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. You can quite simply chuck anything in his direction, and he will absorb it, transform it and give it straight back to you. It’s like a version of tennis on fast forward, with the balls coming in from all directions.” After that first meeting, Peirani immediately sent Wollny an email. He wrote: “I’ve attached a recording of last night. Have a listen. I’d really like you to play on my next album.” And that is indeed what transpired: Wollny became part of the trio for Peirani’s first ACT album, “Thrill Box.” As Die Welt said of that CD: “The searching and probing for contrapuntal beauty, the uncommonly lyrical playing have what it takes to touch the heart and make one hold one’s breath.”
