Cezariusz Gadzina – Mosty (2017)

Cezariusz Gadzina

Cezariusz Gadzina - alto & soprano saxophones
Robert Majewski - trumpet, flugelhorn
Maciej Sikała - tenor saxophone
Grzegorz Nagórski - trombone, euphonium
Cezary Paciorek - accordion
Paweł Pańta - double bass


Piotr Iwicki - percussion
Cezary Konrad - drums

Mosty

UNIVERSAL MUSIC POLSKA 602557812039

By Adam Baruch

This is an album by Polish (resident in Belgium) saxophonist/composer Cezariusz Gadzina, recorded with a host of top Polish Jazz musicians, which includes trumpeter Robert Majewski, saxophonist Maciej Sikała, trombonist Grzegorz Nagórski, accordionist Cezary Paciorek, bassist Paweł Pańta, percussionist Piotr Iwicki and drummer Cezary Konrad – a dream team by all respects. The album presents eight original compositions, all by Gadzina, all entitled "Bridge" in eight different languages ("Mosty" means bridges in Polish), symbolizing the connections between a plethora of genres and sub-genres present within the contemporary Jazz idiom.

Gadzina is primarily familiar for his work in the Jazz-Classical Fusion field and his previous recordings, including the excellent "The Fifth Element", testify to his affinity to this particular field. However, this recording seems to leave Classical Music out of the formula, concentrating on the Jazz side of Gadzina's personality.

Stylistically the music sits well within the boundaries of modern mainstream Jazz language, offering excellent compositions and interesting arrangements, none of which are trivial or banal. The music is full of unexpected twists and turns, tempo changes and multiple themes, all within one composition, which of course makes listening to this music a real fun for true Jazz fans. The compositions are diverse enough to keep the listener interested and balance well between the beautifully melodic ballads and the up-tempo numbers.

The individual performances are all top notch, as expected from these highly experienced musicians. Personally I love the prominent presence of the accordion, a much neglected instrument in Jazz, and the percussion ornamentations, which add another layer of rhythmic contents. But of course the trumpet solo parts, excellent saxophone work, pulsating bass lines and everything else are just right. The overall octet sound is not to busy and allows all instruments to be perfectly audible.

Overall this is a great mainstream album, much more ambitious and advanced musically than the standard albums recorded in this genre. It is not about discovering any new territory, but offers novel approach to arrangement and very solid composition and performance standards. As such it deserves to be listened to and surely enjoyed as well.

Loud Jazz Band – 25th Anniversary Concert (2015)

Loud Jazz Band

Mirosław Kaczmarczyk - guitar
Wojciech Staroniewicz - saxophone
Paweł Kaczmarczyk - piano
Maciej Ostromecki - percussion
Piotr Iwicki - keyboards
and others

25th Anniversary Concert

LJB 009
By Adam Baruch

As the title suggests, this is a live recording celebrating the 25th anniversary of the multi-national Jazz-Rock Fusion ensemble called Loud Jazz Band, founded and led by guitarist/composer Mirosław Kaczmarczyk. The octet lineup, which is captured on this video, includes also trombonist Erik Johannessen, saxophonist Wojciech Staroniewicz, pianist Paweł Kaczmarczyk, bassist Sebastian Haugen, drummer Ivan Makedonov, percussionist Maciej Ostromecki and keyboardist Piotr Iwicki. The concert was filmed at the Polish Radio studios in Warsaw and captures the ensemble performing nine original compositions, all by the leader.

The music of the Loud Jazz Band is a highly polished, melodic and mostly lyrical Jazz-Rock Fusion, with a well balanced ratio between the more Jazz oriented brass solos and more Rock oriented guitar and keyboard solos, supported by a superbly slick and well oiled rhythm section. The compositions get expanded treatments, which allow for all the ensemble members to show off their chops. The band is obviously one of the best of its kind in Europe, definitely more ambitious and sophisticated than most. It is a real pleasure to watch and hear this band in action, especially in view of the superb solos performed in the duration, which spice the proceedings enormously.

On this particular recording the internal balance of the band is somewhat shifted towards Jazz with the addition of the Polish piano superstar Pawel Kaczmarczyk, who proverbially "steals the show" with his extraordinary performances. Of course his presence adds a new level to the entire sound and well being of the ensemble, but his star quality is a magnet of attention. It is quite surprising to hear Kaczmarczyk to handle Jazz-Rock Fusion so well, albeit the fact that this is not his typical milieu.

As good as the music of Loud Jazz Band is the actual video is truly disappointing, almost amateurish with a inadequate camera work, which is limited to an open shot view of the band and some primitive close-ups. The sound quality is, however excellent, clear and well balanced. As a result the visual part of the DVD is in fact redundant (as happens in most music DVDs) and this material holds water based on its audible ingredient alone. For Jazz-Rock Fusion fans this is a highly recommended piece of excellent music, which yields nothing but pure delight!

Tribute To Miles Orchestra – Live (1998)

Tribute To Miles Orchestra

Mariusz Mielczarek - saxophone
Andrzej Przybielski - trumpet
Wojciech Konikiewicz - keyboards
Janusz Yanina Iwański - guitar
Marcin Pospieszalski - bass
Radek Maciński - drums
Piotr Iwicki - percussion

Live

WARNER MUSIC POLAND 039842388922

By Adam Baruch

This is the only album by Polish Jazz ensemble Tribute To Miles Orchestra (a.k.a. TTMO), led by keyboardist/composer Wojciech Konikiewicz, which also featured trumpeter Andrzej Przybielski, saxophonist Mariusz Mielczarek, guitarist Janusz Yanina Iwanski, bassist Marcin Pospieszalski, drummer Radek Macinski and percussionist (usually keyboardists) Piotr Iwicki. The album, which was recorded live at the legendary Akwarium club in Warsaw, presents six compositions, five of which are by Miles Davis and one is by Konikiewicz (dedicated to Davis).

Musically the album presents the style Miles Davis utilized during the last period of his career, when he switched to Warner Bros. and released the world shattering "Tutu", presenting a combination of Funk and electronic music, which at the time was as innovative as every other giant step Davis took during his career. The Polish Jazz musicians handle the Funk rhythmic challenge formidably and paraphrasing on the "white man can't jump" - white man definitely can Funk! There are plenty of superb solos and passionate moments, as well as interesting arrangements of earlier Davis compositions transcribed into the Funky style. The remarkable bass playing, which is the basis upon which this music is built, is the core element of its success. But all the participants are contributing extraordinarily and the overall result is way beyond what one might expect.

The most thrilling and astonishing facet of this album is the presence of trumpeter Andrzej Przybielski, who is ordinarily associated with the Free/avant-garde Polish scene. This is surely the most "conventional" recording that Przybielski ever took part in and his sound and imitation of the Miles Davis phrasing are simply marvelous. The invitation of Przybielski to participate on this album was a prophetic and bold move by Konikiewicz, who is therefore credited for showing us a face of the legendary trumpeter that we never knew about and is preserved here for posterity.

There is no doubt that the idea behind this album was influenced by the two Miles Davis visits in Poland, in 1983 and in 1988 (I attended that concert), which are generally accepted as life changing experience for the Polish Jazz scene, both collectively as a community and individually as directly influencing the local musicians. The second visit, which happened shortly before Poland was finally released from the grip of the Socialist regime, was a symbol of a changing reality, which at the time was just around the corner (pun intended).

The album suffers from some minor sound quality problems due to the recording conditions, but those are completely negligible in view of the musical contents and the historic significance of this album. The fact that this album disappeared from the shelves almost immediately after it was released and was never reissued is a crying shame.

Loud Jazz Band – From The Distance - Live In Oslo (2013) ***1/2

Miroslaw Kaczmarczyk - guitar
Wojciech Staroniewicz - saxophone
Piotr Iwicki - keyboards
Maciej Ostromecki - percussion

LJB 006






By Adam Baruch

This is the eights album by the multi-national Jazz-Rock Fusion ensemble called Loud Jazz Band, which was founded in 1989 in Poland by guitarist / composer Miroslaw Kaczmarczyk and a decade later moved to Norway. The current edition of the band includes musicians from Poland, Norway and Bulgaria and the octet lineup which recorded this album includes, in addition to Kaczmarczyk the following players: trombonist Erik Johannessen, saxophonist Wojciech Staroniewicz, pianist Oystein Skar, keyboardist Piotr Iwicki, bassist Kristian Edvardsen, drummer Ivan Makedonov and percussionist Maciej Ostromecki. The album, which was recorded live, includes seven original compositions by Kaczmarczyk.

After listening to just a few moments of this music, it becomes immediately apparent that this is a highly professional ensemble of skilled and experienced musicians, playing polished arrangements of very melodic music spiced with very impressive solo spots. The music, perhaps not very challenging or adventurous, is nevertheless skillfully put together and "easy on the ear", sounding simply beautiful and pleasant. And yet this is far from being elevator music or God forbid muzak, even if it sounds "nice"; on the contrary, it is simply perfectly designed to fit a precise niche of what is usually referred to as the "easier side of Jazz". If Pat Metheny can play this kind of music, and be universally praised for it, why not the Loud Jazz Band, especially if they are at least as good?

The sound quality of this album, especially in view of the fact that it was recorded live, is simply stunning and the balance and separation between the instruments and overall ambience are truly magnificent. This album should be used in all the Hi-Fi stores to test the audio equipment. The album is also beautifully and tastefully designed and packaged, suiting well the music it contains. For people listening to more melodic Jazz / Fusion this is a true gem!

Maciej Jeleniewski & Deer Project - Stop The Time (2013)

Maciej Jeleniewski - producer

Piotr Remiszewski - producer

Guests:
Jarosław Śmietana - guitar
Karen Edwards - vocal
Jerzy Mazzoll - clarinet
Wojtek Karolak - keyboard
Mirosław Kaczmarczyk - guitar
Piotr Iwicki - drums
Tomek Lipnicki - raeding text

Stop The Time (2013)

By Maciej Nowotny

Maciej Jeleniewski and Piotr Remiszewski teamed-up and as Deer Project produced this album which features many respected jazz musicians. Jeleniewski is known as a bass guitarist playing in rhythm section of pop band Oczi Cziorne (together with avantgarde drummer Michał Gos). Piotr Remiszewski has similar background and has been playing as a drummer and also arranging and producing in number of pop projects. 

The overall style of this release verges between pop, smooth jazz and mainstream jazz (OK, this  last reference is a bit of exaggeration I admit). For hardcore jazz lovers who look always forward to see future of this music it will probably sound too sweet and predictable. But one must be aware that jazz audience consists of various people of different needs. For a significant part of it jazz is less spiritual matter but just one of stylistics they found useful for certain occasions or moods in their life. I believe that's why this music when played in fancy bar or during evening meeting with friends may fit perfectly to enhance the beauty of the moment. Perhaps not as a source of any distinctive aural experience in itself it yet may serve well a classy background to other activities.

Although as I said it tastes best when served in background it may still offer some surprisingly nice moments when we catch some of outstanding solos of excellent jazz musicians Jeleniewski and Remiszewski invited to this project. Jarosław Śmietana guitar passages in "Thoughts Moving", Jurek Mazzoll hauntingly beautiful bass clarinet solo in "Fountime" are enough to redeem this music but that's not the end since additionally we will find on this album also a legendary keyboardist Wojtek Karolak, excellent vocalist Karen Edwards or Mirosław Kaczmarczyk and Piotr Iwicki from Loud Jazz Band. These are big or in same cases even great names in Polish jazz but please do not expect anything revolutionary from this music. It was all heard hundreds of times before, and no new ways are explored here. Still if you like such an easy and uncomplicated side of jazz it may be pleasant experience, especially since it is very well recorded.

Tracklist :
1. Myśli Przeprowadzka
2. Przegrana Wieczór
3. Fountime
4. Widok z okna
5. San Francisco Come Back
6. Nikt nie ma to jak profesor
7. W czasie między
8. Niech was Bóg błogosławi Wariata
9. Violet Brainwashed
10. Empty Chair
11. Sophie Sticated