A successful pop concert is one which precisely fulfils the audience’s expectations, when every song sounds like the one on the CD – only louder. Live events are about re-listening, about emphasis and sharing energy, and not so much about surprises. Pianist and singer Jens Thomas, who friends of Enjoy Jazz have often experienced as Matthias Brandt’s congenial partner in the past few years, approaches the matter differently. Although he dedicates himself to the pop genre, he only uses its vocabulary to improvise virtuously: creating new songs, fluffy melodies, catchy refrains and smooth lyrics live. Thomas is inspired by the moment, the audience, the mood in the hall, flashes of inspiration and circulating words. His diverse musical experiences support him: in the 90s, he played with Christoph Lauer, Paolo Fresu and Antonelli Salis, amongst others. He recorded jazz records for ACT and discovered his singer songwriter side in 2003 when he improvised for the stage music of “Othello” by Luk Perceval at the Munich Chamber Orchestra. However, it can’t ever overheard that he comes from jazz: his love of experimenting, variations in his piano playing, the breadth of his harmonic and melodic ideas are evidence of this. Thomas titles his evening “ Ich”, i.e. “me”, where “ich” is always somebody different for him.
