carries a sincere romanticism which never feels overdone, and a muted tonality. And whether he is tackling Fauré, Debussy or Rautavaara, or playing themes of his own devising, this fan of Keith Jarrett, Brad Mehldau, Esbjörn Svensson and Paul Bley imposes a signature piano style all his own. Note that on three tracks the trio are joined by the Norwegian Wind Ensemble. – Max Dembo
Read moreMichael Wollny – Nachtfahrten (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 47:10 minutes | 887 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
This release owes its original inspiration to a book published in 2013 entitled ‘Nachtmeerfahrten’ (Sea Journeys by Night), which takes the reader over to the dark side of romanticism, to a world of fantasy, of eerie shadows, and things that go bump in the night. Producer Siggi Loch edited the ‘Meer’ (sea) part out of the title, which therefore became ‘Nachtfahrten’ (Night Journeys), which suits this pianist, who is a creature of the nocturnal realm. He feels very much at home in a world of grey cats and blurred outlines, where the contrasting emotions of the moment can leave all rational expectations behind; this is a backdrop which is alive with possibility, but also with trepidation.
Read moreMichael Wollny – Mondenkind (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 46:38 minutes | 793 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
An album reflecting on solitude. The new Solo Piano presents music of Alban Berg, Rudolf Hindemith, Sufjan Stevens, Tori Amos, Timbe Timbre and compositions by the artist himself. Wollny’s masterstroke has been to create a highly individual world, a truly personal dialogue with these extremely contradictory elements. It is a world which will captivate and enchant any listener from the moment they become immersed in it.
Read moreLeszek Mozdzer, Iiro Rantala, Michael Wollny – Jazz At Berlin Philharmonic VII: Piano Night (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 45:49 minutes | 476 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
“Three men, three pianos, one emotion – jazz”. These were the words with which German national TV news succinctly summed up the piano summit on 31st May 2016 in a sold-out main hall of the Berlin Philharmonie. And the TV news reporter continued: “Iiro Rantala, Leszek Możdżer, Michael Wollny. Each in a class of his own. Together, they’re a miracle”. Is there perhaps an element of déjà vu in this story? Yes, certainly. Because these were the same three jazz piano greats who had performed at the very first ‘Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic’ in December 2012, the event which triumphantly set in motion the concert series curated by Siggi Loch at the German capital city’s classical music shrine.
Read moreEmile Parisien, Vincent Peirani, Andreas Schaerer, Michael Wollny – Out Of Land (Live) (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 47:43 minutes | 531 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
For once, here’s a band for which the word “supergroup” is completely appropriate. Swiss vocalist Andreas Schaerer, German pianist Michael Wollny, French accordionist Vincent Peirani and his saxophonist compatriot Emile Parisien are four of the brightest and most charismatic stars in European jazz, now combining their talents in a quartet. This live 2016 recording demonstrates why they are at the very pinnacle of jazz musicians of their generation.
Read moreMichael Wollny with Tim Lefebvre & Eric Schaefer – Ghosts (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:37 minutes | 754 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
“As an improviser, you often find that it‘s not the compositions themselves you‘re playing, but your own memories of them. And as these memories come back to you in the moment, they assert their continuing existence in the here and now,” says Michael Wollny. In other words, songs are like ghosts. Wollny‘s new album “Ghosts” is a gathering of some of the ghosts that regularly haunt him. Typically for Wollny, they range from classics like Franz Schubert’s “Erlkönig” to jazz standards, film music, songs with a certain fragility by Nick Cave, say, or the band Timber Timbre, and also include his own darkly evocative original compositions.
Read moreChristian Brückner & Michael Wollny – Heinrich Heine – Traumbilder (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 49:53 minutes | 854 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
The voice actor Christian Brückner (for Robert De Niro, among others) and Michael Wollny prove to be the perfect pair to recreate Heinrich Heine. With aesthetic flair and imagination, Michael takes up the mood and gesture of the poems and prepares the musical breeding ground for Brückner’s haunting presentation of the texts in mostly completely free improvisations. Voice and piano intertwine and inspire each other in the dialogue of recitation and real-time composition.
Read moreMichael Wollny & Vincent Peirani – Tandem (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 46:14 minutes | 849 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source Q0buz | Artwork: Digital booklet | © ACT Music
This duo of superb musicians can simultaneously be highly refined, and yet completely off-the-wall. They are two of the brightest lights of the international firmament of jazz as seen through a European prism. They have also put down a marker with “Tandem”: their stellar collaboration is most definitely going places. The dialogue between Wollny and Peirani constantly brims with ideas, and they also have a perfect way of circling in and out of each other’s way. (more…)
Read more