This has to be amongst the highlights of this year’s Dottendorfer Jazznacht in Bonn. A breathtaking performance by two of Sweden’s finest: singer Viktoria Tolstoy and pianist Jacob Karlzon.
Tolstoy is the great-great-granddaughter of Leo Tolstoy, which puts me in mind of Meghan and Rebecca of Larkin Poe with Edgar Allen Poe as their Great, Great Great Grandfather. Viktoria Tolstoy’s success owes nothing to the family name — she has spent three decades working hard to become one of the most respected voices in European jazz, praised even by Pat Metheny, who once told her: “When you sing, the sun rises.” Add to that vibrant voice Jacob Karlzon, a pianist known for his warmth, technical brilliance, and gift for atmosphere who has been her musical partner for more than twenty years, and that closeness shows. Together they perform as an intimate duo, and on this particular evening in Bonn, the intuitivness between the two musicians was truly spellbinding.
The bulk of Friday’s set came from the duo’s new studio release ‘Who We are’ which in itself is a very enjoyable affair, largely featuring songs from Karlzon but with a smattering of familiar tracks from others including this evening’s opener, Billy Joel’s ‘And So It Goes’. It’s noticeable though, even from this starting song, that Tolstoy and Karlzon don’t ‘just’ re-run the original songs when they do a cover. Even familiar numbers like this one and ‘Cloud On My Tongue’ from the wonderful Tori Amos are launchpads for both Tolstoy and Karlzon to improvise on; and part of the evening’s fun for me was watching the two eyeing each other like prize-fighters: each waiting to parry the other’s move and ‘up’ the musical stakes. ‘Who We Are’ for example finished with a wonderful flourish of both piano and voice repeating in a breathtaking rush of ever higher octaves.
As mentioned, much of the evening’s music and lyrics came from Jacob Karlzon. Not a name I was familiar with so all I knew about him was what I had discovered during a short chat that we had by chance before the show, that he was a fan of Nick Cave. It turns out that Karlton is a genuine jazz veteran — his first album came out in 1992, and since then he’s recorded several more under his own name as well as appearing on around 40 other releases. in 1997 he picked up the Jazz in Sweden award with the Malmö group Blue Pages and was also named Newcomer of the Year in Swedish Radio’s jazz critics’ poll. In 2010, he was voted Musician of the Year in that same poll and received the Django d’Or as Contemporary Star of Jazz. He not only writes songs that would stand up well against the likes of Billy Joel and Tori Amos, such as ‘Trigger Warning’. I mean, who could resist lyrics like: “Marcel Proust is spinning in his grave like a propeller. You are bending both your forks, like you’re Uri Geller” ?!
And then there’s the piano playing… I can understand his being a fan of Nick Cave. There’s a knife-edge in the music that comes from the piano keys switching suddenly from the comfortable to the unexpected. So often melody and counter-melody run simultaneously and effortlessy as if left and right hand have two different players. It all looks effortless at moments like the achingly tender intro to ‘Make Me Human’, or the joyful churchbell sound ringing out on ‘Let There Be Kindness’. And then at other times it all looks superhuman as when, late in the set, he hits those same piano keys so hard that the room seems to vibrate.
Pat Metheny’s assessment of Viktoria Tolstoy’s voice is pretty spot on. It has a brightness of clarity and a warmth like the sunrise. Also, and importantly, it has the range to follow where Jacob Karlzon suddenly seems to go effortlessly. Most at home on sweetly toned ballads it can also dig deep when needed as it is during ‘Trigger Warning’, and still have the snarl and volume to stay on top of Karlzon’s funky blues piano on the wonderful closer – Dinah Washington’s ‘You Let My Love Grow Cold’. I would gladly have heard a bit more of the raunchy tone of that one during the evening.
A faultless set then from the duo with never a dull musical moment. The new release is excellent, but that extra inventiveness that comes out of a long musical partnership together puts live shows like this in a different class. A duo made for playing music on a stage, that pulls the very best out of each other to the benefit of us – the lucky audience.
STILL TO COME FROM DOTTENDORFER JAZZNACHT in 2026:
2 October: Joo Kraus & Band DETAILS
20 November: Thomas Stieger Band DETAILS
11 December: Marcus Schinkel & Marion Lenfant-Preus DETAILS
