Johanna Summer & Malakoff Kowalski

It all began with a crush: five years ago, Malakoff Kowalski heard Johanna Summer's Schumann improvisations, an "enchantment", as he wrote in Die Zeit, an incredible work that made him "dizzy with happiness". This was followed by an acquaintance - and the realization that Summer appreciated Kowalski's "art of economy" at least as much as he appreciated her for her wealth of ideas. This year saw the release of Summer's EP "Upright" and Kowalski's LP "Songs With Words", on which the German-American-Persian musician performs as a singer, pairs poems by Allen Ginsberg with classical piano pieces and is accompanied by Johanna Summer - supplemented by contributions from Igor Levit and Chilly Gonzales. The two albums have become a fascinating duo program that seems inevitable: on the one hand the meticulous perfectionist, on the other the highly virtuosic and imaginative jazz pianist who draws on classical music - these two, who adore each other, simply had to come together.