Born in Germany in 1976, Woeste has long been celebrated in France where he’s lived since 1997 with his French wife. Although the German state broadcaster WDR has hailed him as ‘one of the best German pianists’, he is relatively unknown in his homeland since he has become an essential component on the Paris jazz scene, which many claim is currently the most vibrant in Europe. Pocket Rhapsody is a deft work; at one level it features Woeste’s thoughtful integration of acoustic and electric keyboards, plus bass synth, and at another level it features a well-conceived compositional and conceptual project. This is an album that progresses by way of small highlights to create its overall effect: the pizzicato strings on ‘The Star Gazer’ in support of Youn Sun Nah’s vocal that gives way to thoughtful extemporisation by Woeste, for example. Although the variety and number of sounds and approaches might seem like wilful eclecticism – from the rock-influenced ‘Buzz Addict’, which grows from small beginnings in ways that are unexpected, to the quirky organ riff of ‘Terlingua’, or the classical overtones of ‘Meloancholia’ – it is Woeste as composer and conceptualist which gives this album its sense of unity and direction.