German pianist, Michael Wollny, celebrates his thirty-sixth birthday later this month but with his long hair and boyish demeanour, he looks far younger and could easily pass for a teenager. His music, though, evinces a maturity that belies the pianist’s beguilingly deceptive appearance and at Cheltenham’s Playhouse venue he and his trio delivered a spellbinding set that justified the plethora of plaudits that have been bestowed on the group by leading European jazz critics. Mostly, Wollny featured music from his latest ACT album, the excellent ‘Weltentraum,’ including a blissfully dreamy take on Alban Berg’s ‘Nacht,’ which opened the show. The nocturnal theme continued with two other evening pieces; an interpretation of composer Paul Hindemith’s ‘Rufe In Der Horchenden Nacht,’ and the pianist’s own composition, ‘When The Sleeper Wakes.’ One of the best numbers was a superb deconstruction of rock band the Flaming Lips’ ‘Be Free, A Way,’ where Wollny’s hands became an oscillating visual blur as the music reached a volcanic climax. If this dynamic performance is anything to go by, Wollny and his confreres (including powerhouse drummer, Eric Schaefer) are much more rambunctious, experimental and seemingly freer in a live setting than on record, fearlessly expanding the parameters of modern piano trio music.
Charles Waring
