Petera Sextet - Flashover (2019)

Petera Sextet

Dariusz Petera - piano
Maciej "Kocin" Kociński - tenor saxophone
Emil Miszk - trumpet
Krzysztof Lenczowski - cello
Andrzej Święs - double bass
Krzysztof Szmańda - drums

Flashover


REQUIEM/LYDIAN 2019/4

By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album as a leader by Polish Jazz pianist/composer Dariusz Petera recorded in a sextet setting with some of the top Polish Jazz musicians: trumpeter Emil Miszk, saxophonist Maciej Kociński, cellist Krzysztof Lenczowski, bassist Andrzej Święs and drummer Krzysztof Szmańda. The album presents ten original compositions, all by Petra. The music was recorded at the excellent RecPublica Studios and offers a superb sound quality. It also offers a highly aesthetic packaging.

The music is a wonderful example of contemporary Polish/European Jazz, which combines melodic themes with open structures, which enable the music to spread freely in many different directions not being limited by traditional Jazz pre-conceptions, resulting in many unexpected manifestations of the compositional palette. Petera certainly arises as a new talent on the local Jazz scene and the fact that the last time he took part in recording an album happened six years ago is very intriguing. But the long wait was certainly worthwhile, as the compositions on this album are all perfectly rounded and coherent, mature and most importantly present unique personal stylistic idiosyncrasies, characterized by the dominant role of the rhythmic pulse, which stands on the same level as the melodic and harmonic contents.

The performances are all absolutely stellar, which of course is hardly surprising. Kociński, Święs and Szmańda, who together with Krzysztof Dys at the piano played together for many years as the sublime Soundcheck quartet, one of my favorite Polish Jazz ensembles which sadly dropped off the horizon, are of course Masters of the trade. Lenczowski, who made a spectacular career with the Atom String Quartet and recorded superb solo albums, is a Superstar. And finally Miszk, who is the most in demand young generation upcoming Polish Jazz trumpeter. In short Petera might have as well called this ensemble All Stars. Of course Petera also plays excellently, but respectfully shares the spotlight more or less evenly with the rest of the sextet members.

Overall this album is undoubtedly a notable event on the Polish Jazz scene, especially in view of the incredibly high competition that scene generates. It is also a splendid debut effort, which hopefully will be followed by many similar achievements of the same significance and Artistic scale. Well done indeed!