Marcin Oleś - double bass
Bartłomiej Oleś - drums
One Step From The Past
FENOMMEDIA 014
By Adam Baruch
This is a beautiful album by the Polish Jazz duo comprising of two brothers: bassist Marcin Oleś and drummer Bartłomiej Oleś, collectively known as the Oleś Brothers. Although they are, what in the Jazz world is known as a "rhythm section", and not just any rhythm section but by far one of the top European rhythm sections at that, but in fact they are much more than just a rhythm section, often creating the notion that they are a two man orchestra. Of course they also write music, very exquisite music, they run their own record label and if all that does not suffice, they are a couple of wonderful human beings, which I am proud to call my friends.
The music presented on this
album was recorded at the invitation of the BBC and intended for the
prestigious "Jazz on 3" program. It was recorded at Studio S4 of
Polish Radio in Warsaw
and presents eight pieces, three of which were composed by Marcin, two by
Bartłomiej, another two co-composed by both brothers and one is a standard.
For people unfamiliar with the
Oleś Brothers phenomenon it is quite impossible to imagine the depth and
richness of the music this duo is capable of creating just by playing with each
other. Although it might seem logical that the bass would play the melody and
the drums the rhythm, nothing can be taken for granted with these guys and role
reversal is perfectly normal for them. Of course there are many virtuosic
bassist and drummers around, but there is hardly any bass/drums duo which comes
even near to the level of inventiveness, imagination, creativity and elegance
of this particular duo.
In many respects this music
belongs to the moment it was created. Improvised music is often very impressive
when performed live, but loses almost all of its value and meaning when it is
recorded and made into an album in order to be reproduced repeatedly. Sometimes
it is painful to listen to such music when it completely fails to reproduce the
magic moment of its creation. The Oleś Brothers have a great gift, which
enables them to create music which sounds breathtakingly beautiful when played
live, but also transforms perfectly into the recorded medium, as exemplified
here. They are quite a singularity in that respect.
Many Polish Jazz musicians
managed to create wonderful albums over the years, but only very few ones
manage to maintain the same level of achievements and such consistency like the
Oleś Brothers, both as a duo and individually. Therefore each and every one of
their albums is simply a must to every serious Jazz/Improvised Music
connoisseur, this one included of course. Although this music is half a decade
old at the time of its release, it is a perfect example of timelessness and
intrinsic aesthetic values that exist outside of the fourth dimension's scale.
All I have to say is a humble thank you!
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