Łukasz Pawlik - Long-distance Connection (2021)

Łukasz Pawlik

Łukasz Pawlik – piano (1, 2, 5, 6), cello (6), keyboards, synthesizers, sample programming 

Randy Brecker – trumpet, fluegelhorn (4, 7)

Dawid Główczewski – alto & soprano saxophone (1, 2, 7, 8)

Szymon Kamykowski – tenor saxophone (3, 4)

Tom Kennedy – electric bass (1, 2, 6, 8)

Michał Kapczuk – electric bass (4, 7)

Cezary Konrad – drums (4, 8)

Gary Novak – drums (3, 5, 6, 7)

Phil South – percussion (1)

Mike Stern – electric guitar (1, 3, 7)

Dave Weckl – drums (1, 2)

Long-distance Connection (2021)

Tekst: Maciej Nowotny

Ta płyta dostała jakby drugie życie. Oryginalnie wydana w Polsce 2019 została doceniona, ale nic ponadto. Stało się tak, mimo że Łukasz Pawlik do nagrania zaprosił oprócz wyśmienitych polskich muzyków, także gwiazdy sceny światowej w osobach szczególnie Randy Breckera grającego na trąbce, Mike Sterna na gitarze elektrycznej czy Dave'a Weckla na perskusji. Oczywiście jest to stary trick muzyków z mniej znanych krajów, aby zaprosić gwiazdę - w tym przypadku to są rzeczywiście muzycy wybitni - i próbować na tym zbić jakiś promocyjny kapitał. Nie zawsze, a właściwie częściej niż rzadziej, to się kończy raczej smutno. Owszem nazwiska przyciągają uwagę, ale jak się słucha muzyki, to się okazuje, że nic nadzwyczajnego się nie wydarza. W przypadku tej płyty jest jednak na szczęście inaczej.

I co ciekawe nie jest to specjalnie zasługą wyżej wymienionych gwiazd. Owszem grają one na poziomie światowym, jakiego byśmy od nich oczekiwali, ale trzęsienia ziemi nie ma. Nie jest to też projekt, w który by wkładali jakoś nadzwyczajnie wiele uwagi czy serca. Mimo to ich obecność jest bardzo udana i ważna, a jest to zasługą głównie samego Łukasza Pawlika. Skomponował on bowiem cały materiał na płytę i tak to zaprojektował, że wspaniali muzycy zaproszeni do nagrania albumu - tak zagraniczni jak i polscy - mogli pokazać pełnię swoich możliwości. Powstała muzyka przemyślana, zagrana na wirtuozerskim poziome i bardzo spójna; komunikatywna, ale jednocześnie na tyle złożona, że kolejne odsłuchy odsłaniają kolejne coraz głębsze poziomu przekazu.

Dobrze się zatem stalo, że ten materiał dostał drugie życie. Bo wydało go w tym 2021 roku wydawnictwo Summit Records i płyta mogła dotrzeć do międzynarodowego słuchacza, w tym amerykańskiego. Jeden z nich - Jim Worsley z allabotjazz.com - dał w rezultacie płycie 5 gwiazdek i napisał entuzjastyczną recenzję, w której padają takie między innymi określenia jak: "arcydzieło" czy "epickie osiagnięcie". To utwierdza nas w przekonaniu, że polscy recenzenci nie pomylili się co do oceny tej płyty (chociaż raczej nie używali tak wzniosłych fraz), a muzyka tworzona przez polskich artystów jest często na światowym poziomie i zasługuje by dotrzeć do większej liczby słuchaczy. 

Zatem brawa dla Łukasza Pawlika i wspierających go w tym zbożnym dziele kolegów-muzyków, recenzentów, tak zagranicznych jak i polskich, bo dzisiaj nagrać wyśmienitą płytę to niestety często dopiero połowa sukcesu. Trzeba jeszcze dotrzeć do słuchaczy, a to w tej epoce nadmiaru wrażeń coraz trudniejsze. A jednak czasem się udaje. To zresztą jeszcze jeden wymiar tego "drugiego życia" tej muzyki. Pamiętamy przecież jak kilka lat temu, w roku 2014, edycja amerykańska krążka "Night In Calisia" ojca Łukasza, znanego polskiego jazzowego pianisty Włodimierza Pawlika, kompletnie z zaskoczenia dostała Nagrodę Grammy wprawiając w osłupienie polskich krytyków i słuchaczy. Na wypadek takiego rozwoju wydarzeń pozwalam sobie napisać ten tekst właśnie, a i Wy drodzy czytelnicy, szczególnie którzy kochacie fusion i jazz rock, też nie musicie wcale czekać na kolejne Grammy...

 

Łukasz Pawlik – Lonely Journey (2016)

Łukasz Pawlik

Łukasz Pawlik - piano, synthesizers
Dawid Główczewski - alto & soprano saxophones
Michael "Patches" Stewart - trumpet
Mike Stern - guitar
Paweł Pańta - bass guitar
Cezary Konrad - drums


Lonely Journey

PAWLIK RELATIONS 011

By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album as a leader by Polish keyboardist/composer Łukasz Pawlik, recorded with saxophonist Dawid Główczewski, bassist Paweł Pańta and drummer Cezary Konrad. The polish team is joined by American guitarist Mike Stern on one track and trumpeter Michael "Patches" Stewart on three tracks. The album presents eight original compositions, all by Pawlik.

The music is a slick, melodic Jazz-Funk/Groove/Smooth Jazz, similar to countless other albums of this sort. It is very well performed by all participants, who are true pros, and makes your feet tap, but once it's over there is nothing left. The compositions are all pretty good, but again, hardly remarkable or memorable.

Why on earth would a talented Polish young musician play music, which others (yes Americans) have been playing ad nauseam since the 1970s, not moving an inch forward in the last almost 50 years. Admittedly the Polish team is in every respect as good as their American counterparts, so what? Although this kind of music has its followers, which of course is fine, this is only very marginally, if at all, Jazz and should not be labeled as such.

Overall this is a good Funk/Groove album, very well played, which lovers of the genre should enjoy in full, but definitely not something a Jazz connoisseur would listen to. And yes, Stern's solo is as good as one might expect.

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.

Marta Krol – The First Look (2011)

Marta Krol - vocals

Dawid Glowczewski - saxophone

Pawel Tomaszewski - piano

Andrzej Swies - bass

Pawel Dobrowolski - drums

Tomasz Kalwak - keyboards

SLASKIE TOWARZYSTWO MUZYCZNE 05



By Adam Baruch

This is the debut solo album by Polish vocalist Marta Krol, a beautiful Silesian Princess whose looks turn men into stone on sight ;) On the album she presents ten Jazz and Pop standards, dressed up in excellent new arrangements, by keyboardist / arranger Tomasz Kalwak, who also plays some additional keyboards on the album. She is accompanied by a wonderful quartet of Polish Jazz musicians: saxophonist Dawid Glowczewski, pianist Pawel Tomaszewski, bassist Andrzej Swies and drummer Pawel Dobrowolski.

Krol has a delightfully warm voice, which she uses most effectively and with a natural charm and sex-appeal. Her musical education is immediately apparent, as she stays in tune at all times, even during the tricky passages and obviously keeps well in-synch with her band. The accompaniment is excellent, with many interesting solo spots by Glowczewski, beautiful piano and Fender Rhodes parts by Tomaszewski and solid and sympathetic support from the rhythm section with virtuosic, but kept in low profile bass parts by Swies, who is consistently perfect every time he appears on record and earns a well deserved position among the best contemporary Polish bassists.

However, in spite of the Jazzy arrangements and instrumental passages, this album is only marginally Jazzy per se. Krol lacks the Jazz sensitivities and fundamental improvisational approach, singing mostly "straight forward". That does not mean she is doing anything wrong, but if the purpose of this album was to present her as a Jazz singer, it fails to do so. Nevertheless it is a very pleasant and well done piece of music, which deserves all praise, especially in view of the fact that it is her debut effort.

Of course there is the usual problem of Polish vocalists stubbornly trying to sing in English, which is an insurmountable barrier, which simply keeps reappearing on almost all vocal albums recorded in the country. It's not that Krol's pronunciation and accent are terribly wrong; in fact they are not too bad at all, but her struggle to sound "right" takes away her attention from the music, as always.

My advice to the lovely young lady would be perhaps to try and find out her unique own style, which would amalgamate Soul, Pop, Blues and just a dash of Jazz, and which would serve her vocal talents to the max. And of course perhaps a bit more risk-taking and ambitious material, original if possible and preferably in Polish – with such a formula she is destined to reach places. But than again, who am I, an old fart, to give advice to lovely young ladies singing the Blues?

Overall this is an impressive debut, which holds many promises for those with patience to wait for the lady's future endeavors. I certainly intend to do so.

Marta Król - The First Look (STJ, 2011)

Marta Król - vocal

Dawid Glówczewski - sax

Paweł Tomaszewski  - piano/rhodes
Andrzej Święs - d/bass
Paweł Dobrowolski - ds
Tomasz Kalwak - keyb/arrange

First Look (STJ, 2011)

It would be mistake to overlook this debut by Marta Król! Her voice is well-controlled, has depth and colour enough not only to attract attention but to keep it long enough to listen to the whole album. Consisting of standards it is typical debut disc which introduces talented jazz vocalist who is singing in charming, natural and emotional way. High quality Polish jazz players accompany her (Dawid Główczeski - sax, Paweł Tomaszewski - piano, Andrzej Święs - double bass, Paweł Dobrowolski - drums, Tomasz Lakwak - keyboards) who create top quality background for her singing. Although still having a lot time   to develop her own individual style, she already offers good performance and has even better prospects for future... 

Please listen Marta Król singing "Light My Fire" from this album.... 

Author: Maciej Nowotny

http://kochamjazz.blox.pl/html

Kattorna - Straying To The Moon (2010)

This is a very interesting project indeed that is executed with meticulous attention to even smallest details. Let's start with visual side of the album that is simply state-of-art. There is a night, a moon, calm deep water and a man, perhaps somnabulic, which is drawn towards this moon, unaware of depth of water and its danger (no less interesting are other images inside CD envelope). But this picture could only be made by someone who knows a lot about Komeda who himself was somnabulic, who was fascinated and terrified by night, by a state of sleep, all these things were well reflected in his life and music.

The Polish-Danish quintet consists of Dawid Główczewski (alto&soprano saxophone), Grzegorz Rogala (trombone), Łukasz Pawlik (piano), Max Nauta Simonsen (bass) and Krzysztof Szmąńda (drums). All this guys are very young and this is their debut recording but nonetheless it is of top quality. It is enough to say that they started top play together 5 years ago, are all educated in excellent Music Academies and up to this point took part in many jazz contests in Poland and abroad, always recognized, often awarded significant prizes like Łukasz Pawlik at Jazz Nad Odrą Festival. 

But the music is of course the most important and fortunately it is fulfilling every promise I can imagine. It starts with excellent composition Drop It by Danish bassist whose play on this CD is simply overwhelming. This tune is vibrating with massive inner energy and is best possible beginning to this  awesome album. Second comes the only Komeda composed piece on this CD which is of course Kattorna  which gave a name to the band. Hearing so many versions of it I must say that is one is truly groundbreaking, filled with dramatic feeling of desolation and yet exploding with cool energy like underwater volcano. Masterpiece brilliantly executed!

Then come 6 compositions by Łukasz Pawlik: Panta Rhei, Twilight which are typical, mellow, mainstream jazz, fortunately Night Safari comes, strong tune, with excellent interplay between Główczeski alto and aggressive drums of Szmańda. When it comes to Rogala with his trombone we feel creeps on our backs exactly as if during safari we unexpectedly would spot a lion entering from a nearby bushes. Pawlik's piano follows lightly-footed as escape full of grace from lion's den. Throughout this piece Nauta Simonsen bass beats as if heart would beat during some crazy night safari. Marvelous tune.

Next we have Introduction To Haunted House and Haunted House. These tunes are very Komeda-like: down-tempo, cool, brooding, hauntingly beautiful as were famous Ballad For Bernt, Crazy Girl or Sleep Safe And Warm by Krzysztof Komeda.  The Disc ends with Pawlik's tune Straying To The Moon which again has typical for Komeda bluesy, yet warm, character. Again Główczewski alto makes small miracles one note after another announcing to us arriving on the scene one of the most talented saxophonist in recent years. 

Well, it is time to sum up everything which I can do in just is one sentence: if you like mainstream jazz this debut is simply close to masterpiece!

Author: Maciej Nowotny (http://kochamjazz.blox.pl/html)

More music on http://www.myspace.com/kattorna.