This is the debut solo album by Polish flautist / multi-instrumentalist / composer Tomasz Pawlicki, recorded with the help of seven additional Polish instrumentalists from various genres, including trumpeter Wojciech Jachna, drummer Jacek Buhl and others, each appearing on between one and four of the tracks. The album presents twelve original compositions, all by Pawlicki.
The music is a minimalist,
chamber Jazz-Classical Fusion presented by the relatively short pieces, which
although unrelated melodically, can be easily conceived as parts of a suite
like coherent whole. Since Pawlicki is usually associated with the Polish
Avant-Garde Jazz scene, this music seems at times somewhat "tame",
but it is in fact a logical continuation of his work with the Ecstasy Project
ensemble or the trio with Rafał Gorzycki and Jakub Ziołek.
Both the compositions and the
performances are brilliant all the way through and although this music is
targeted towards the more refined audiences, it can be enjoyed by a relatively
wide range of listeners from the Avant-Garde contemporary Classical Music and/or Jazz echelons to any member of the open-minded and curious public. The
subtle use of electronics adds another interesting layer to the music, without
changing the overall chamber effect.
I have enjoyed immensely
listening to this unusual, ambitious and beautiful music, with the solo violin
piece played by Filip Lipski being my favorite piece on this album. But all the
music offers a highly aesthetic experience and deserves to be heard by as many people
as possible. Definitely well done!
This is an album by a Polish
Jazz trio led by drummer/composer Rafał Gorzycki, who also plays piano, with
flautist Tomasz Pawlicki and guitarist Jakub Ziołek, both of which employ also
electronics. The album presents ten original compositions, eight of which are
credited to all the trio members and two are by Gorzycki. This album is a
second part of a triptych of trio recordings by Gorzycki, continuing the
"Playing" album released a couple of years earlier. The music was
excellently recorded at the RecPublica Studios and engineered by Łukasz
Olejarczyk.
The music is an esoteric
mixture of various elements, acoustic and electronic, combining modern
Classical Music vistas with improvisation and Ambient music and creating a
magical impressionist aura of anticipation and mysticism. There are also
elements of Serialism and Minimalism, all wonderfully weaved into a coherent
but hard to pinpoint continuity, which tends to flow as if propelled by its own
will. This music is more about form and sound than about melody or harmony,
very abstract and almost involuntarily creating images of impressionist
paintings before the listener's eyes.
Pawlicki stands in the very
epicenter of this music, since his magic flute produces most of the directly
audible sound, creating short melodic threads and swirls, all of which are
simply irresistibly beautiful. In complete contrast the guitar played by Ziołek
sounds nothing like a guitar, producing a plethora of sound layers and ambient
noises in the background, which is the foundation upon which the flute parts
float, similar to a wind which carries the golden autumn leaves. Gorzycki also
hardly ever plays any straightforward rhythms and his pulses are more pointers
than actual rhythmic patterns. His piano parts are also quite atypical and
serve as accents rather than harmonies.
There is no doubt that this
album constitutes a new stage in the long and prolific career of Gorzycki,
taking him into a new realm unlike anything else he attempted earlier, although
definitely being a logical extension of his earlier works. This music is more
complex and more abstract than his earlier efforts but also much more
concentrated and expressive. It is definitely much closer to cotemporary Classical
Chamber Music than to Jazz, and will probably be received as such by the
listeners. Absurdly perhaps, it is also more accessible and universal than many
of his earlier efforts.
Overall this is a stunning
piece of music, which offers novel approach to music making, unusual usage of
the instruments and explores unchartered territory as far as improvisation and
composition are intertwined and is additionally spiced with the sensational
flute playing, altogether offering a sensational musical experience. Wholeheartedly
recommended!
Tomasz Pawlicki - flet Kuba Ziołek - gitara Rafał Gorzycki - perkusja
29 listopada, godz. 20:00, COK Perełka, Gliwice
Bilety: 20 zł przedsprzedaż/25 zł w dniu koncertu
Ensemble Tuning tworzą wyjątkowi muzycy: Tomasz Pawlicki - flecista i kompozytor, jeden z największych instrumentalistów w Polsce, koncertmistrz Opery Nova w Bydgoszczy, oraz Kuba Ziołek – laureat Paszportu Polityki 2016, lider wielu ważnych projektów i zespołów z pogranicza muzyki eksperymentalnej, elektronicznej i improwizowanej – multiinstrumentalista, obsługujący tutaj elektronikę . Lider projektu i perkusista, kompozytor – Rafał Gorzycki, jest zaliczany do grona najważniejszych i najbardziej twórczych, płodnych artystów współczesnego jazzu oraz kameralistyki w Polsce. Nagrał do tej pory 22 autorskie albumy i jest laureatem wielu nagród, wyróżnień oraz stypendiów. Założeniem tria jest praca nad brzmieniem, jego transformowanie i ekspozycja jako głównej składowej muzycznej kreacji. Pierwsze koncerty formacji odbyły się jesienią 2017 roku.
Tropy
Artur Maćkowiak - guitar, synth, electronics
Bartek Kapsa - bass guitar, drums, electronics
Wojciech Jachna - trumpet (1,3)
Tomasz Pawlicki - flute (3)
Eight Pieces
WM12
By Bartosz Nowicki
"Granica naszego kompromisu pokrywa się z linią między naszymi pośladkami. Nie wejdziemy w żaden układ, który będzie wymagał od nas dania dupy. Moment, gdy zaczyna się dawanie dupy, wyczuwamy intuicyjnie" – manifestował Artur Maćkowiak na łamach Anteny Krzyku w 2003 roku. Dziś po trzynastu latach można już tę deklarację zweryfikować. Oczywiście intuicyjnie. Pretekstem jest debiutancka płyta zespołu Tropy, stworzonego przez Maćkowiaka (gitara, syntezator, elektronika) i Bartka Kapsę (perkusja, bas, elektronika), niegdyś członków znakomitej formacji Something Like Elvis. Przeszło dekadę temu kapela z Szumina wraz Ewą Braun i Kristen dokonała małego przewrotu na polskiej scenie alternatywnej muzyki gitarowej.
Siłą Tropów jest eklektyzm. Kompozycje bydgoskiego duetu żonglują wielobarwną talią stylów i gatunków. Na "Eight Pieces" połyskujące syntetycznym brzmieniem klawisze spotykają się z ciężkimi prog-rockowymi akordami. Melodyjność z zawiesistymi gitarowymi pasażami. Rytmika zaś przeskakuje miedzy klubowym bitem, rockową motoryką, a jazzową dynamiką. Ten estetyczny melanż jest nierzadko domeną pojedynczego utworu. Koncepcja, aby pomieścić te wszystkie estetyczne punkty odniesienia i zawrzeć je w jednej narracji, musiała odnaleźć dla siebie odpowiednią strukturę w kompozycji. Stąd skłonność duetu do budowania długich, dynamicznych kompozycji, zmierzających najczęściej do okazałych kulminacji ("Posejdon"). Choć uczciwie trzeba stwierdzić, że zdarzają się na tej płycie dłużyzny, to jednak warto uważnie prześledzić proces i dynamikę ewolucji utworów; jak wymieniają się motywy melodyczne i instrumentacje; w końcu jak zmienia się temperatura i intensywność narracji.
Pisząc o muzyce Tropów nie sposób nie odnieść się do końcówki lat dziewięćdziesiątych XX wieku i początku zerowych XXI. Zwłaszcza, gdy otwierająca płytę kompozycja "Anteny" rozpoczyna się motywem niemal żywcem wyjętym z płyty "Cigarette Smoke Phantom" Something Like Elvis. Melodyjna, zapadająca w pamięć psychodeliczna pętla, niegdyś domena grającego na akordeonie i syntezatorze Macieja Szymborskiego, tu została sparafrazowana szklistym klawiszem Artura Maćkowiaka. "Eight Pieces" stawia estetyczny pomost miedzy millenium a drugą dekadą XXI w., intencje muzyków pozostają wierne tym, które przyświecały im przed kilkunastu laty, gdy współtworzyli jeden z ciekawszych momentów na scenie rodzimej muzyki niezależnej - zarówno we wspomnianym Something Like Elvis, jak i w późniejszych Contemporary Noise Sextet (Quintet) i Potty Umbrella. Zatem z perspektywy przytoczonej na wstępie deklaracji Maćkowiaka, można stwierdzić, że "linia między pośladkami" pozostała nienaruszona.
Doświadczenia w produkcji i realizacji nagrań, udział w licznych, rozpiętych stylistycznie projektach, pozostawanie wciąż w krajowej czołówce najbardziej kreatywnych instrumentalistów, udokumentowane świetnymi płytami. Wreszcie - prowadzenie labelu i kierowanie festiwalem Fonomo, aktywny udział w kreowaniu nowych scen (Bydgoszcz), a także bycie łącznikiem między starą a nową awangardą (Mózg). Wszystko to wskazuje na Maćkowiaka i Kapsę jako na artystów świadomych swojego miejsca, czasu i twórczości. Niemal dwie dekady zaowocowały z pewnością tego rodzaju oświadczeniem, które pozwoliło zarejestrować im w duecie (goście - Jachna i Pawlicki - pełnią tu rolę podwykonawców) materiał, który przed laty możliwy był do zrealizowania tylko w o wiele szerszych składach. Możliwe że buńczuczna, młodzieńcza iskra twórcza została nieco zastąpiona rutyną starego wygi, ale muzyka bydgoskiego duetu intryguje swą witalnością i charyzmą.
Trudno z perspektywy roku 2016 mówić o powrocie post-rocka, wszak eklektyzm będący jego fundamentem stał się elementarnym językiem muzyki i powszechną praktyką artystyczną. Jednak daje do myślenia fakt funkcjonowania w ramach polskiej sceny sceny takich formacji jak Tropy, Alameda 5 czy Innercity Ensemble, dla których punktem wyjścia staje się improwizacja zakorzeniona w muzyce nie tylko jazzowej, ale przede wszystkim w rockowej.
Tomasz Pawlicki - flute, computer
Mateusz Szwankowski - clarinet, bass clarinet
Jacek Buhl - drums, percussion
Efekt Księżyca
REQUIEM 75/2014
By Dirk Blasejezak
The moon seems to have a very calming effect on this trio. The introduction into the album makes you feel as if you slowly sink into the darkness. On top of the immensely soothing music of the first pieces appear sounds and noises that are hard to identify and yet do not provoke any anxiety. And although there are faster pieces waiting in the course of the album, the overall impression is a very relaxed, but never boring one.
These are wonderful and unusual pieces, each of which receives the time it takes to fully develop. That way the three musicians are able to dive into all levels of the individual pieces, to lay open the finest nuances and to weave complex sound patterns. Because of its artistic complexity the music on this album may well be compared with chamber music. It shows how fine the line in art often is, as you can safely play this album to a friend of contemporary classical music - the difference lies almost solely in the composition technique. On the one hand you have the individual composer, providing note for note for all the instruments, on the other hand we have these three musicians playing together and composing - everyone for his own instrument but still as a group. That's why musical improvisation is often also called "instant composing"...
And even if the band's name allows associations with the tritone, the diabolus in musica, you have to have no fear that it is too straining, because this is one of the rare examples where the musicians develop a wonderful whole with free play. Of course we are already used to this from Jacek Buhl and his great collaborations with Wojtek Jachna and also from Tomasz Pawlicki’s contributions to the Ecstasy Project or Maestro Trytony. Only Mateusz Szwankowski didn't appear that often yet, but still he seems to be exactly right one for this shot. Especially his bass clarinet is in many parts responsible for the slightly dark foundation of the pieces, but often he also accounts for the surprising accents. This album is an unconditional recommendation to everyone for whom Jazz doesn't necessarily have to swing and for those who are open to more demanding notes.
Tomasz Gwinciński - guitar, electronics Tomasz Pawlicki - flute, keyboards, spinet, piano prepared Patryk Węcławek - bass Rafał Gorzycki - drums Małgorzata Skotnicka - spinet Jacek Majewski - percussion Łukasz Gorewicz - violin Martin Franken - gamelan
Heart Of Gold (2004)
Maestro Trytony are a Polish band led by Tomasz Gwicinski (guitar) and Tomasz Pawlicki (flute, keyboards). The musicians grew up on mainstream rock music, but were subsequently exposed to the world of 20th century’s classic and jazz. Indeed, the guitarist was considered one of the purveyors of the very local, neo-jazz phenomenon labeled as “yass” in the 1990s.
Initially, the band appeared stylistically hesitant and some clumsiness accompanied their forays into over-generous orchestrations. The initial ideas were highly engaging, but their eventual development suffered in longer compositions. Fortunately, in their most recent incarnation they seem to have developed timbral sagacity, generating an undogmatic yet coherent idiom. Where else could you find seeping interplay of baroque spinet, celestial flute and sharply edged jazz guitar? On this hitherto unclaimed territory Maestro Trytony offer a refreshing dose of stylistic fence-sitting.
Rafał Gorzycki – perkusja
Tomasz Pawlicki – flet
Łukasz Górewicz - skrzypce, altówka
Paweł Nowicki – wibrafon
Paweł Urowski – kontrabas
They Were P (MW, 2011)
This is the 5th album by the Polish ensemble Ecstasy Project, founded and led by drummer / percussionist / composer Rafal Gorzycki. Gorzycki, who is also active in other musical projects, like the excellent Sing Sing Penelope ensemble, formed Ecstasy Project as a vehicle for his compositions, which lay in the fuzzy area between Jazz and contemporary Classical music. The ensemble includes also flautist Tomasz Pawlicki, vibraphonist Pawel Nowicki, violinist Lukasz Gorewicz and bassist Pawel Urowski, and is capable of performing the complex music and creating an atmosphere that bridges between chamber contemporary Classical music and modern Jazz, moving between the two smoothly and seamlessly. The music, almost entirely composed by Gorzycki, is quite intricate at times, but does not cross the point of total alienation to the less experienced listener, keeping enough melody and rhythm to hold on through the more difficult passages. Of course listeners with more experience in Classical music will find this music familiar and quite enchanting from the very first listen. This is very European music, encapsulating the musical traditions the 19th and 20th Centuries, from neo-romanticism, via atonal experimentation and minimalism, right into the avant-garde. And yet the music is not over-intellectual and leaves a lot to feeling and atmosphere, keeping the overall emotional level alive and aesthetically satisfying. Definitely worth investigation for more adventurous listeners!
Track listing: 1. Who Is Next?; 2. Vigo; 3. What Harmony Part I; 4. What Harmony Part II; 5. … And Beyond; 6. Jeddem; 7. Zero Plus Zero; 8. Na Jednym Rymie; 9. They Were P; 10. Too For… Swing; 11. Where Is Atonal Etude?
This is the 3rd album by the Polish ensemble Ecstasy Project, founded and led by drummer / percussionist / composer Rafal Gorzycki. Gorzycki, who is also active in other musical projects, like the excellent Sing Sing Penelope ensemble, formed Ecstasy Project as a vehicle for his compositions, which lay in the fuzzy area between Jazz and contemporary Classical music. The ensemble includes also flautist Tomasz Pawlicki, vibraphonist Pawel Nowicki, violinist Lukasz Gorewicz and bassist Pawel Urowski, and is capable of performing the complex music and creating an atmosphere that bridges between chamber contemporary Classical music and modern Jazz, moving between the two smoothly and seamlessly. The music, almost entirely composed by Gorzycki, is quite intricate at times, but does not cross the point of total alienation to the less experienced listener, keeping enough melody and rhythm to hold on through the more difficult passages. Of course listeners with more experience in Classical music will find this music familiar and quite enchanting from the very first listen. As the title suggests, this is very European music, encapsulating the musical traditions the 19th and 20th Centuries, from neo-romanticism, via atonal experimentation and minimalism, right into the avant-garde. And yet the music is not over-intellectual and leaves a lot to feeling and atmosphere, keeping the overall emotional level alive and aesthetically satisfying. Definitely worth investigation for more adventurous listeners!
Track listing: 1. Maestoso non troppo (7:02); 2. Sempre adaggio (7:38); 3. Allegro vivace animato (4:23); 4. Solo misterioso (1:31); 5. Adlibitum - Allegretto rallentando (9:04); 6. Solo con espressione (1:28); 7. Moderato recitando (9:11); 8. Solo con dolore (1:13); 9. Andantino grazioso cantabile (5:22); 10. Andante con melanconia (6:32)
Rafał Gorzycki – perkusja
Tomasz Pawlicki – flet
Łukasz Górewicz - skrzypce, altówka
Paweł Nowicki – wibrafon
Paweł Urowski – kontrabas
They Were P (MW, 2011)
Rafał Gorzycki retains low profile but he is nonetheless one of leading figures in young Polish Jazz. His main feature is open-mindedness. His projects are varied and comprise mainstream, avantgarde and chamber music. He collaborated or co-leadered such important bands as Maestro Trytony, Sing Sing Penelope, Dziki Jazz or Ecstasy Project. This last venture is recognized not only in Poland but also abroad what is evidenced by this very favourable review of his last album "Reminiscence Europae" (2008). Musically speaking it is an elegant mixture of modern chamber music with free jazz aesthetics. Not too sophisticated for average and not too obvious for advance listener this release is good example how well ambitious and accessible elements in jazz can be merged together when in hands of talented and able musicians...
Tomasz Gwincinski - guitar, leader
Renata Suchodolska - cello
Tomasz Pawlicki - flute, keyboards
Tomasz Hesse - bass
Rafal Gorzycki - drums
special guests:
Andrzej Przybielski - trumpet
Marta Handschke - voice
Jacek Majewski - conga
Wojciech Kuczyniecki - bass clarinet
Wojciech Gibas - fagot
Tadeusz Michalski - bass clarinet
Mozg, 1997
Maestro Trytony is key group in history of Polish avantgarde scene. Its history dates back to 1991 when trio Trytony was brought to life by Tomasz Gwińciński (guitarist) together with Jacek Pawlicki (doublebass) and Jacek Buhl (drums). This squad recorded two albums: "Tańce Bydgoskie" (1991) and "Zarys Matematyki Niewinnej - koncert w Mózgu" (1995) while Tomasz Gwińciński also recorded with Jerzy Mazzoll and his Artythmic Perfection group (check their "A" album) and Łoskot (listen to excellent "Sun"). All these projects made Gwińciński key player in lively Bydgoszcz music scene which focused first around Trytony club (that's where name of band comes from) and then around famous Mózg club.
But Gwińciński did not give up on Trytony and it happened around that time that he had some theater projects (BTW his favourite occupation up to present day) where he mostly used classical music language. He therefore started experiments (as we read on Mózg web page) in "blending motifs of contemporary chamber music (Bartok, Strawiński, Ines) with New York avantjazz aesthetics and that peculiar Polish lyricism a'la Komeda". To achieve new sound he needed bigger band so he began to cooperate with whole new set of musicians, a much bigger group than previously, among whom there were now many classically trained players. In years to come especially fruitful turned out to be Gwińciński relationship with drummer Rafał Gorzycki (check excellent albums he made with bands called Ecstasy Project or Sing Sing Penelope) and with legendary trumpeter Andrzej Przybielski. These new band recorded in 1997 new album titled "Enoptronia" which may be described as "a tone poem" and immediately became one the most important albums as far as yass movement (new free and avantgarde music in Poland) is concerned. Obligatory!
Ecstasy Project was one of the most important projects in Polish avant-garde, featuring such artists that were to become prominent figures on Polishjazz scene as Rafał Gorzycki (Sing Sing Penelope) or Paweł Urowski (Contemporarz Noise Sextet). Fortunately Ecstasy Project's albums were recognized not only in Poland but also abroad and I am able to quote here excellent review of this album written by Ian Patterson for allaboutjazz.com:
"The jacket photography of Reminiscence Europae shows what looks like a bridge by architect Santiago Calatrava, which is appropriate. His global works divide opinion and are impossible to ignore. His architecture is largely devoid of local cultural reference; he is the architect without borders. In a way, these photos are a suitable metaphor for the music of Polish group Ecstasy Project—seemingly simple yet technically impressive and austere. According to taste, it is perhaps beautiful, and with few obvious points of departure.
The Italian song titles and chamber ensemble sobriety that dominate these live recordings allude to a classical approach, but the violin of Lukasz Gorewicz (the main voice of the group) comes from somewhere between the melancholia of eastern European folk and the animated style of violinists Jean Luc Ponty and Jerry Goodman. The vibe playing of Pawel Nowicki is utterly minimalist, atmospheric in a Zawinul-esque way, and evokes a Twilight Zone eeriness. Underpinning this esoteric face is the compelling drumming of nominal leader and main composer Rafal Gorzycki, which carries an energy and force in contrast to the edgy minimalism around him.
The pieces have a modern, avant-garde feel to them—soundtracks to European art-house cinema. The manipulation of space and silences, which lend such force to the infrequent eruptions of drums, violin and flute, are shaped by the minimal utterances of Pawel Nowicki's vibes, quietly rumbling drums, Pawel Urowski's alternately sparse and lively double-bass, and tense violin notes which are more percussive than melodic. But there is momentum to this music; the innate tension in the short staccato phrasing and the abstractness and dissonance, rises imperceptibly to crescendos that are surprising in their intensity.
On "Presto Cinque," violin and flute trace the initial lyrical melody before Gorewicz takes solo flight. Drums and bass propel the violinist into some inspired playing on a heady segment that evokes the Mahavishnu Orchestra. A brief, silent interlude follows, broken by a circular vibes motif, before Tomasz Pawlicki's flute takes center stage, the notes unfurling progressively and becoming bolder as crashing cymbals fill the air. Pawlicki's playing becomes gradually freer and breathier as the piece reaches a climax, and the guttural cry that escapes his throat reveals the influence of Rahsaan Roland Kirk, or perhaps Ian Anderson—comparisons that do not flatter him at all.
The combination of vibes and drums creates dense soundscapes on "Maestoso non troppo." "Adibitum" glides from bowed bass and violin in harmonious tandem to blistering drums to near silence impregnated by softly chattering vibes. This is music in a constant state of ebb and flow.
An accompanying DVD shows this lineup in concert, but the absence of its more animated tracks, featuring exhilarating violin and flute improvisations, provides only half the picture. The dark and edgy minimalist approach of Reminisence Europae holds a certain fascination precisely because of that juxtaposition of rationed and unrestrained improvisation. Nevertheless, admirers of modern, progressive music will not be indifferent to this challenging, original project."
Check this video for sample of music of this band:
Author of text: Ian Patterson
www.allaboutjazz.com
Tomasz Pawlicki
