Colours of Siam Thorsten Wollmann

• 1 Rainy Seasons 08:09
• 2 Northern Thai Song 05:16
• 3 Song for Janine 07:05
• 4 Pagodas 06:45
• 5 Variations on a Thai Theme 08:36
• 6 Between Islands 06:26
• 7 Pahurat 04:55
• 8 Night Sketch 05:29
• 9 Chao Phraya 04:07
• 10 Tropical Night 08:39
• Total Runtime 01:05:27

Info for Colours of Siam

This album by the trumpet player and prolific composer, Thorsten Wollmann, is his salute to Thailand, a country which occupies a special place in his heart. Says Wollmann, "Thailand is a country of soft colours and this inspired me to create a work containing seven separate compositions in a spectrum of widely different sounds." The Big Band of the West Deutscher Rundfunk, which has won international acclaim for its impeccable ensemble work and high-calibre soloists, was the perfect ensemble to record this superb suite.

Hayden Chisholm, saxophone
Hans Dekker, drums
Alphonso Garrido, percussion
Wolf Kerschek, vibraphone, marimba
WDR Bigband Köln
Thorsten Wollmann, direction, composer

Thorsten Wollmann
was born on February 10th, 1966, in Biberach-Laupheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He graduated with a Master Degree (Magna Cum Laude) from the Musikhochschule Köln (The Cologne School of Music), majoring in composition and jazz trumpet, minoring in piano. His final exam concert in 1994 was recorded and broadcasted by the West German Radio (WDR).

As a soloist he was a member of the Youth Jazz Orchestra Baden-Württemberg, the National Jazz Orchestra, the National Jazz Septet, the German-Scandinavian-Project and the Südpoolensemble. On tour concerts he performed in West Africa (Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic), Southeast Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines), India, Mexico, Portugal and Spain. His own band, the Thorsten Wollmann Quintet, performed for the South German Radio (SDR), the Southwest German Radio (SWF) and with the Cologne Radio Orchestra for the WDR.

As a composer he wrote commission works for the Cologne Radio Orchestra, the Thorsten Wollmann Orchestra, the Jazz Orchestras of the WDR, SDR, HR (Hessian Radio), NDR (North German Radio), the soloists Bobby Shew (USA), Tom Harell (USA) and John Taylor (UK), the National Jazz Orchestra, the Südpoolensemble, the German Jazz Orchestra, the German Music Festival 1995 (his composition „From a Legend“ was selected as the compulsory piece for the national band competition), the Ensemble Pyramide (Switzerland), Duo Concertante (Cologne), Due Boemi Di Praga (Czech) and the Bamberg Symphony Bigband. Some of his symphonic works were performed and recorded by the Auckland Philharmonia and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

T. Wollmann conducted the Sofia Radio Orchestra, Bulgaria, the Südpoolensemble, the WDR-Big Band, the NDR-Big Band, the German Jazz Orchestra, the National Jazz Orchestra, the Chiang Mai Big Band and the Thorsten Wollmann Orchestra.

From numerous CD-publications containing his own compositions there are five under his own name: „Cycles“ (Duo with Wolf Kerschek), „The Characteristics of Water“ (composer portrait), „Lost in Clubs“ (Jazz Sextet), „Africa Suite“ (Thorsten Wollmann Jazz Orchestra) and "Colours of Siam" (WDR-Big Band).

He also composes for film (in 1996 he was invited as the only European composer to participate in the ASCAP-Film-Composer-Workshop in Hollywood), and has written jazz compositions, tangos, children’s songs, music for band, chamber music and symphonic music. Examples of his works are the „Africa Suite“ for Big Band, „Siddhartha“ for Jazz Orchestra, a „Concerto for Symphonic Band“ (based on paintings of Paul Klee), „The Characteristics of Water“ for the Ensemble Pyramide, a „Piano Concerto“, "The Thai Piano Book", „The Elements“ for Orchestra, and the „Symphony to the End of the 20th Century“.

Thorsten Wollmann was awarded the Jazz Prize of the State Baden-Württemberg in 1992.

Since 1996 the composer has lived in Thailand, together with his wife Pimonmas (who has a PH.D. in German Literature) and their daughter Alissa Janine. He is working as a lecturer for the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) in the Music Department of Payap University, Chiang Mai.

Currently Thorsten Wollmann is completing his doctorate in classical composition at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. The composer was awarded with the Philip Neill Memorial Prize of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand in August 2002.

This album contains no booklet.