When I Was Olaf Taranczewski

• 1 Coco 04:19
• 2 And Everything Was Calm 07:06
• 3 The Composer 05:06
• 4 Grønland 06:31
• 5 When I Was 04:26
• 6 Thing of Souls 03:34
• 7 Ligature 08:02
• 8 Twenty-One Years 03:56
• 9 Mysore 06:26
• 10 Me Time 04:53
• 11 Take Me Home 04:03
• Total Runtime 58:22

Info for When I Was

Taranczewski is a trio from Berlin. Connoisseurs of film soundtracks may be familiar with the name Olaf Taranczewski, for everyone else the band Taranczewski comes out of nowhere, and yet after just a few notes it seems as if it had always been there.

This impression does not come about by chance. Pianist Olaf Taranczewski has known bassist Jean-Philippe Wadle and drummer Benedikt Stehle for decades, and yet they have never played together in this constellation. The pianist is the composer and namesake of the band, but as one can easily hear on the debut album "When I Was", Taranczewski is a stable triangle whose impulses and playing shares are evenly and - more importantly - equally distributed.

The perfection of form of classical music, the nonchalant spontaneity of jazz piano trios such as Bill Evans, the emotionality of Americana music, the binding closeness of fusion music, the epic sound understanding of film soundtracks, the accumulated reductiveness of minimal music, the narrative flow of moritatas, the melancholy cheerfulness of Yiddish music, the individual expressiveness of chansons - all this comes together on "When I Was" to form a unity that has never been heard before.

Olaf Taranczewski, piano
Jean-Philippe Wadle; double bass
Benedikt Stehle, drums

Taranczewski Trio


Pianist Olaf Taranczewski has known bassist Jean-Philippe Wadle and drummer Benedikt Stehle for decades, yet they have never played together in this particular configuration.



While the pianist is the composer and namesake of the band, as is readily apparent on their debut album, *When I Was*, Taranczewski is a stable trio whose contributions and playing styles are evenly and—more importantly—equally distributed.

The three musicians are connected not only by their shared passion for making music, but also by their shared love of listening to music.

These formative experiences are evident on *When I Was*. In essence, they tell each other stories of this shared listening on the album, and the listener has the privilege of being able to hear these gentle narratives.

Olaf Taranczewski
(born 1977 in Hofheim am Taunus) comes from a German-Jewish-Polish family. He studied jazz piano at the Mainz University of Music and jazz arrangement at the Cologne University of Music. He has lived in Berlin since 2006.

He has composed music for the feature films and television movies "Mi America" ​​(HBO), "Schweigeminute" (Movie/ZDF), and "Hier und Dort" (MDR), as well as regularly for television programs such as "Frontal 21" and "Satirischer Jahresrückblick" (ZDF), and TV documentaries since 2011.

For the score of “Dissonance” (directed by Till Nowak), he received the German Film Music Award in the main category “Best Music in a Film” in 2015, as well as the award for Best Film Music in Annecy, France. In 2009, he won the award for Best Film Music at the Lünen Film Festival.

With visual artist Phil Max Schöll (space graphics/pathfinding), Olaf Taranczewski created the facade projection “Homage Collage” in Weimar. He also appeared as a composer at the Magdeburg Theatre and for the operetta “Turnadot” with the musical comedy duo Carrington & Brown. For Oscar winner Volker Bertelmann (Hauschka), he arranged orchestral and string quartet versions for performances at the Elbphilharmonie and the Berlin Konzerthaus.

Olaf Taranczewski, together with visual artist Phil Max Schöll (space graphics/pathfinding), created the facade projection “Homage Collage” in Weimar.

Since 2017, Olaf Taranczewski has been Professor of Producing with a focus on Jazz & Pop at the Trossingen State University of Music.

Jean-Philippe Wadle
(born 1980 in Pirmasens) won first prize at the "Jugend jazzt" competition in 1998 and 2001 and studied double bass at the music academies of Mainz and Cologne between 2002 and 2006.

In 2003, he founded the Bassface Swing Trio, which continues to this day. Wadle has worked with musicians such as Tom Gaebel, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Lalo Schifrin, HR Big Band, Tony Lakatos, Axel Schlosser, Ralf Hesse, Scott Hamilton, Manfred Schoof, Ack van Rooyen, Hans Dekker, Bruno Müller, Wolfgang Haffner, as well as Katja Ebstein, Alexander Marshall, and Tony Marshall. From 2015 to 2022, he was a member of Emil Mangelsdorff's quartet.

Wadle can be heard on albums by Gee Hye Lee, Daniel Stelter, Andreas Gabalier, and Eugene Ruffulo. In addition to numerous concerts throughout Europe, he tours the USA and South Korea. Jean-Philippe Wadle lives in Ingelheim am Rhein.

Paul Benedikt Stehle (born 1984 in Sigmaringen) moved to Berlin at the age of 17 to become a professional musician. After auditions for Berklee College of Music and the Los Angeles College of Music, Benedikt Stehle received two scholarships and studied in the USA.

After graduating, he toured the USA and Indonesia for two years. During this time, he lived and worked in the New York music scene. Among other things, he toured as the regular drummer for Sammy Adams, a Boston-based rapper.

In 2008, Stehle returned to Berlin and worked live, in the studio, and on television, collaborating with artists such as Beth Hart, Mousse T., Barbara Tucker, Dendemann, Emma Lanford, Eugene Hütz (Gogol Bordello), Della Miles, Steve Lillywhite, Mo’ Blow, The Weather Girls, Aly Keïta, Joachim Deutschland, and Balbina.

In addition to working as a freelance session musician, he is a permanent band member of pop singer Alexander Knappe and the Romanian Balkan band Fanfare Ciocărlia. With this group, he contributed several tracks to Sacha Baron Cohen's internationally successful 2020 film "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" (Borat 2). He can be heard not only as a drummer but also as the vocalist on the Balkan version of the classic "Just the Two of Us," which is featured in the film's end credits.

Paul Benedikt Stehle
(born 1984 in Sigmaringen) moved to Berlin at the age of 17 to become a professional musician. After auditions for Berklee College of Music and the Los Angeles College of Music, Benedikt Stehle received two scholarships and studied in the USA.

After graduating, he toured the USA and Indonesia for two years. During this time, he lived and worked in the New York music scene. Among other things, he toured as the regular drummer for Sammy Adams, a Boston-based rapper.

In 2008, Stehle returned to Berlin and worked live, in the studio, and on television, collaborating with artists such as Beth Hart, Mousse T., Barbara Tucker, Dendemann, Emma Lanford, Eugene Hütz (Gogol Bordello), Della Miles, Steve Lillywhite, Mo’ Blow, The Weather Girls, Aly Keïta, Joachim Deutschland, and Balbina.

Besides working as a freelance session musician, he is a permanent band member of pop singer Alexander Knappe and the Romanian Balkan band Fanfare Ciocărlia. With this group, he contributed several tracks to Sacha Baron Cohen's internationally successful 2020 film "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" (Borat 2). He can be heard not only as a drummer but also as the vocalist on the Balkan version of the classic "Just the Two of Us," which is featured in the film's end credits.

This album contains no booklet.