Krzysztof Herdzin - The Book Of Secrets (Polish Jazz Vol.84) (2019)

Krzysztof Herdzin

Krzysztof Herdzin - piano
Rick Margitza - tenor saxophone
Robert Kubiszyn - bass
Cezary Konrad - drums
Przemysław Florczak - Bb clarinet
Łukasz Poprawski - Bb clarinet
Marcin Kajper - Bb clarinet
Mariusz Mielczarek - alto clarinet
Wiesław Wysocki - bass clarinet


The Book Of Secrets (Polish Jazz Vol.84)

WARNER MUSIC POLAND 190295370787

By Adam Baruch

This is an album by veteran Polish Jazz keyboardist/composer Krzysztof Herdzin recorded in a quartet setting with American saxophonist Rick Margitza, and Polish rhythm section: bassist Robert Kubiszyn and drummer Cezary Konrad and a rather atypical clarinet quintet adding an orchestral dimension to the proceedings. The album presents seven original compositions, all by Herdzin, which according to him: "make up a closed narrative" or "a concept album".

Followers of the Polish music scene are certainly familiar with Herdzin's gigantic legacy amassed during his professional career since the mid-1990s, which includes twenty (this one included) albums as a leader, dozens albums as a sideman, numerous compositions in diverse genres, including Jazz, Pop and Classical Music, arranging, conducting, producing, playing a myriad instruments and a plethora of other accomplishments – for more details just read his biography on his website or his Polish Wiki entry – all this before reaching his 50^th Birthday.

There is no doubt that Herdzin's biography is extremely impressive, or rather extreme in every sense, almost superhuman. Herdzin is an unusually talented and gifted musician, but personally I have always found his activities somewhat unfocused, lacking certain depth beneath all that glitter. His music and his playing are always "nice", polished, pleasant and nearly "perfect", but at the same time he seams to tease the listener boasting his aptitudes and most of all taking it (or himself) way to seriously.

This album is a perfect example of Herdzin's music in every sense. It is full of brilliant ideas, beautiful music, melancholy and lyricism, gleaming performances and everything that makes a listener schvitz. And yet once the music is over, the question "what was all that about?" arises almost instantly. And yes, the music is instant gratification incarnate: smooth, easy to swallow and scintillating, like a glass of champagne.

With all the confusion these days about what is Jazz and what isn't, I'd say that this album offers entertaining instrumental music amalgamating Pop with Jazz and Classical Music ornamentations, which is accessible to a wide audience. As to its lasting value, time will tell. I wish Herdzin for his upcoming Birthday another fifty years (and a Jewish 20% bonus) of health and productivity, and even if I don't always appreciate his music I do appreciate his Sisyphean effort. May the Force be with you!

Side Note

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The iconic "Polish Jazz" series of recordings, originally released between 1965 and 1989 by the Polish state owned record company Polskie Nagrania, which used the Muza label as its moniker, consists of seventy six LP albums. It presents the history of Polish Jazz recordings during that period, which includes some of the most important Polish / European modern Jazz milestones and reflects the extraordinary development of Jazz music behind the Iron Curtain. It is one of the most important historic documents of Polish Music and of course Polish Culture in general. 

The series had an eminent logo designed by Roslaw Szaybo and the albums were numbered sequentially from Vol.1 to Vol.76 accordingly. The album's artwork was wonderfully stylish and modernist, featuring the brilliant photographs and characteristic design by the legendary Polish Artist Marek Karewicz. 

Stylistically the series presented all Jazz genres, from Traditional Jazz to Avant-Garde/Free Jazz, which was extraordinarily liberal considering the cultural censorship imposed by the Socialist Regime. It suffered from some inconsistency, as far as the musical quality and aesthetics were concerned, as well as the internal "politics" of the Polish Jazz scene at the time, but in retrospect it achieved a spectacular overall result, unparalleled as far as consistently documenting a national Jazz scene is concerned. 

After the Polskie Nagrania catalogue was bought by Warner Music Poland, the new owner started a reissue process of the Polish Jazz series, carefully remastered, repackaged and including extensive liner notes, which keeps the artwork as close to the original design as possible. So far forty two volumes of the original series were reissued. 

In 2016 Warner Music Poland decided to continue the original series by releasing new contemporary Polish Jazz recordings under the same format and even to continue the sequential numbering starting with Vol.77 – a decision I personally consider almost sacrilegious. Some things are simply untouchable, and the "Polish Jazz" series is surely one of those things. If Warner Music Poland wants to produce Jazz albums, which is always more than welcome, they could have started a new series, under a new title, rather than exploiting the reputation of the historic series. 

As a result, some artist whose albums are released as part of the new series might be led to expect instant gratification, fame and stardom, just for being an artificial part of a prestigious past, which of course is as bogus as it is said.

Ania Michałowska - Snów Pejzaże (2017)

Ania Michałowska

Ania Michałowska - vocals
Michał Iwanek - piano, keyboards
Łukasz Korybalski - trumpet, flugelhorn
Przemysław Florczak - tenor saxophone
Michał Tomaszczyk - trombone
Michał Kapczuk - bass
Sebastian Kuchczyński - drums
and others

Snów Pejzaże

SJ 023

By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by young Polish Jazz vocalist Ania Michałowska, recorded with a core trio comprising of keyboardist Michał Iwanek, who was also in charge of the arrangements, bassist Michał Kapczuk and drummer Sebastian Kuchczyński. On three of the songs she is accompanied additionally by a brass section and on four by a sting quartet. The album presents nine original songs, all of which were composed by Ania's husband Jakub Kotynia (two co-composed by her), who also plays guitar on four of the songs. The lyrics to the songs were written by four different lyricists. All of the songs feature lyrics in Polish, except two which utilize lyrics in English. The album also offers excellent sound quality.

The songs are all beautifully lyrical and offer incredible melodic sensitivity. The typical Polish melancholy is omnipresent, which is hardly surprising, and is often emphasized by the lyrics, which are all intelligent and insightful. The music is wonderfully and skillfully arranged, to offer sound versatility and emotional vistas, which keep changing from one song to another. Musically the album is a true gem, masterfully weaved by all the participants. Although Michałowska is able to sing the English lyrics quite elegantly, my advice would be to give this a rest, as her Polish delivery is simply infinitely more effective.

Michalowska has a steady, refined voice, which she uses smoothly and without effort, applying her abilities skillfully to express emotions. She treats the non-trivial melody lines with ease and elegance, even with finesse, showing absolutely no signs of stress. At time she adds small vocalese parts, which fill the blanks and hopefully she will use this technique more often in the future, as she does more extensively on the last tune.

The instrumental performances are also absolutely brilliant. Iwanek is a superb accompanist and plays many stunning solo parts, mostly on acoustic piano. Kapczuk and Kuchczyński are an ideal rhythm section, perfectly on time and in tune, always right there behind the vocals, but never disturbing them with over presence. Kotynia plays some hot guitar parts and it is a pity he wasn't featured on the entire album. The brass and string sections and even the background vocals all work perfectly.

Overall this is a dreamy debut album, which every young Jazz vocalist would have been proud off. Great music, great lyrics, great vocals and a great team are such a rare combination, and she has it all on this album. Warmly and wholeheartedly recommended!

Nikola Kołodziejczyk Orchestra – Chord Nation (2014)

Nikola Kołodziejczyk Orchestra

Nikola Kołodziejczyk - piano

with others

Chord Nation

FOR TUNE 0042




By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by young Polish Jazz pianist/composer/bandleader Nikola Kołodziejczyk, recorded by a twenty five piece orchestra, with members who originate from three different countries, which presents a five-part suite, which in turn is a hybrid of contemporary Classical music, classic mainstream Big Band and Free Jazz/Improvised music. There is no doubt that this is a very ambitious project, brought into reality against all odds and one that refuses to compromise and takes no prisoners.

Although highly motivated and certainly ingenious, this project is not quite as revolutionary or innovative as one might imagine. In fact it continues the European orchestral Jazz tradition, which followed a different path from the American orchestral Jazz tradition, which flourished in the US in the early 20^th Century and was than imported into Europe and mimicked for a few decades until the emancipation of the European Jazz in the 1960s. Since than a long line of superb European Jazz orchestras carried the torch towards new horizons, starting with the British orchestras led by Neil Ardley, Michael Gibbs, Mike Westbrook and many others and than gradually spread across Europe and even behind the Iron Curtain, with such notable bandleaders as Gunter Hampel, Hans Koller, Martial Solal, Gustav Brom and such distinguished ensembles as the NDR Big Band, the Vienna Art Orchestra and so many others. Many of these European Jazz orchestras often use similar characteristic devices to those used in the process of making the music heard on this album: switching between melodic mainstream Big Band parts and freely improvised passages, using string arrangements and wordless human vocalese, in short the typical palette of contemporary European Jazz orchestral music.

Considering Kołodziejczyk's age, limited experience, restricted resources and all the obstacles that he had to confront in order to record this album, one must admit that this is a remarkable achievement, not only from the aesthetic perspective but also from the pure organizational one. But of course most listeners are not really interested in the behind the scenes of music making and judge it by what they hear. As far as the music is concerned, Kołodziejczyk presents a collection of sonic plateaus, which intertwine and develop slowly, and are best listened to in the sequence dictated by the album's tracks and as a whole. The separate parts of the suite do not really stand on their own, as the melodic content of the entire proceedings is relatively limited. To use a metaphor from a different media, the suite makes sense the same way a complete canvas of a painting makes sense, and wouldn't do so if looked at when sliced into several pieces.

At times one might get the impression that this music is more about "how" than about "what". Kołodziejczyk is obviously enamored with the bag of tricks that are at his disposal as a composer orchestrator, and with the sound of the orchestra, much more than with the actual compositions, and as a result we get a complex baroque musical structure, supported by quite simple foundations. Sometimes the instinctive urge to show as much of one's talents as possible, here and now, can prove hazardous. This often happens to young and talented artists and is quite meaningless in a long range, provided that Kolodziejczyk is treating this project as just one of many lessons he has to go through during his long and hopefully very successful career.

All in all this is a very impressive, ambitious and unusual debut album by an obviously talented musician/composer, who presents enormous potential, which hopefully will be fully realized in his future projects. Since orchestral Jazz albums are extremely rare, this is even more of a valuable contribution to the Polish Jazz scene. Thanks to For Tune for finally releasing this album, over three years after it was recorded, it's certainly better off now in the open for all music lovers to enjoy. I am anxiously waiting for the next project.

Przemysław Florczak Quartet - Image Of My Personality (2013) ****

Przemyslaw Florczak - saxophone
Pawel Tomaszewski - organ
Pawel Puszczalo - bass
Sebastian Kuchczynski - drums

SJ 003





By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by a young Polish Jazz saxophonist / composer Przemyslaw Florczak, recorded with his quartet which includes also organist Pawel Tomaszewski, bassist Pawel Puszczalo and drummer Sebastian Kuchczynski. The album presents seven tracks, six of which are original compositions, all by Florczak, and one is a Charles Mingus piece. Florczak is also a member of the excellent group Biotone.

The album is very impressive, especially as a debut, and presents a portrait of mature musicianship by the leader both as a performer and a composer. All the quartet members are excellent players, both as individuals and collective contributors. The decision to use the organ, rather than acoustic piano, turns this album into a completely unique experience, as this highly unusual combination opens a whole new world of sonic experience and wonderful unisono passages. The saxophone and the organ simply blend together fabulously and one wonders why they are not used together more often.

The compositions are also surprisingly excellent, well within the Jazz mainstream but incorporating many cross-genre elements, like bits of Funk, Bossa and even World-Music influences. Beautifully put together and intelligently arranged, they are a true pleasure to listen to. This music is fun (in the best meaning of the word) from start to finish, being both accessible to a wide range of listeners and sophisticated enough to draw the attention of the connoisseurs.

Florczak plays beautifully throughout, being especially impressive on the lyrical pieces, where his wonderful tone and delicate delivery is often breathtaking. Tomaszewski is also "stealing" a large part of the show with his superb organ lines, which bring on memories of times long gone. The rhythm section is simply perfect for the job, providing the vehicle for the two soloists to shine and keeping the wagon on the road.

The album has a surprisingly exquisite sound quality, which turns out to be less surprising after reading the bane of sound engineer Jan Smoczynski on the cover, who was in charge "only" of mix and mastering this time, but his signature is well recognized.

Overall this is a true gem, sadly somewhat overlooked on the crowded Polish Jazz scene, where albums are being released at an incredible rate, but definitely worth digging out and investigating. Well done indeed!

Biotone – Unspoken Words (SJ Records, 2011) by Adam Baruch

Biotone (band)

Michał Tomaszczyk - trombone

Przemysław Florczak - saxophone

Andrzej Zielak - double bass

Sebastian Kuchczyński - drums

Unspoken Words (SJ Records, 2011)

(Editor) Adam Baruch (check his music boutique www.jazzis.com) writes favourable review of debut album by trombonist Michał Tomaszczyk...

This is the debut album by Polish Jazz quartet Biotone, led by trombonist Michal Tomaszczyk, who also wrote all the music present herein. The other members of the quartet are saxophonist Przemyslaw Florczak, bassist Andrzej Zielak and drummer Sebastian Kuchczynski. These four young musicians are all typical examples of the new generation, which is slowly establishing themselves on the, rather crowded one must say, Polish Jazz scene. This scene was always exploding with talent and is now overflowing, unfortunately not being developed enough, dynamic enough and flexible enough to contain all that incredible influx of talent flowing in at an ever increasing pace. One must admire Tomaszczyk for his self-confidence, as a trombone-led quartet is a very uncommon phenomenon in Jazz history. Even the greatest trombonists were usually satisfied with the role of a sideman, but Tomaszczyk boldly presents his approach, and shows us all an upper hand. The quartet has a fresh, well balanced sound and all the members play excellently throughout. The rhythm section is inventive and fully participates in the music-making process together with the two front soloists. The compositions are also very good, both melodically and rhythmically, presenting an interesting compositional palette, which at this stage already shows individuality and character. But of course the key point of the album is the solo work of the leader, who manages to make the most of his difficult and often ungrateful instrument. His performances are absolutely first class from top to bottom and as someone, who has a lot of trombone "mileage" (after producing several trombone-centered albums) I can definitely say this is first class work and more importantly a great promise for the future. Altogether a superb debut, worth investigating!

Please listen to "Another Space" from this album:

Author: Adam Baruch

http://www.adambaruch.com/

Biotone - Unspoken Words (SJ Records, 2011) by Maciej Nowotny

Biotone (band)

Michał Tomaszczyk - trombone

Przemysław Florczak - saxophone

Andrzej Zielak - double bass

Sebastian Kuchczyński - drums

Unspoken Words (SJ Records, 2011)

This is certainly successful debut as leader by young trombonist Michał Tomaszczyk. BTW he is not the only interesting young trombonist that should be noticed in our country: check for example interesting recent releases by Grzegorz Rogala - "Enthuzjazzm" (2011) and "Straying To The Moon" (2010). All musicians taking part in this recording are very young and just graduated from musical academies all over Poland but some of them already made first recordings as Andrzej Zielak who played in Przemysław Strączek Trio on "Earthy Room" (2007) or Sebastian Kuchczyński who collaborated with Strączek as well on "Light & Shadow" (2010) and with Wierba&Schmidt Quintet on recently issued "Black Monolith" (2011). 

Taking all these into account it should not surprise us that this music sounds a bit like graduation recital: full of technical mastery displays, impeccable phrasing and dedication to great masters of American jazz of 50ties and 60ties last century. Each young players deserve words of praise: Michał Tomaszczyk sound  on trombone is sweet and mellow, Przemysław Florczak saxophone soft and compassionate, Andrzej Zielak double bass distinct and clear, Sebastian Kuchczyński drumming precise and yet never too obvious. Michał Tomaszczyk should additionally be commended for composing all tunes on this album which are definitely strong side of this CD. What I admire in this music is that though clearly rooted in jazz tradition it radiates with enthusiasm, commitment, love. 

Ability to saturate music with emotions are clear signs of talent of above mentioned young musicians but of course since we are all so well aware how big competition in now on Polish scene (not mentioning world) question remains open when they all will go from this promising starting point? I hope that they will be capable of finding their own unique language and one day become truly matured artists telling audience their own story. All these great things lie ahead of them and wait for those who dare to reach for them...

Check tune titled "Another Space" from this album:



Text: Maciej Nowotny
http://kochamjazz.blox.pl/html