Twin brothers Bartłomiej (drummer) and Marcin (bassist) Oleś are with no doubt most respectable Polish rhythm section on international jazz scene. They played and recorded with such greats as David Murray, Ken Vandermark, Kenny Werner, Chris Speed and Eric Friedlander among many others. Their international experience (predominantly with US leading artists) gave them invaluable proficiency in different techniques and aesthetics, in fact almost every album with their participation is always a high quality product. Besides of that, brothers have large collection of own recordings (as duo and collaborating with many different musicians as well).
Jestem wielbicielem wibrafonu, marimby, ksylofonu, zatem w tym tekście nie będzie mi łatwo być obiektywnym. Niemniej spróbuję. Jeśli chodzi o pomysł, to myślę, że przyjdzie mi to łatwo. Uważam, że tak obiektywnie jak subiektywnie pomysł na płytę jest po prostu świetny. Po pierwsze muzyka Jerzego Miliana zupełnie się nie starzeje, a raczej starzeje się jak wino czyli nabiera smaku. Każdy kto zna Miliana z przyjemnością posłucha jego znanych i mniej znanych kompozycji w nowym świeżym wykonaniu, zaś Ci, którzy ich nie znają odkryją muzykę, która dla polskiego jazzowego wibrafonu jest równie ważna jak, dajmy na to, muzyka Komedy dla polskiego jazzu w ogóle.
Uważam także, że obiektywnie patrząc pomysł, aby zaprosić do nagrania grupę polskich wybitnych wibrafonistów, oprócz lidera Bernarda Maseliego, grają tu: Bartosz Pieszka, Dominik Bukowski i Karol Szymanowski, jest po prostu świetny. Mamy tu do czynienia nie tylko z grupą wirtuozów instrumentu, ale przede wszystkim artystami mającymi własną wyraźną osobowość artystyczną. Nakłonienie ich do udziału w tym niezwykłym projekcie, by dzielić z nimi radość z grania tego materiału jest wielkim sukcesem i świadczy o wybitnej klasie lidera. Cieszenie się ich grą stanowi mocną stronę tej płyty i samo w sobie stanowi dobry powód, by się z nią zapoznać, bo ile w końcu w życiu słuchaliśmy zespołów, w których grało 4 wibrafonistów?
Kolejny obiektywny plus, który chciałbym zapisać na rzecz tej płyty, to fakt że jest to zapis koncertu na żywo, mającego miejsce w trakcie 2 edycji odbywającego się w Tomaszowie Mazowieckim festiwalu Love Polish Jazz Festiwal (nagranie zostało dokonane 22 września 2017). Bardzo to pomaga tej muzyce, która była pisana dla szerokiej publiczności, ku rozrywce i zyskuje, gdy jest grana dla grona entuzjastycznych słuchaczy. Udało się to zawrzeć na nagraniu, które brzmi dobrze, w czym duża zasługa sekcji rytmicznej złożonej z ciągle młodych, ale już rozpoznawalnych na polskiej scenie muzyków: Bogusława Kaczmara na fortepianie, Michała Kapczuka na kontrabasie i Marcina Jahra na perkusji.
Podsumowując, płyty się słucha świetnie, zwłaszcza przy pierwszym przesłuchaniu. Kompozycje Miliana ciągle mają moc uwodzicielską, czuć entuzjazm muzyków i towarzyszące im wsparcie publiczności. Wystarczy zamknąć oczy i czujemy się jak w klubie, słuchając świetnego, energetycznego jazzu. Natomiast przy kolejnych odsłuchach materiał ten - przy najmniej w moim subiektywnym odczuciu - już nie broni się tak dobrze. Może chiałbym, aby pojawiły się w nim oprócz kompozycji Miliana także własne utwory członków zespołu. Jest jeden taki przypadek na tej płycie, mowa to o trzecim utworze "The Miner", kompozycji pióra Bartka Pieszki, która brzmi równie świetnie jak te milianowskie.
Ale jest w tym nawet coś więcej. Zestawiając współczesnego "The Miner" z zagraną wcześniej genialną milianowską "Ballad for Olga" słyszymy o wiele więcej w obu tych utwórach przez kontrast jaki je dzieli: w stylu, w nastroju, w sposobie użycia instrumentów. To spotkanie jest fascynujące i bardzo brakuje tego napięcia w dalszej części płyty. Kolejne utwory to typowe Milianowskie hity: "Jerks At The Audience", "Luciano Coxcomb", "Street 2000", brzmią trochę jak sztampowy koncert muzyki rozrywkowej tamtych lat, publika klaszcze, gramy tym samym tempem, brakuje zatrzymania się, oddechu, głębi, refleksji. Dopiero udana interpretacja "At The Watchmaker's" znowu budzi ciekawość słuchacza. Dlatego słuchając po raz kolejny tego repertuaru myślałem o tym jak fascynujące byłoby włączenie większej ilości kompozycji członków zespołu, pozwalających z jednej strony zademonstrować swój indywidualny styl, a z drugiej konfrontować styl grania milianowskiego ze współczesnym, pokazać koncepcje wykorzystania wibrafonu kiedyś i dzisiaj we współczesnym jazzie czy szerzej muzyce improwizowanej. W momencie kiedy napisałem to zdanie, zdałem sobie sprawę, że brak tego elementu nie powinien być zarzutem wobec tego krążka skoro koncepcja była inna. Zatem lepiej nazwę go czysto subiektywnym odczuciem albo marzeniem i prośbą skierowaną nieśmiało w kierunku członków septetu, w kontekście ich - miejmy nadzieję - następnego spotkania czy wspólnego nagrania.
This is the third album by the Schmidt Electric ensemble, led by trumpeter Piotr Schmidt and also including keyboardist Tomasz Bura, bassist Michał Kapczuk, drummer Sebastian Kuchczyński and British guitarist Alex Hutchings. The core quintet was expanded for this live recording by DJ Wojciech Długosz (a.k.a. Mr. Krime), electronics wizard Joanna Szymala and vibraphonist Bartek Pieszka. The ensemble performs six original compositions, four composed by Schmidt and two by Bura, a short solo trumpet intro by Schmidt and another intro by Szymala, altogether eight tracks. Yours truly was present during the live recording in Katowice, one of the two venues where these live recordings were captured, and therefore a part of my soul is also captured on this album, like every other person who was ever present in the audience during a live recording.
The music is a natural
extension to what the released earlier studio debut album offered, i.e. an
excellent melodic version of modern Fusion, which flows smoothly from one tune
to another, but preserves class and elegance and above all is great fun to
listen to. The live ambience allows the musicians to take extended solo parts
and show their chops, which they all do to the max. The music is diverse and
offers many moods, which of course contributes significantly to the fact that
the album keeps the listener on his toes for the entire duration.
It is great to see Schmidt to
finally settling down within a domain, which suits him the best in my opinion.
This music allows him to express his superb compositional talents and lead a
highly professional ensemble, which can make him proud as a leader. His trumpet
playing also reaches a refined stage of expressiveness and eloquence,
especially effective on the slow tempo ballads, which are absolute goose bumps generators.
The use of turntablism and
electronics adds an up to date flavor to the music, without overshadowing the
main melodic, harmonic and rhythmic coherence and the strong Jazzy groove. Schmidt
manages to create music which can be enjoyed by a wide age range of listeners,
which of course is commendable. Overall a great contemporary Fusion
album, full of great melodies, fine arrangements, excellent performances and
above all great fun! Wholeheartedly recommended!
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 20th 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.
Bartek Pieszka - vibraphone
Nikola Kołodziejczyk - piano
Maciej Szczyciński - double bass
Sebastian Kuchczyński - drums
Katarzyna Ruda - oboe (1)
Piotr Toruński - bass clarinet (7)
This is the debut album by the young Polish Jazz vibraphonist Bartek Pieszka and his quartet, which also includes pianist Nikola Kołodziejczyk, bassist Maciej Szczyciński and drummer Sebastian Kuchczyński. Guest musicians: oboe player Katarzyna Ruda and bass clarinetist Piotr Toruński are featured ne one track each. The album presents ten pieces, of which four are standards and six are originals, four by Pieszka, one by Szczyciński and one co-composed by Pieszka and Kołodziejczyk. The album was recorded over a period of two years several years back but only now sees the light of day.
The vibraphone, one of the
noblest instruments, which has a wonderful tradition in Jazz music, is sadly
almost forgotten in recent years. The Polish Jazz scene is perhaps the last
bastion where the vibraphone plays a significant role in Jazz music and new
players of the instrument still join the ranks of legendary veterans. It is
therefore with great joy and special attention that every new discovery in that
area is welcomed by me and other Polish Jazz enthusiasts.
This album presents a balanced
mixture of original music and standards, ballads and up-tempo numbers, all kept
within mainstream Jazz tradition. There is nothing groundbreaking about this
music and the no risks are taken, but the overall result is definitely
enjoyable and well done, especially in view of the young age of the players
involved. Mainstream Jazz connoisseurs will definitely enjoy this ride from
start to finish.
As far as individual
contributions are concerned, Pieszka emerges somewhat subdued and is seldom in
the lead. To be perfectly hones this album is absolutely "stolen" by
the incredible performances by Kołodziejczyk, who plays most of the solos and
is by far the most gifted player on this album. The rhythm section is also
interesting, which the drummer being a bit too busy for my taste, buy playing
with feel and imagination. The bassist is very musical and supportive. The
album often makes the impression of a piano trio album rather than a quartet
recording. As debuts go, this is fresh and
promising, hopefully providing a glimpse of future to come for these
youngsters. Definitely a nice listening experience!
Sometimes I am like a little child: I like SURPRISES! And this record is such a surprise, a very pleasant surprise indeed. Because who really heard anything about Ida Zalewska? For couple of years she was verging between soul, blues, R&B and jazz. But she never indeed made to spotlights as separate, distinctive and creative individuality. Not until 10th November that is the day of premiere of her second (at least it seems so to me!) album dedicated to American heroine of vocal jazz, Billie Holiday.
You could ask what made so deep impression on me? Certainly all these songs were sung hundreds of times after the immortal performances by Lady Day. But somehow Ida Zalewska succedeed where many have failed. She neither tried to reinterpret these songs and make them coherent with modern jazz aesthetics nor she imitated performances of Holliday in which case she would be doomed to failure. Instead she sung Billie Holliday songs in most natural, unpretentious and sincere way expressing her love towards art as created by this extraordinary woman. Since it coincidies with the fact that almost all these songs are about love, therefore the album is sparkling with emotions, with longing, with sweet languor associated with being enamoured in other human being.
This sensous mood is marvellously underlined by Ida's voice. Unlike any other in Poland this voice is deep, low, sultry. It reminds me a bit of voice of Diana Krall without being overcontrolled or Norah Jones without being monotonnous. If I was to compare her to somebody, I would point out at Patricia Barber who though not having big voice through masterfully operating moods manages to make her singing unique. Ida seems to follow similar route, and I am happy to announce now, ladies and gentlemen, the birth of an accomplished jazz singer!
But her star would not shine so brightly without background as created by stunning performances of musicians who accompany her. They are all well known to conseisseurs of Polish jazz. Her quartet consists of pianist Kuba Płużek (very talented enfant terrible of famous Music Academy in Katowice), double bassist Max Mucha (yet another fabulously talented young lad from this school) and veteran drummer Arek Skolik (whose class is beyond any doubt). They are supported by very well chosen set of guests in persons of trumpeter Piotr Schmidt, saxophonists Marek Pospieszalski and Jarosław Bothur, trombonist Adam Solski and vibraphonist Bartek Pieszka. These guys' input in creating this excellent piece of jazz cannnot be overestimated. Bravo!
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