Tadeusz Prejzner – Spacer Brzegiem Morza (2016)

Tadeusz Prejzner

Ewa Wanat - vocals
Tadeusz Prejzner - conductor
Włodzimierz Nahorny - piano, saxophone
Tomasz Stańko - trumpet
Janusz Muniak - saxophone
Janusz Sidorenko - guitar
Bronisław Suchanek - bass
Janusz Stefański - drums


Spacer Brzegiem Morza

GAD 046

By Adam Baruch

This is a reissue, first time on CD, of a cult Polish Jazz album, which presents music performed by an ensemble conducted by composer Tadeusz Prejzner, which included some of the top Polish Jazz musicians of the day, like vocalist Ewa Wanat, trumpeter Tomasz Stańko, pianist/saxophonist Włodzimierz Nahorny, saxophonist Janusz Muniak, guitarist Janusz Sidorenko, bassist Bronisław Suchanek, drummer Janusz Stefański and a nine piece string section. The ensemble performs thirteen original compositions, five of which were composed by Prejzner, two each by Stańko, Nahorny and Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski and two more by other Polish composers.

The music is an attempt to create a "lighter", more relaxed music, with strong ties to Jazz but which a wide range of listeners might enjoy – in short an early form of Smooth Jazz. However, as usual with Polish attempts of such projects, the result is quite spectacular and hardly deserves the dubious reputation of Smooth Jazz.

Considering the status of the musicians involved as well as the fact that Polish Jazz musicians did not develop the chaltura (look it up) attitude yet, the resulting music is simply wonderful in every respect. Not only are the compositions beautifully melodic and anything but trivial, but also the execution is stunning and includes many first rate solos which would make any Jazz album proud. Overall this is a wonderful obscure gem, which deserves to be remembered, which is why GAD Records decided to bring it back to life, which is as usual highly appreciated.