Light Coorporation – 64:38 Radio Full Liv(f)e (2016)

Light Coorporation

Mariusz Sobański - guitar
Paweł Rogoża - tenor saxophone
Mariusz Gregorowicz - vibraphone
Krzysztof Waśkiewicz - bass
Miłosz Krauz - drums

64:38 Radio Full Liv(f)e




RER LC05

By Adam Baruch

This is the fifth album by the excellent Polish ensemble Light Coorporation, led by guitarist Mariusz Sobański. This lineup of the ensemble features also saxophonist Paweł Rogoża, vibraphonist Mariusz Gregorowicz, bassist Krzysztof Waśkiewicz and drummer Miłosz Krauz. The album was recorded live in the Polish Radio studio in Poznan, which is named Krzysztof Komeda Studio after the Godfather of Polish Jazz, who made his early recordings there. The ensemble performs seven original compositions, all composed by the leader.

The music presents reworked versions of compositions that previously appeared on the ensemble's first and third albums and completely improvised pieces credited to all five members of the ensemble. This album definitely marks a shift towards improvised music, taking the ensemble further away from their initial Progressive Rock and Fusion image. This constant chameleonic ability to change the musical approach has been one of the greatest assets of Light Coorporation since their inception.

Although instrumentally limited only to five instruments, the ensemble creates wide and diverse sound structures. The addition of the vibraphone (Gregorowicz is the only new member of the ensemble who did not appear on any of the previous albums) changed the overall sound significantly, bringing it even closer to traditional Jazz sound. I have no idea if Sobański was influenced by the presence of the vibraphonist Jerzy Milian as a member of the early Komeda combos, when he decided to add vibraphone to this new lineup, but whatever the reason was, it had a major influence on the overall result.

As already stated above this album emphasizes Free improvisation, which constitutes a major part of the music. However, the music is still very coherent and based on composed parts, which enables the listener to follow up the developments without getting lost within the havoc that is often projected by Improvised Music projects. Some basic riffs and electric guitar parts go back to the Fusion idiom, but everything here is more hinted than explicitly stated, which of course makes life interesting for the listener.

Overall this is another superb release by Light Coorporation, which is surely one of the most interesting, unconventional and sadly underrated ensembles active in Europe today. The album was released again on the prestigious British ReR label, which consistently supports the band. I wholeheartedly recommend to open-minded listeners to investigate this album, as well as the previous releases by Light Coorporation, as they all are still completely valid and lost nothing of their original charm. Well done again!