Oskar Tomala – guitar
Alan Kapołka – drums
Mateusz Żydek – trumpet
Jakub Wosik – double bass
Gość specjalny:
Irek Wojtczak – soprano saxophone, bass clarinet
album's title: "Warming / Melting"
Audio Cave (2024)
Review author: Viačeslavas Gliožeris
„Ziemia“ is a young unorthodox quartet led by electric guitarist Oskar Tomala. „Warming/Melting“ is their second album, recorded live in Sopot's Teatr Boto participating renowned sax player Irek Wojtczak.
There are not many electric guitarists in jazz (fusion is a different story for sure). Quite often each jazz collective, containing such artists on board has its own face (Bill Frisell is probably the best example). „Ziemia's“ „Warning/Melting“ is more collective work though, there are no obvious leaders in their music. The quartet is completed with a traditional rhythm section (percussionist Alan Kapolka and double bassist Jakub Wosik) plus trumpeter Mateusz Żydek.
The guest artist, participating in the concert (and recording) is renowned Polish reeds player of mid-generation, living in Sopot, Irek Wojtczak. He played with Tymanski Yass Ensemble a decade and a half ago among many others and in some way is a part of yass culture as well.
The album opens with warm and almost chamber 8 minutes long mid-tempo “Warming/Melting”. There is a feel of fragility in the composition's music. “Soil/Concrete/Gliceryne”, the second-longest album's piece, starts from sax/trumpet extended interplay with an anchoring groovy rhythm section coming on support just somewhere in the middle of ten-minutes-long composition. “Teatslez” offers a quirky repetitive rhythmic constructions, coming from the rock scene, and framing elegant guitar soloing in the middle. Reeds' solos are flying over it. The album's shortest track, “Nahe”, is a guitar-led ballad of sort. “Coda”, a meditative slow-tempo composition has a chamber touch with something that sounds as a folk tune included as well. “Update” almost explodes at the very start, but unexpectedly develops into free form interplay/dueling among all band's members.
“Douppler”, the longest album's piece, sounds like a rock song where rhythm section is pushing the music ahead with repetitive pulsation and reeds duo are creating knotty tunes. Near the middle of the composition the tempo is slowing down, the rhythm becomes more twisted and it frees the space for longer and more complex guitar/sax soloing. Still, the sound stays well framed and well controlled. At the end, one can hear true electric guitar's rock soloing, almost shredding. The closer, “Earthmelon” offers true eruption of flying reeds, rock-heavy drumming, pulsating bass. It is fast and short.
“Ziemia” calls themselves “alt-jazz quartet” and there is lot of truth in it, whatever it means. Deeply rooted in jazz tradition (and formal jazz background), “Ziemia” somehow combines better components of two worlds – avant-garde jazz and (alt)rock, adding a noticeable touch of classic(chamber). They are free without being posers, creative and relaxed, very natural and positive. Electric guitar sounds tasteful, recalling such grands as Masayuki Takayanagi (on his early more conventional works). The drummer is a true hero here – in his very own way he plays jazz as if he's a rock musician. Acoustic bass is deep, groovy and is responsible for “jazzy” component in sound, together with trumpet soloing. The concert itself has been recorded in a legendary region where yass (unique Polish only mix of free jazz, punk-rock and folklore) grew up, what gives some special vibe as well.
Probably an important part of this album's attractiveness comes from positive, democratic atmosphere of all concert, strong internal communication between band members and in all warm and creative feeling. This music (being really modern) recalls a lot an atmosphere of jazz concerts of 50s and 60s, the era when music still wasn't industry as it became later (and is nowadays).
Brak komentarzy:
Prześlij komentarz