Johanna Summer & Malakoff Kowalski

Two great albums in the spotlight: The jazz EP "Upright" (ACT 2025) by Johanna Summer, and then the album “Songs With Words” (Sony Classical 2025) by Malakoff Kowalski as vocalist together with Igor Levit, Johanna Summer, and Chilly Gonzales on piano: A pairing of miniatures by classical composers with sung poems by Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. While this album was being recorded, a 7-piece jazz suite by Johanna Summer emerged on a whim in the studio, that combined her own works with standards and an elegy by Richard Wagner. “Upright” and excerpts from “Songs With Words” and solo piano music taken from this unique duo's previous albums now form a concert repertoire of improvised jazz, European classical piano tradition and American Beat poetry.

Johanna Summer: Piano | Malakoff Kowalski: Piano, Vocals