Jakub Paulski Trio - Preludium (2020)

Jakub Paulski Trio

Jakub Paulski - guitars
Franciszek Pospieszalski - bass
Peter Somos - drums

Preludium

PRIVATE EDITION 2030

By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by Polish Jazz guitarist/composer Jakub Paulski recorded in a trio format with bassist Franciszek Pospieszalski and Hungarian drummer Peter Somos. The album presents seven original compositions, including a three part title track, all by Paulski.

From the very onset the album offers a very distinct guitar sound, which dominates the proceedings, electric but almost completely acoustic in nature, a way of playing guitar that is almost completely absent from today's scene and fondly reminds the way Jazz guitar sounded in the 1960s. Same applies to the rhythm section, which accompanies the leader respectfully in the background, without competing with him for supremacy.

The music is mostly strictly melody based, but the melodic motifs are pretty complex and require attentive listening in order to follow the logical flow. Some more freely improvised moments and esoteric sounds appear through the album, but they are definitely not the mainline. The performances are all excellent, as expected. Paulski definitely has a great technique and feel for the music, Pospieszalski offers very supportive bass lines with a nice round sound and Somos, although playing sparingly, know exactly what he is doing.

Overall this is an ambitious debut effort, promising but not entirely "cooked", especially as far as the compositions are concerned, in my opinion. Paulski needs probably some more time to crystallize his composing skills in parallel to his playing technique, using a bit more of the "less is more" approach, as the album at times definitely offers too many notes at once. Having said that and considering that Jazz guitar is pretty neglected on the Polish Jazz scene, this album definitely is worth checking out!