WOLLNY,MICHAEL/PEIRANI,VINCENT - Tandem (CD)

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. Impromptu meetings can have far-reaching consequences. German pianist Michael Wollny and French accordionist Vincent Peirani quite literally got to know each other on stage during the ACT20 Jubilee Night at the “New Morning” club in Paris in 2012. Before performing together that night, they had exchanged little more than a peremptory handshake. However, those who heard their first spontaneous jam as a duo certainly won’t have forgotten the sheer excitement, and it has certainly stayed in the minds of both of the musicians. “It was like we used to play for decades together! No need to talk, no need to look at each other, we just breathed together…” Wollny is also full of praise for his colleague: “With Vincent you can roam freely across a whole gamut of styles and moods, and nothing gets in the way.