Andrzej Sawik & Jakub Rutkowski - Nucleon (Tone Industria, 2007)

Andrzej Sawik - piano
Jakub Rutkowski - drums
Franz Hautzinger - trumpet
Aleksander Korecki - tenor bas
Dominik Strycharki - blockflutes
Tomasz Głuc - electronic percussion

Tone Industria, 2007

To my surprise I don't find any reviews in English for this excellent album, let me therefore first introduce players before I move to description of music itself. Two leaders, Andrzej Sawik and Jakub Rutkowski, are relatively young musicians, both born in 1976 in Cracow where they live and work. Andrzej Sawik is pianist, composer and arranger who started by playing within mainstream jazz and slowly moved towards free jazz and contemporary improvised music. In his play on piano resound influences of John Cage, Paul Bley or Matthew Shipp music. 

Jakub Rutkowski, drummer and composer, has a bit different background: he is associated mainly with  Polish rock scene since he plays with Maciej Maleńczuk and his well-known band Homo Twist. That's why his style is very energetic, extravertic, daring in which he reminds me a bit Jim Black. But Rutkowski never left jazz or avantgarde track for long and was playing in very good band called Pulsarus (check its album "FAQ") led by flutist Dominik Strycharski who also appears on this album along with Franz Hautzinger on trumpet, Aleksander Korecki on tenor sax and Tomek  Głuc on electronic percussion.

The sound of this band is very intriguing: intellectual, classical piano of Rutkowski fits unexpectedly well with rock pulse as supplied by Rutkowski while other players create enough space for fascinating meandering in typical free jazz style. All this sounds fascinating, every tune is challenge, musicians prove that improvisations may be very subtle, sublime, filigree (piano) yet full of almost kinetic energy (rhythm section).

But the best I left for now since after 4 years waiting a new record was issued by Nucleon this year! You should definitely check this album first before moving to this new one as this band creates one of the most interesting improvised music in Poland at this moment!  

Check first track from this album titled "Icebrg". Excellent!!!

Author of text: Maciej Nowotny

http://kochamjazz.blox.pl/html