Aga Derlak - fortepian Maciej Szczyciński - kontrabas Miłosz Berdzik - perkusja
feat. Kacper Malisz - skrzypce
Ttył albumu: "Neurodivergent"
Autor: Robert Kozubal
W zamyśle autorki album ten dotyczy pewnego rodzaju odmienności i tak się składa, że pojawia się w dość szczególnym czasie, kiedy inność nad Wisłą znów wywołuje złe duchy, które – wydawałoby się – dawno wysłaliśmy w zaświaty. Muzyka z najnowszej płyty tria pianistki Agi Derlak „Neurodivergent” przypadkowo, lecz uparcie, przywołuje mi skojarzenia z tymi wydarzeniami.
To był rewelacyjny wieczór w audycji "Muzyka, która leczy" w RadioJAZZ.FM,w trakcie którego nasi redaktorzy - Maciej Nowotny i Paweł Ziemba - mieli możliwość zaprezentować Państwu sylwetkę i muzykę Aga Derlak - podwójnej laureatki tegorocznych jazzowych Fryderyków!!! Zapraszamy Was do wysłuchania podkastu z tego spotkania na stronie RadioJAZZ.FM - Audycja nr 63.
Jeśli chcesz napisać do autorów audycji"Muzyka, która leczy" i podzielić się wrażeniami z odsłuchu audycji lub zaproponować kolejny jej temat to pisz na adres mejlowy: muzyka.ktora.leczy@gmail.com
do małego sklepu muzycznego, który prowadzi znany wszystkim w mieście Człowiek Który Się Zna wchodzi młodzieniec o spłoszonym spojrzeniu, cały niewinny jak mazowiecki, wiosenny poranek. Wyjmuje z uszu dudniące słuchawki, uśmiecha się, bo spostrzega, że tym razem nie buszują tu stali, niemodnie odziani bywalcy, których się wstydzi, bo oni też się znają, toteż spieszy wprost do lady i dopadłszy jej stawia pytanie, które każdy raz w życiu zadać musi: ja bym chciał posłuchać dżazu lecz się nie znam i nie wiem od czego zacząć. Co pan poleci?
Człowiek Który Się Zna taksuje go z wyższością wzrokiem, potem pewnym ruchem wyjmuje płytę, lekko puka palcem jej tekturową, białą okładkę z piękną damą i powiada: to bym polecił. Zapada krępująca cisza, bo młodzieniec nie przygotował sobie żadnych pytań dodatkowych i właśnie je układa, gdy wyręcza go sprzedawca: to jest „Parallel” trzecia płyta Agi Derlak, fenomenalnej pianistki, kompozytorki parającej się edukacją muzyczną, którą nagrała ze swoim septetem i z Atom String Quartet.
Tyle trudnych słów na raz. Kwartet, septet, Derlak, atom i w dodatku string. Młody człowiek zapomniał języka w gębie. Właściciel to wie, bo niejeden gołowąs stawał przed nim z podobnym życiowym dylematem, więc zaczyna wygłaszać:
Po pierwsze, wydaje mi się, że to głęboko przemyślana muzyka, taka tip-top, akuratna w każdym dźwięku. Jest trochę tak, jakby cię ktoś prowadził za rękę po galerii i pokazywał najładniejsze obrazy. Po drugie, nie ma tam ani chwili odpoczynku, jest z dołu do góry i z góry na dół, głośno i cicho, szybko i wolno, mocno i łagodnie. Po trzecie - i to ci się może głównie spodobać - choć zmian tempa, zawrotów i zawijasów na płycie jest bez liku, to przecież klamrują się zawsze melodyjnie, do czego ucho samo się nadstawia. Po czwarte, masz tu jedenaścioro doskonałych fachowców, którzy wprawdzie odważnie i ochoczo używają swoich instrumentów, dzięki czemu na płycie raz przewodzi trąbka, innym razem saksofony, a ostatni dziewiąty utwór to prawdziwy popis sekcji rytmicznej, gdzie perkusja na koniec pięknie niesie cię w siną dal – jednak od pierwszego do ostatniego dźwięku nad wszystkim króluje fortepian liderki, co słychać już w pierwszym, tytułowym, dynamicznym utworze, który pokazuje też moc całego jej zespołu. Po piąte, posłuchasz kilku piosenek z tekstami autorki płyty, a zaśpiewanych wzorzyście przez jej siostrę, Basię Derlak – ale i one mają mnóstwo wariacji, zakrętów i improwizacji instrumentalnych. Po szóste, Atom String Quartet maluje wyśmienite tło tej muzyce, więc momentami dzięki niemu robi się tak po polsku, rzewnie, że wspomnisz tę muzykę, gdy tylko gdzieś w oddali ujrzysz pochylone przydrożne wierzby i słońce w zachodzie. Po siódme, Aga Derlak ściga się trochę ze swoim talentem – wszak jej pierwsza płyta dostała od razu „Fryderyka”, ale zapewniam, że się nie zawiedziesz, daje sobie doskonale radę z tym ciężarem. Po ósme, dość gadania, to po prostu świetna płyta, więc ją ci pakuję, taak?
- A nie, nie dziękuję panu, bo mam ją już tutaj w strimingu – odpowiada młodzieniec gmerając przy smartfonie. Szybko wciska słuchawki w uszy i jeszcze szybciej wychodzi, a w zasadzie uchodzi.
- O tempora, o mores – złorzeczy pod nosem Człowiek Który Się Zna odprowadzając jego plecy złym wzrokiem, po czym puszcza głośno z CD „Present Past”, ulubiony utwór z płyty Agi Derlak, gdyż uważa, że jest wybitny.
Jerzy Małek - trumpet, flugelhorn
Radek Nowicki - tenor saxophone
Piotr Wyleżoł - piano
Aga Derlak - piano
Max Mucha - bass
Sebastian Frankiewicz - drums
This is the eighth album by Polish Jazz trumpeter/composer Jerzy Małek, recorded in a classic Jazz quintet setting with saxophonist Radek Nowicki, pianists Piotr Wyleżoł or Aga Derlak, bassist Max Mucha and drummer Sebastian Frankiewicz. The album presents seven original compositions, all by Małek.
Stylistically the music is all
within melodic Jazz mainstream, close to the American Jazz tradition, quite
atypical to the contemporary Polish Jazz scene, which is more modernistic and
experimental. That said, the music is wonderfully crafted and perfectly
executed by seasoned musicians and sound every bit as good as the best of what American
Jazz has to offer, proving again that Polish Jazz deserves to be completely
free from any inferiority complexes in comparison to what is happening across
the pond.
Małek has a brilliant ability to
weave perfect tunes, all of which are well rounded and based on coherent
melodic themes, especially so with his marvelous ballads. On the whole his
compositions are truly classic examples of post Bebop idiom at its finest. Although
not very innovative, this kind of music is still perfectly valid and has many
followers the world over and albums like this are a perfect fit to their bill
of fare.
Of course Małek is also a
wonderful trumpeter, with perfect skills and intelligence, which guides him to
avoid empty flashy displays of technique. His playing is always soulful and heartfelt,
and a true pleasure to listen to. The other quintet members are all seasoned
veterans and even the young Aga Derlak, who plays on two tracks, does an
excellent job and showcases the next generation of the Polish Jazz stars.
Overall this is a perfect mainstream
Jazz album in every respect, full of wonderful music and perfect musicianship,
which should completely satisfy all connoisseurs of that idiom regardless of
their geographical location. It is also an excellent example of the quality of
Polish Jazz and the abilities of Jerzy Małek as a composer and a trumpeter, which
he earned fair and square by hard work and a heap of talent. Well done!
This is the third album by the
Polish Jazz ensemble HoTS, led by guitarist/composer Mikołaj Poncyljusz,
which also includes trumpeter Radek Nowak, saxophonist Bartosz Tkacz, bassist
Adam Prokopowicz and drummer Maciej Wojcieszuk. Pianist Aga Derlak joins the
ensemble on four tracks. The album was recorded at Studio Three of the Polish
Radio and presents six original compositions, all by Poncyljusz, some
originating from the ensemble's earlier recordings and other appearing here for
the first time.
The music continues the
tradition of modern Polish mainstream Jazz, which characterized the ensemble
since its inception, emphasizing the solid compositions by the leader, which
are ideal vehicles for all the members of the ensemble to express their
individual talents. The addition of Derlak expands the overall ambience of the
ensemble and the harmonic layers, which are now shared by two instruments. The music remains somewhat slow
and dynamically limited, with the individual tunes building up the tension very
gradually, but since this is the ensemble's trademark, one has to accept this
as a fact and play along, in order to enjoy the music in full.
All the six young Polish Jazz
players display the extremely high level of the local scene, with their
individual contributions all being beyond reproach. Personally Prokopowicz
turns out to be the outstanding musician on this album, with his beautifully
melodic and wonderfully solid bass lines being the glue that keeps all this
music together. Wojcieszuk, who is the new member of the ensemble, is a more
dominant player than his predecessor, which marks a significant improvement in
the role of the rhythm section and takes the music to a much agile level.
Derlak's presence is also a
very significant factor to the success of this album. She manages to "fill
the holes" with her intelligent piano chords and lifts the overall sound
to a new level. Her presence allows Poncyljusz to play much more adventurous
solos, where he does not need to worry about the harmonic parts. The years of
playing together also come to effect of course and this album is definitely the
most enjoyable recording by this ensemble.
Overall this is a splendid
display of live Jazz played by the young generation of Polish Jazz musicians,
who are the future of the local scene. For listeners who never came across an
album by HoTS, this is a splendid opportunity to jump on the wagon, with Derlak
definitely serving as the proverbial cherry on top. Warmly recommended!
This is the debut album by
Polish ensemble MÓW, which comprises of vocalist / songwriter Anna Bratek,
pianist Aga Derlak, bassist Mateusz Szewczyk and drummer Patryk Zakrzewski.
Guitarist Jakub Mizeracki guests on three tracks. The album presents eleven
original songs, all featuring lyrics (in Polish language) written by Bratek and
all but one were composed by Bratek and one co-composed by her. All songs were
arranged by the ensemble members. The album was recorded at the Monochrom
Studio and was engineered by Ignacy Gruszecki, with the expected excellent
sonic result.
The music is a Jazzed-up
Alternative Pop, but basically eschews clear genre classification. The focus is
naturally on the lead vocals, accompanied by a piano trio, which collectively
offers a constant stylistic duality between the vocal parts, which are more
Soul/Pop oriented and the instrumental piano trio parts, which are clearly
Jazz related. The mixture does work together well and the album is an
interesting listening experience. For the Polish speaking audiences, the well
crafted and intelligent lyrics offer an additional benefit.
Bartek's vocal delivery is
somewhat theatrical, which emphasizes the messages delivered by the lyrics. She
is able to express the emotions as well as the melodic/harmonic contents with
ease and sincere involvement, and her compositions are exciting and diverse
enough to make the music flow swiftly and keep the listener interested all the
way through.
The instrumental work is also
excellent, which is hardly surprising as Derlak's piano playing already earned
her a lot of attention in spite of her young age and short mileage. The rhythm
section sticks to the Jazzy formula with great bass lines and inventive
drumming moving the music forward. Mizeracki's guitar parts are also admirable
and it's a pity he wasn’t featured as a regular member of the band.
Overall this is an excellent
debut offering, which will hopefully be followed by new music soon. The two
female Artists on this album are a sign of the growing role of the Women Power
in Polish Jazz, which is wonderful of course. Kudos to the Slovak Hevhetia
label for supporting the Polish music scene since several years, and for
offering new opportunities and exposure to creative Artists, which the local
Polish record industry is unable to contain. Well done Milady and all the best
in the years to come!
This is the debut album by Polish duo Event Horizon, which comprises of drummer Gniewomir Tomczyk and keyboardist/bassist Andrzej Mikulski. A plethora of guest musicians, some form the echelons of the young Polish Jazz circles and others from different areas, add their contributions, including Piotr Schmidt, Aga Derlak, Krzysia Górniak, Mateusz Smoczyński, Kuba Więcek, Marek Kądziela and many others. The album presents ten original compositions (one repeated twice), recorded over a period of several years, five of which were co-composed and arranged by Tomczyk and Mikulski, others composed either individually by one of the duo members or co-composed with others, improvised or being arrangements of Classical themes, in short a very diverse collection of ideas. Three of the pieces feature texts/lyrics in English.
The music is strongly melody
based and rooted in Jazz, but emphasizes production and sound at least as much
as improvisation, creating wonderful contemporary vistas, which feel completely
cross-genre and can be liked by a very wide spectrum of listeners,
predominantly belonging to the younger generation. The music is intelligent and
wonderfully coherent, offering a superb selection of melodies and harmonies, which
often are absent in the so called "serious Jazz" recordings. Although
this music can be categorized as Smooth Jazz for lack of a better definition,
based on the "cool" and seemingly "smooth" approach, it is
full of excellent musicianship and masterly music production.
Overall this is a classic
example of "don't judge a book by its cover" (here both
metaphorically and directly, as the album's cover art is rather bleak,
completely uncharacteristic of its contents). What might be considered as a
youthful experiment turns out to be a solid piece of excellent music, which
stands its own ground, regardless what the Jazz purists might say. In many
respects this album represents what the new generation of Jazz players feels
about Jazz, respecting the tradition but reaching out to electronics, new
sounds and original approach, which attempts to discover new ground, which
after all is the most important aspect of music making. This is definitely one
of the most interesting releases so far in 2017, as far as I am concerned. Well
done Wonder Kids!
This is the second album by Polish Jazz pianist/composer Aga Derlak, recorded again in a classic piano trio format, this time with bassist Tymon Trąbczyński, who also played on the debut, and drummer Szymon Madej. The album presents nine original compositions, all by Derlak.
Musically the album continues
exactly from where the debut left off. The long, contemplative themes,
introvert and full of silent breaths are still here, but they are much more
condensed and compressed, which works all for the best. This music is very
minimalistic, hinting more that it is actually saying, hiding more than it is
actually disclosing. This clever game of hide and seek keeps the attentive
listener on the edge at all times, trying to guess the next move. Derlak
manages to define her very personal style on this album much more fluently and
precisely that on her debut, which is quite understandable.
The performances are extremely
hard to judge, as they are fragmented into short passages, which limit the
possibility of displaying technical fluency. But perhaps the ability to play a
myriad of fragments rather than a steady flow of notes is the true challenge
here. If I might use a metaphor from another field of Art, Derlak's music is
like impressionist pointillist painting, which in music is called divisionism.
I have no idea if Derlak is at all aware of these terms, but that what her
music is really all about. Of course in painting, as in music, the individual
dots of paint/sound dots create a complete picture of uniquely structured
beauty.
The rhythm section faces the
same difficulties as the leader, with the music being introvert and constantly
intervallic, which of course makes the traditional role of keeping time and
pulse devilishly difficult. These young players stand up to the challenge
bravely, supporting the pianist amicably, elegantly and with superb
cohesiveness and harmony, which is nothing short of being brilliant.
Derlak and her fellow musicians
mange to overcome the proverbial second album jinx with flying colors,
producing a brilliant piano trio album, which is not only elegant and
intelligent, but also completely innovative and unique. Even on the incredibly
busy and productive Polish Jazz scene albums like this one are an exception. As
a result Derlak becomes a talent worth watching, and considering her
achievements in such early stages of her career, God only knows where she
intends to take us in the future. Mon plus profond respect
Milady!
The new generation of Polish Jazz musicians, which swept the local scene like a tsunami with the onset on the 21st Century, produced a staggering number of superb instrumentalists: trumpeters, saxophonists, pianists, bassists and drummers, but sadly almost no significant discoveries in vocal Jazz arrived on the scene, with just a very few exceptions.
There are many possible
explanations why this has happened: the crisis in the vocal Jazz idiom in
general, the fact that vocalists born in Poland are not native English
speakers, yet they tenaciously insist on singing in English even when it works
against them, and most importantly the fact that the human voice is not only
the most beautiful and limitless instrument, but also the most difficult one.
Therefore listening to this
album by the young Sabina Meck (a.k.a. Sabina Myrczek) one can finally release
a sigh of relief saying "it's finally happening". Not only does she
sing fabulously but she also wrote all the music and the lyrics on this album,
which is almost too good to be true. The whole thing sounds like a classic
vocal Jazz album, featuring a set of carefully selected standards; anything but
a debut album.
Meck selected the accompaniment
of a classic piano trio, which is classy, elegant and minimalistic, but also
incredibly bold. There is no electric trickery to hide imperfection, but there
is a challenging need to combine forces with the trio members at all times. The
trio's performance is by all means as spectacular in every respect as the
vocals. The upcoming and still very young Aga Derlak on piano is absolutely
brilliant as an accompanist and together with the singer they are in a perfect
Ying and Yang harmony. The rhythm section, bassist Franciszek Pospieszalski and
drummer Bartosz Szablowski, adds its support amicably and very skillfully, with
nothing short of flawlessness.
The insiders of the Polish Jazz
scene will of course notice immediately that Sabina Meck is the sister of the
incredibly talented vocalist Wojciech Myrczek. It will be completely unfair to
treat her just as "the sister of", since although she shares with her
brother the gene pool of the highly gifted Myrczek clan, this album proves that
she is a greatly talented Artist in her own right. Hopefully this is just the
first of many wondrous albums to come. You’ve got it, my Fair Lady; you
certainly have got what it takes!
Side Note: The above are
my liner notes for this album. I was honored to be asked to write them and
thank everybody involved for their confidence.
This is the debut album by a young Polish Jazz trio led by pianist/composer Aga Derlak with bassist Tymon Trąbczyński and drummer Bartosz Szabłowski. The album presents five lengthy original compositions, all by Derlak.
It takes a lot of courage to take the bold step of recording a debut album in the classic piano trio format and play one's original compositions, like Derlak and her cohorts do on this album. Piano trio is a "naked" environment, where every note, every nuance, even every touch of the keyboard is perfectly audible with absolutely nothing to hide behind. Such endeavors are often quite risky and perilous and therefore I'm happy to say that in this particular case the courage pays off big time.
The music is mostly very lyrical and melancholic, almost meditative, even on the mid/up tempo compositions. The melodic statements played as the usual at the entry point of each track develop into lengthy improvised passages, which feature extensive dialogues between the piano and the rhythm section, which gets much more exposure on this album that usually accepted on piano trio albums. Trąbczyński and Szabłowski both perform wonderfully throughout, using the almost universal approach in today's young piano trios, where the bass is actually playing the rhythm and the drums are allowed to play "around", often polyrhythmically. There is an obvious empathy and comradeship between the trio members, which is always the best glue which turns musicians into one harmonious entity.
Of course not everything is perfect, which is quite understandable considering the age of these young Lions and a Lioness. The extensive improvisations, which last on three of the tracks well over ten minutes, are honestly a bit over the top. It takes a lifetime of playing Jazz to be able to keep an audience on the edge for ten continuous minutes… Perhaps inclusion of at least a couple of additional tunes and shortening the timings considerably would have produced an even more impressive album? But of course these are just my personal musings.
Overall this is a most impressive debut, which hopefully will be followed by many more mature albums in the future. I intend to follow the careers of these youngsters, as they are surely a promising bunch. Well done Lady and Gentlemen!
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