Karolina Pernal Quintet - Claridad (2018)

Karolina Pernal Quintet

Karolina Pernal - tenor & soprano saxophones
Achille Succi - alto saxophone, bass clarinet
Kuba Płużek - piano
Jakub Olejnik - double bass
Wojciech Buliński - drums

Claridad


SJ 033

By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by Polish Jazz saxophonist/composer Karolina Pernal recorded in a quintet setting with Italian saxophonist/clarinetist Achille Succi and Polish pianist Kuba Płużek, bassist Jakub Olejnik and drummer Wojciech Buliński. The album presents six tracks, five of which are original compositions: three by Karolina Pernal and two by her spouse trombonist Bartosz Pernal and one is a Sam Rivers composition arranged by Bartosz Pernal. The album was recorded at the Monochrom Studio and engineered by Ignacy Gruszecki with the usual excellent sound quality.

The music is all kept within the melodic mainstream Jazz idiom, with solid original compositions by the Pernals, which are mostly ballads with typical Polish melancholic streak. It is easy on the ear but eventually rather uneventful, although professionally performed by the quintet members with Płużek being the most interesting soloist by far. Having said that, this album offers a pleasant listening experience to mainstream Jazz connoisseurs and can be enjoyed in full, like many similar other albums in that vein.

Karolina Pernal is one of relatively few female Polish Jazz instrumentalists, and as such she deserves support and encouragement to achieve an equal footing with her many male cohorts. This debut offering is surely just a first step on the way to a hopefully wonderful musical career.