The duo of pianist Johanna Summer and saxophonist Jakob Manz is a rare stroke of luck in German jazz: two of its outstanding young characters, virtuosic, courageous, with broad horizons and an unmistakable musical signature - two with a shared understanding of jazz as a vocabulary for telling new, personal stories.
Both are deeply rooted in the jazz idiom, but expand it with their individual influences: Jazz, pop, classical music, improvisation, composition - Johanna Summer and Jakob Manz distil all these elements into the smallest possible format of musical interaction on their second joint album Cameo (ACT Music): the duo.
Its special magic lies in searching for and finding new music together, listening to and reacting to each other and the way in which the two protagonists, who are as different as they are close, complement and surprise each other time and again. Jakob Manz says: ‘Whenever Johanna improvises, something happens that you don't expect. When she solos, it often seems composed at the same time, but it really is always different, it always arises from the moment. There are very few people who can do it like that.’ And Johanna Summer replies: ‘I find it impressive how infinitely musical Jakob is. Everything he plays is always incredibly comprehensible and strong. Jakob's playing has a clarity that is very human, musical and comprehensible.’
For some magical reason, much of Summer and Manz's music happens in unison, although it was not foreseeable until a fraction of a second beforehand. This testifies to the duo's great alertness and sensitivity. Jakob Manz says: ‘When I play with Johanna as a duo, many of the habits that I have developed when playing with other musicians simply no longer work. Something unexpected can happen all the time, you always have to stay incredibly alert. That's very inspiring!’ The special magic of this musical dialogue is transferred to the listener. You marvel at the simultaneity of freedom and clarity, at the way in which two very different characters complement each other and at the same time interact gently and confidently. A rare stroke of luck.
