Adam Jarzmik Quintet feat. Mike Moreno – On The Way Home (2019)

Adam Jarzmik Quintet feat. Mike Moreno

Adam Jarzmik - piano
Jakub Łępa - tenor saxophone
Paweł Palcowski - trumpet
Maciej Kitajewski - bass
Piotr Budniak - drums
Mike Moreno - guitar

On The Way Home


AUDIO CAVE 2019/005

By Adam Baruch

This is the third album by young Polish Jazz pianist/composer Adam Jarzmik recorded with the same quintet that accompanied him on the two previous albums: saxophonist Jakub Łępa, trumpeter Paweł Palcowski, bassist Maciej Kitajewski and drummer Piotr Budniak, but expanded to a sextet by the presence of the American guitarist Mike Moreno. The album presents six original compositions, all by Jarzmik. The music was recorded at the Monochrome Studio by Ignacy Gruszecki, and offers the expected excellent sound quality.

The music is again kept strictly within the mainstream Jazz idiom and although the compositions are solid and well developed, they seem to be stuck in the same mold that created the two earlier recordings. Usually by the third album young Polish Jazz composers come up with a more open formula, which allows them to spread their wings and move into new territory, but this does not happen on this album. This does not mean that the music is not valuable, but it does not fulfill the high hopes that were expected.

Of course the musicians involved are all highly professional players, with slick licks and polished technique, and the music is definitely very well performed, but remains somewhat mechanical and lackluster. Moreno, albeit his experience and reputation adds very little, if anything at all to the album's contents, and the music would have sounded about the same without him. Overall this is a relatively less successful effort by Jarzmik and his excellent team, definitely not up to par with his earlier work, but still offering highly professional original mainstream Jazz. Better luck next time I hope.