Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Faithful (ECM, 2011) by Adam Baruch

Marcin Wasilewski Trio

Marcin Wasilewski (piano)
Michal Miskiewicz (drums)
Slawomir Kurkiewicz (bass)

ECM Records, 2011

(Editor) New Marcin Wasilewski record is no doubt one of the main events on Polish jazz scene this year which is evidenced by number of reviews of this album available on web sites and in magazines worldwide. On our blog you can find  reviews of "Faithful" by Maciej Nowotny (focused on music itself) and Stephan Moore (enthusiastic). This review by Adam Baruch (https://www.jazzis.com/) comes as third but I still strongly recommend reading it since it presents a bit critical point of view on this album:

This is the 3rd album released on the ECM label by the great Polish piano trio, led by pianist / composer Marcin Wasilewski with bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz. The trio used to be called Simple Acoustic Trio and released several albums under that name before someone (at ECM?) decided to put the leader´s name up front, which seems hardy fair or appropriate after so many years they played together under that name. But setting such trivia as marketing tactics and ego trips aside, the music made by these wonderful musicians is as usual outstanding. Of the ten tracks present here, Wasilewski composed five and the others are by such diverse composers as Ornette Coleman, Hermeto Pascoal or the German composer Hanns Eisler. The music is played with flair and panache, but slightly lacks the adventurous streak I personally always look for. One might have thought that after years of playing with Tomasz Stanko, some of his magic would have rubbed off. Nevertheless both technically and emotionally this is as near perfection as one can expect from a "well behaved" album, and the above comments do not reflect negatively on this beautiful piece of music and the exceptional music-making captured herein. Always melodic, even in the heat of improvisation, with a wonderful support from the bassist and gentle but accurate input from the drummer, this music simply sounds great, especially when so well recorded. Listeners, who enjoyed the trio´s previous output, will definitely not be disappointed, with a good chance for many new followers discovering them here.

Author of text: Adam Baruch (http://www.adambaruch.com/)