Franciszek Raczkowski – Yamaha C3 piano
Album's title: "Ocean"
Label: self-released (2026)
Link to music on Bandcamp
Review author: Viačeslavas Gliožeris
The world is full of piano solo albums – and all listeners are divided into those who love them all as a separate genre (a smaller part) and others, like me, who have mixed feelings. The reason is quite simple. Nearly every more or less renowned jazz piano player has recorded a piano solo album at least once in his life (not all of them are released, though). As a result, we have a monstrous amount of such recordings, which often offer quality, but... quite boring listening. Predictability, sameness... call it as you like – there are not many really original solo jazz piano releases around. Keith Jarrett's “The Köln Concert” success and the imitators' wave that followed made the situation even worse.
Going into details – I really like some piano solo albums – those with character. Herbie Hancock's “The Piano”, Masabumi Kikuchi's “Hanamichi” and Sophia Domancich’s “Le Grand Jour”, besides Cecil Taylor's early albums, come to mind. Regarding Keith Jarrett himself – I prefer his “American Quartet” music (partially - “The Survivor’s Suite”), “Fort Yawuh” and his more current trio's with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian music to his countless quite sterile “chamber” piano solo works.
My personal relationship with some renowned Nordic pianists’ (so-called ECM sound cohort) music is a bit complicated too. On one hand – I like the aesthetics of their music, but aerial, grooveless compositions, same well-balanced mid-tempo dynamics all-album-long and sterile-sentimental bloodless mood don’t inspire too much. Still, once listened to Tord Gustavsen solo playing live a decade or so ago – in a lonely old-fashioned manor lost in the middle of nowhere, late spring in Northern Europe, with apple-tree blossoms and smell of wild herbs around – changed my opinion towards a bit more positive.
Franciszek Raczkowski's “Ocean”, the young pianist's second solo piano album in a row, is a bit of a different bird. His previous one, “Klood”, released three years ago, has been dedicated to one of his musical gurus, Claude Debussy. “Ocean”, recorded at the artist's house on a Yamaha C3 piano, with clear, bright, and dynamic sound, with deep lows (I expect C3 takes a lot of space there), is an album mixing early 20th-century classics, Jarrett's “chamber jazz” and a bit of American jazz piano vitality, all for good.
Franciszek's music is not a demonstration of technical abilities; it's more storytelling, moody, but without exaggerated sensitivity, cool, but without sterility, which often kills Nordic jazz recordings. More than that – all compositions radiate some sort of young man's optimism, but already not naive, more mature. The music here is bright and full of faith; it makes the dedicated listener's day brighter.
“Ocean” is the album's title, and it fits well. We hear the waving sounds, and seawater drops sparkle on some compositions, and ever-changing moods, so usual for the big waters. Franciszek's Ocean is not dangerous and roaring, but more playful, volatile, and a bit romantic. In other words, Raczkowski's “Ocean” is more Sibelius' “The Oceanides” than Anton Rubinstein's “Ocean Symphony”. And, as with many Polish musicians, great Chopin's romantic spirit is always presented here as well.
Franciszek Raczkowski, with his “Ocean,” stepped on thin ice by releasing another solo piano album, and it looks like he succeeded with it. Then, the answer to the rhetorical question “does the world need another jazz piano album?” is - definitely, “why not?”
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