Heinz Sauer/Michael Wollny: Don't Explain: Live in Concert

Rating: ★★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Heinz Sauer (ts)
Michael Wollny (p)

Label:

ACT

February/2013

Catalogue Number:

9549-2

RecordDate:

9 September 2012

Context is all, and from his dynamic collaboration with Eva Kruse and Eric Schaefer in the trio [em] to his inspired yet contemplative interaction with German sax legend Heinz Sauer, the breadth of pianist Michael Wollny's artistic growth over the last decade – documented with care and sensitivity by the ACT label – becomes clear. Wollny's playing is simultaneously a wonder and a delight, and the way it has flowered during his collaborations with Sauer – this is their fourth album together in an association that dates back to 2003 – has hardly gone unnoticed in the European jazz press. Their 2006 album Certain Beauty was voted CD of the Year by Jazzman magazine in France, while Welt am Sonntag described their collaboration as “among the best German jazz has got to offer.” Live performance, of course, provides jazz's most telling real-life studies, but this concert, recorded live in Darmstadt on 9 September last year, comes close to the real thing. Opening with a version of ‘All Blues’ as if viewed from the wrong end of the telescope, so their performance is foregrounded and the original version is distantly glimpsed, they move through a wide ranging programme including originals and collaborations by the protagonists, and pieces by EST, Prince, and Bob Dylan. Almost 50 years separate these performers – Wollny is 33 and Sauer was 80 on Christmas Day just passed – yet these performances are timeless, a marriage of true craftsmanship and inspiration. Wollny once famously said playing with Sauer was like “giving up control and seeing what happens.” Once you do that, all you have is trust, which in turn has kindled the astonishing empathy that makes this duo special.

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