Michael Wollny Trio - Ghosts (CD)

Release Date: 10/07/22

Wollny's 'Ghost Songs' range from classical to jazz standards, from songs by the likes of Nick Cave to own darkly evocative original compositions

'Michael Wollny has become one of the European jazz scene's most prolific and most unpredictable performers.' (Allaboutjazz.com) Born in 1978, the German pianist is an internationally successful jazz pianist, music inventor and unconventional thinker. His desire to keep reinventing himself, both in terms of sound and composition; that is what makes him 'an insanely great pianist. [...] This, my friends of jazz and classical, is where we meet and experience something original.' (Rochester City Newspaper)
'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 Wollny. In other words, songs are like ghosts. Wollny's 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. The trio line-up on 'Ghosts' features American bassist Tim Lefebvre, who's very particular sound and vibe are also to be heard on albums by David Bowie, Wayne Krantz and Elvis Costello.
'All the songs are living ghosts and long for a living voice' wrote the Irish poet Brendan Kennelly in one of his most famous poems. For Michael Wollny, this line is a cryptic and yet profound insight. It adds an eerie beauty and serves as a motto for his fascination for the magic of songs which this recording represents. When we talk about ghosts, we look into what seems to be the past, and bring back memories from it into our lives. We as listeners can all believe in the 'Ghosts' that the Michael Wollny Trio hear. Because we can all hear them and recognise them.

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