Artur Dutkiewicz Trio – Traveller (2017)

Artur Dutkiewicz Trio

Artur Dutkiewicz - piano
Michał Barański - bass
Łukasz Żyta - drums

Traveller

PIANOART 5907760035042




By Adam Baruch

This is seventh album by Polish Jazz pianist/composer Artur Dutkiewicz, recorded in a trio setting with his usual team consisting of bassist Michał Barański and drummer Łukasz Żyta. The album presents eleven original compositions, all by Dutkiewicz. It was recorded at the Studio Tokarnia and engineered by Jan Smoczyński, with the usual spectacular sonic quality.

Dutkiewicz is certainly one of the most melodic/lyrical Polish Jazz pianist and his output so far evidently reflected these qualities. The music on this album, although continuing the same path in many respects, adds more freedom and wandering (traveling?) then ever before, or at least that is my impression of it. The melodic themes are as beautiful as always, but the pianist often takes the liberty of distancing himself form the strict melodic expression and ventures into more abstract territory, with many pauses and obvious self- examination while performing. This attitude is rather novel in his stylistic palette and of course most welcome, as the music becomes multi-dimensional and more multifaceted then before.

Barański and Żyta are a dream come true rhythm section, being completely symbiotic with the pianist all the way through, even when he takes unexpected turns and twists in the heat of his improvisations. Their support and contributions, which are an integral part of the music, are simply telepathic and esthetically perfect. Such perfect harmony and mutual cooperation happens only between the best musicians out there and this album is a wonderful example of such an occurrence.

In perspective to his entire recorded output, this album is definitely a giant step forward for Dutkiewicz both as a composer and a pianist. The music is more complex and more open than before, full of creative searching and exploring, and his playing is more dynamic and less controlled than on any of his earlier recordings. It is great to see an experienced and highly respected musician still searching and developing, to the delight of his followers. This album makes me crave for the next album already, for which we won't hopefully need to wait for years again. Hats off!