Yeshe – Piastowska 1 (2012)

Yeshe

Antoni Gralak - trumpet
Piotr Pawlak - guitar
Darek Makaruk - keyboards
Paweł Osicki - percussion

Piastowska 1

SONY 887654098221



By Adam Baruch

This is the second album by the Polish ensemble Yeshe, led by the legendary trumpeter/composer Antoni Gralak, who was a member of such groundbreaking Polish ensembles as Free Cooperation, Young Power and Tie Break and participated in countless other projects over the years, including leading his ensembles like Graal and Yeshe. This incarnation of Yeshe includes also guitarist Piotr Pawlak and keyboardist Darek Makaruk who is in charge of a plethora of electronic effects and sampling. The music, all original by Gralak, was recorded live and is dedicated to the Polish pioneering visual Artist Andrzej Urbanowicz.

Stylistically the music presents a wide spectrum of contemporary musical trends and incorporates such diverse influences as Avant-garde Jazz, electronic music, Techno, Industrial and World Music. The amalgamated result is a completely original and unique blend, which is fascinating and electrifying from start to finish.

The basic formula presents Gralak improvising on top of an ambient/sampled background, which changes from track to track both rhythmically and conceptually. A trained listener will hear many citations form Indian and other Far Eastern Cultures, as well as samples of exotic instruments like sitar, tabla and a plethora of others. Gralak's trumpet work is nothing short of brilliant and brings immediately memories of his Free Cooperation cohort Andrzej Przybielski, who is sadly no longer with us. Throughout the entire duration of this album Gralak improvises almost without a break, in a truly phenomenal form.

This album is not only a rare musical gem, but also a wonderful example of completely boundless music, which crosses cultural, stylistic and time borders effortlessly and elegantly. It definitely deserves a much wider recognition that it actually has today. Brilliant stuff!

Yeshe - Yeshe Live Piastowska 1 (2012) ***

Yeshe (band)

Antoni Gralak - trąbka
Piotr Pawlak - gitara
Darek Makaruk - sampling
Paweł Osicki - perkusja

Yeshe Live Piastowska 1 (2012)

By Maciej Nowotny

The moving force behind this project is trumpeter Antoni Gralak. He is well known for his openness to different musical genres which manifested itself in being involved in yass (Free Cooperation), mainstream jazz (Young Power) or even rock projects (Tie Break). Eventually he matured enough to start his own enterprises of which GRAAL and YESHE seem most significant. In YESHE he is supported by his long time companion veteran guitarist Piotr Pawlak but also by Darek Makaruk responsible for samples and by young drummer Paweł Osicki.

Musically speaking the music on this CD may be described best as kind of new jazz with strong ethnic and improvisational elements. This ethnic component is not related to Polish folk but to Middle East. In concept it is of course nothing new and if someone already knows such recordings like for example Nils Petter Molvaer "Khmer" or "Hamada" and, going even further back, some discs by late Miles Davis, he will find in YESHE exactly the same language even to the point of imitation.

Lack of originality is definitely the weakest side of this album but it is at least to certain degree redeemed by enthusiasm and energy as conveyed by this LIVE recordings. Gralak and his partners definitely feel very comfortable when playing in front of the audience and this feeling transfers itself to listener while rehearsing the music. I must confess that because of that I really enjoyed listening to this CD even if from time to time some malignant voice in my ear repeated that it all already was played by others many times before...

Tracklist:
Już tu nie wrócę 05:21
Kandro Taniec 04:47
Asioka 08:00
Beyond Time 11:38
Swayambhu 06:56
Czarny Płaszcz 04:20
Wake Up India 07:29

Orkiestra Świętokrzyska - Wykłady z geometrii muzyki (2003)

Well, this is a project that could be very interested indeed but it turn out to be disappointment. Intended to be nu jazz and clearly referring to music of Nils Petter Molvaer it sounds however like karaoke jazz: oversimplified, uninspired, predictable. Surely lovers of more accessible music may find this attractive but only provided they are indiscriminate and were not exposed to what is the best in nu jazz.

Sadly, this recordings is so mediocre that even the presence of the artist of highest callibre could not save the day with one exception however: Andrzej Przybielski play on trumpet in "Równoległość" transcend this mundane sounds into celestial harmony. But as soon as his immortal trumpet fades karaoke returns again...

The song with above mentioned magic trumpet of Andrzej Przybielski:

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