EABS - Discipline Of Sun Ra (2020)

EABS

Marek Pędziwiatr - piano, fender rhodes, synth
Olaf Węgier - saxophones
Jakub Kurek - trumpet
Paweł Stachowiak - bass, moog
Marcin Rak - drums, percussion, beat machine
Spisek Jednego - percussion, sound effects

Discipline Of Sun Ra

ASTIGMATIC 015

By Adam Baruch

The Polish Jazz ensemble EABS continues to produce young and bouncy contemporary Jazz, based on the tradition but at the same time sparkling with contemporary Pop culture and universally good taste, which naturally makes them extremely likeable to the young listeners. Following their interpretations of Polish Jazz classics they now move to the international scene taking up on the music of Sun Ra as the basis of their new album. Keyboardist Marek Pędziwiatr, bassist Paweł Stachowiak, drummer Marcin Rak, saxophonist Olaf Węgier, trumpeter Jakub Kurek and percussionist/sound effects man Spisek Jednego (a.k.a. Piotr Skorupski) dissect seven original compositions by Sun Ra, the Jazz cosmonaut, created between 1957 and 1979 and give them a kick towards the dancing floor.

The interpretations are pretty bold and one might wonder if the composer himself would have recognized his own compositions in most cases, but as far as I am concerned this music is way more acceptable to me than the original compositions, which of course speaks volumes as to my personal appreciation of Ra's music, which I find exceptionally boring. With the twist added by EABS, it finally does make sense and the lads certainly seem to have a lot of fun with it, which is fine with me.

As strange as it might sound, to me this is probably the best studio work by EABS so far, since they finally crystallized their formulas and managed to achieve the ideal mix of melodic riffs, extended soloing, sense of humor and fun, all combined together to perfection. As a result listening to this album is unadulterated fun from start to finish, creating a sort of idiosyncratic sub genre of Jazz, which is purified wonderful weirdness. I mean where else would one come across Free Form soloing, polyrhythmic banging and constantly shifting tempi, rapping and sound effects all making such wonderful sense together? Zappaesque madness at it's best…

And yes, these guys can play… I mean really play, all of them… just listen. Everybody gets his opportunity to show off, and it is all worth waiting for. In short EABS are way more cosmic than the inspiration for this album, believe you me. Well done Gentlemen, regardless what other smartasses might say! Love your stuff!