Quantum Trio – Red Fog (2019)

Quantum Trio

Michał Jan Ciesielski - alto & tenor saxophones
Kamil Zawiślak - piano
Luis Mora Matus - drums

Red Fog

EMME 1909



By Adam Baruch

This is the third album by the Quantum Trio, which consists of Polish saxophonist Michał Jan Ciesielski, pianist Kamil Zawiślak and Chilean drummer Luis Mora Matus. The album presents seven original compositions, two by Ciesielski, one by Zawiślak, three by Matus and one credited to all trio members. The album offers a wonderful sound quality, albeit quite unusual and demanding due to the unorthodox balance between the instruments.

With an average once every two years release schedule the trio managed to established a unique sound and stylistic approach to their music, which stays faithful to melody based compositions, but gradually opens up to distance itself from the Jazz mainstream. This album offers a new, rather dark and somewhat industrial sound, which differs from the two earlier albums but continues the trio's musical direction.

The trio offers a very unusual approach to instrumentation, with a delicate balance between the saxophone, piano and drums, not depending on the usual bass provided harmony and pulse, which might sound pretty weird at the first hearing, but has a lot of charm and intrinsic tension. The drums are given an absolute equal rank within the trio, which is almost never present elsewhere.

As usual the personal performances are all exquisite and offer grace, elegance and sophistication way beyond what one might expect from young Jazz musicians. The complexity, mostly rhythmical, of the music demands a telepathic communication between the trio members, which is found here aplenty. Again, as usual, it is the level of the compositions that makes this music stand out above the average and turns this album into an exciting listening experience.

Overall this is a mature, coherent piece of music by a trio that knows exactly where it is going, which offers splendid ambitious music, which keeps the listener on his toes from start to finish, being definitely one of the most exciting albums so far this year. Well done, again!