Jazzpospolita - Humanizm (2017)

Jazzpospolita

Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer - guitar
Michał Załęski - keyboards
Stefan Nowakowski - bass
Wojciech Oleksiak - drums

Humanizm

PRIVATE EDITION



By Adam Baruch

This is the sixth album by Polish ensemble Jazzpospolita and the last one to feature the original lineup of bassist Stefan Nowakowski, drummer Wojciech Oleksiak, guitarist Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer and keyboardist Michał Załęski. Vocalist Paulina Przybysz is featured on one song and another vocalist Novika is featured on another song. The album presents eleven original compositions, all co-composed by the ensemble members, except the song featuring Przybysz, which was composed and written by her (lyrics in English) and the song featuring Novika that includes her lyrics (in Polish).

Stylistically the music preserves the unique qualities characterizing all the earlier albums by the ensemble, but is somewhat more Pop oriented, not only because of the presence of vocals but primarily due to the melodies being more "tame" and well organized and the instrumental passages being less expressive and searching. In retrospect it might seem that they ran out of steam, being enslaved within a formula, which stopped to "lay the golden eggs".

Nevertheless this music is still a slick aesthetic experience and the atmosphere of dreamy, mysterious and repetitive soundscapes did not lose its magic touch entirely. Przerwa-Tetmajer still produces long, lazy guitar solos that seem to flow on the wind in slow motion, and are easy to impress. The keyboards remain mostly in the background in a supportive role and the rhythm section keeps the music moving ahead gently, with little rhythmic variety. The two songs don't really belong with the rest of the music and as far as I am concerned don't contribute anything in the big picture.

Overall this is still Jazzpospolita, and these guys are masters of ambient Jazz/Fusion, so the album is still very enjoyable altogether, although it created little reverberation on the scene at the time of its release. For dedicated fans of the group this album is of course a must, but their next album with a new lineup and new musical direction proves to be much more rewarding. Still definitely worth investigating!

Jazzpospolita – Jazzpo! Live Made In China (2016)

Jazzpospolita

Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer - guitar
Michał Załęski - keyboards
Stefan Nowakowski - bass
Wojciech Oleksiak - drums

Jazzpo! Live Made In China

AUDIO ANATOMY 001



By Adam Baruch

This is the fifth (and first live) album by Polish Jazz-Rock Fusion group called Jazzpospolita, which comprises of guitarist Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer, keyboardist Michał Załęski, bassist Stefan Nowakowski and drummer Wojciech Oleksiak. As the title suggests, the album was recorded live during the group's tour in China and presents two CDs, each with seven original compositions, all composed and arranged collectively by the members of the group. The album includes live versions of all the nine compositions presented on the group's fourth album ("Jazzpo!") and five compositions from their earlier recordings. The music was mixed and mastered by Jan Smoczyński at the Tokarnia Studio with superb sonic result as usual.

Although these expanded live versions of the Jazzpospolita's material don't present any new facets of the group's superb live act, which I had the pleasure to experience at first hand several times, they do affirm their positions as one of the most successful young European groups that emerged in 2010s, with a strong appeal to the young generation of listeners, apparently across the globe. The highly melodic and hypnotic compositions, which create a trance-like and ever surreal atmosphere are very communicable and appealing.

All four members of the group manage to compliment their individual instrumental abilities and create a unique sound and even style, which is immediately recognizable. The sterile sound of the guitar, which is the leading instrument in most cases, brings memories of the instrumental Rock groups from the early 1960s, but modernized of course and supported by electric piano, create together a surprisingly convincing effect, when supported by the highly skillful rhythm section. Silence and breaks are an integral part of the Jazzpospolita magic, again quite unusual in comparison to what is happening in contemporary music.

This album is an ideal entry point into the Jazzpospolita world, especially for listeners unfamiliar with their earlier albums and therefore highly recommended as such. But overall it is a beautiful stretch of great instrumental music, which manages to create an atmosphere of mystery and anticipation, keeping the listeners in suspense from start to finish. Connoisseurs of atmospheric melodic improvised music should have a field day with this album, which I warmly recommend!

Jazzpospolita – Almost Splendid (2010)

Jazzpospolita

Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer - guitar
Michał Załęski - keyboards
Stefan Nowakowski - bass
Wojciech Oleksiak -drums

 Almost Splendid

AMPERSAND 20



By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by Polish group Jazzpospolita, which consists of guitarist Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer, keyboardist Michał Załęski, bassist Stefan Nowakowski and drummer Wojtek Oleksiak. The album presents nine original compositions (ten tracks with one tune repeated as a remix), all assumedly co-composed by all four band members.

As it sometimes happens, I listened to this album after being already familiar with the band's later work, therefore I can only imagine what my reaction would have been if I listened to it at the time of its release a few years earlier. Speculations aside, it still is a pretty amazing piece of music and a stunning debut. Arriving on such a busy scene as the Polish Jazz and alternative Rock with a spectacular, fresh and innovative album, which is completely different from almost anything that is already there, is truly remarkable.

This album defines the musical "language", which the group follows since its inception, which is quite difficult to define verbally. It is a mixture of melodic Ambient Music with Jazz improvisations, Rock rhythmic patterns and alternative Rock sonorities, which sounds simply different from anything else. For people desperately in need of known references from the past, it is somewhat comparable to the music released on the legendary "Buddha Bar" series, with many of the Chill-out and Lounge elements present but with the World Music references replaced by Jazzier vibes.

Regardless of the similarities, which might serve as points of reference, this music is fresh, exciting and sophisticated, which by itself is already quite rare. Combined with delicate melodic themes and first-class execution this album is by all means a very important step on the local music scene, proving that excellent music can be accessible to a large population of listeners, without even a hint of compromise and selling out.

In the last few days I have listened to this album repeatedly and I'm pretty sure it's there to stay on my short playlist for a while. Anybody not familiar with Jazzpospolita should definitely seek this little gem out ASAP and follow with their later albums. As far as I am concerned there is absolutely no "almost" involved herein; Splendid indeed!

Domówka z Tetmajerem u Sylwii

W grudniu pojawiło się na facebooku wydarzenie, gdzie Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer zapraszał na premierę cyfrowej wersji swojej płyty. Przy okazji - każdy, kto w określonym czasie zakupi ją w internetowym sklepie Nuplays, będzie brał udział w losowaniu. Wygrana, to domowy recital artysty. I tak się zdarzyło, że to właśnie ja wygrałam to losowanie.

Koncert odbył się 24 stycznia w Ostrołęce, w mieszkaniu mojego partnera Daniela. Było to świetne, wręcz rewelacyjne spotkanie z muzykiem. Michał Przerwa -Tetmajer to bardzo miły, cichy, bardzo wyważony człowiek, świetnie się z nim dyskutuje. Rozmawialiśmy na tematy przeróżne: niestety, nie był to wywiad, więc nie spisałam wszystkiego, poza tym – była to właśnie luźna rozmowa, gdzie również my nieco o sobie opowiedzieliśmy. Po koncercie wiele wątków poruszyli też zaproszeni przeze mnie goście. Co zapamiętałam? Że z uczeniem się muzyki jest jak z nauką języków obcych – najpierw uczysz się liter, słówek, potem całych fraz, potem zaczynasz rozumieć, o co w tym wszystkim chodzi. Ciekawa była też rozmowa o snach, teatrze ulicznym, tremie, kotach. Aż dziw bierze, że wszystko razem trwało najwyżej trzy godziny. 

Kulminacyjnym punktem programu był recital. Posadziliśmy muzyka na stołku, powiesiliśmy za jego plecami czarne tło fotograficzne, zapaliliśmy lampki i kilka świeczek. Zrobiło się ciemno, nastrojowo. Goście usiedli, gdzie się dało - przeważnie na podłodze, niektórzy sączyli wino. I popłynęły dźwięki gitary. To była prawdziwa jazzowa uczta. Michał zagrał kilka kompozycji z "Doktora Filozofii", kolejno: "Znak firmowy porywacza", "Astronautka", "Lewaroryzacja", "Kioski zabytkowe" oraz "Kosmos mnie zawsze niepokoił". Przetykał je premierowymi utworami, skomponowanymi, jak się nie mylę, jako solo na gitarze: "Grupa badawcza" (tytuł nie do końca mu się podobał, być może jeszcze go zmieni), "Jakie to ma znaczenie" (to też jest tytuł roboczy, utworu Tomka Sołtysa - wideo duetu z tą kompozycją pojawi się 17 lutego na YouTube). Usłyszeliśmy również "Taka jest budowa kości" i "Jak zostać uczonym". Na koniec (na bis) nawet zaśpiewał "Popołudniowy czas", własną kompozycję sprzed kilkunastu lat, ze słowami Grzegorza Gawlika.

Fot. Daniel Ejsmont

Goście, których zaprosiłam na recital nie są fanami jazzu, a już zwłaszcza tego świeżego, polskiego. A jednak muzyka Michała ich totalnie oczarowała. Moja córka podczas zdjęcia grupowego dotknęła instrumentu palcem wskazującym i powiedziała: "ściągam jej całą magię, żeby Michał ją znowu napełnił". Tak, bo ten wieczór był magiczny. Nie jestem krytykiem jazzowym, słucham po prostu jazzu od jakiegoś czasu. Z każdą nową płytą, koncertem czuję się bogatsza. Po tym wydarzeniu mogę mówić, że jestem milionerką. A co!

Autorka: Sylwia Larkiewicz

Jazzpospolita – Jazzpo! (2014)

Jazzpospolita

Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer - guitar
Michał Załęski - keyboards
Stefan Nowakowski - bass
Wojtek Oleksiak - drums

Jazzpo!

POSTPOST 01



By Adam Baruch

This is the fourth album by Polish group Jazzpospolita, which consists of guitarist Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer, keyboardist Michał Załęski, bassist Stefan Nowakowski and drummer Wojtek Oleksiak. The album presents ten original compositions (eleven tracks with one tune repeated twice), all assumedly co-composed by all four band members. The music was recorded at the legendary Studio Tokarnia with Jan Smoczyński presiding at the knobs, which naturally results in excellent sound quality, as usual.

This album is the first new music Jazzpospolita reveals since their second album, i.e. in over two years, which kept the many fans of the group in suspense. The fact is that this is new music but there is not so much new in the music itself, as if the group simply glided over time doing more or less the same thing they have been doing more or less since they started. Nothing wrong with that of course, but in a long range even the most loyal followers might loose interest.

But innovation aside, Jazzpospolita is still a very unique voice on the Polish scene, filling a niche for the young generation of music lovers, who are not really into Jazz proper on one hand, but who are bored with the contemporary Pop and Ambient scenes on the other hand. The group manages to produce nice melodic riffs, stretched over extended ambient passages and featuring some impressive guitar lead lines, which are overall quite hypnotic and engaging. This music has a chameleonic quality of fitting into many different listening environments, from background music while driving to intensive direct involvement with the music.

The four individual musicians make a remarkable contribution to the overall group sound and feel of the entire ensemble. The guitarist carries most of the leading voice, but his role would have been impossible without the rich background created by the keyboards and the superb rhythm section. Rhythmically the music is mostly Rocky, with steady bit and pulse, while the keyboards and the guitar create the improvisational dimension, which associates the music with the Jazz idiom. Combined with the Ambient sound the Rock and Jazz ingredients amalgamate into a unique mixture, which is distinctly Jazzpospolita.

Of course this is the best album the group created so far, and the most fun to listen to, but the group should be aware of the danger of stretching this formula for one more album. Hopefully they will reinvent themselves for the next one, leaving us in the meantime having a good time with this one. Thank you Gentlemen!

Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer – Doktor Filozofii (2014)

Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer

Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer - guitar
Jan Smoczyński - piano
Michał Jaros - bass
Hubert Zemler - drums

Doktor Filozofii

PRIVATE EDITION 01



By Adam Baruch

This is the debut solo album by Polish guitarist/composer Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer, who is familiar to followers of the Polish Jazz scene as the guitarist of the successful group Jazzpospolita. The album was recorded in a classis quartet setting with pianist Jan Smoczyński, bassist Michał Jaros and drummer Hubert Zemler and presents nine original compositions by Przerwa-Tetmajer. It was recorded at the excellent Studio Tokarnia and engineered by Smoczyński, resulting in excellent sound quality, as usual.

The music on this album is quite different from what Przerwa-Tetmajer plays with Jazzpospolita and is obviously an attempt to present a different side of his musical personality. The overall concept here is bona fide Jazz, as opposed to the obvious anarchist/rebellious approach used by the group. Surprisingly it is not about straightforward/mainstream melodic Jazz at all, but quite an ambitious open and at times even completely Free Form Jazz, although mostly quite reserved and melancholic. Although the music has a strong melodic content, the melodies are purposely uneven, both harmonically and rhythmically, which means that this music requires attentive listening and is anything but easy on the ear.

The depth of these compositions is the biggest surprise of this album. Subtle, delicate, even fragile musical threads are finely presented and then developed by the two main soloists, each doing it his way; Smoczyński, who is a Master of melodic chord progression, pulls the tunes towards subtle melancholy, so typical of Polish Jazz, whereas Przerwa-Tetmajer pushes them into ragged fragmentation. This dichotomy adds an interesting dimension to the entire process of music making, which lifts this album to a higher plane.

Przerwa-Tetmajer's guitar playing is a strange mixture of classic Jazz and Blues guitar and his own liberties, which sometimes fit the music perfectly but on other occasions sounds a bit unnerving, hesitant and plain "strange". He is after all just starting, so his personal style is still in the process of being shaped, but the potential and talent are definitely there. Smoczyński, whose reputation as a brilliant player is mostly well within the mainstream idiom, shows here that he is incredibly flexible and can handle a much more challenging situations. The rhythm section, which consists of much older and experienced musicians, is of course beyond reproach and keeps this music "down to earth", saving it from potential chaos.

Overall this is a very impressive debut, which hopefully will lead to future explorations of the infinite musical space. Judging by the compositions on this album Przerwa-Tetmajer has a bright path ahead of him, both as a player and composer. Of course we are all waiting for his next quantum leap of his solo career, in parallel to his work with Jazzpospolita.

Jazzpospolita – Repolished Jazz (2012)

Jazzpospolita

Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer - piano
Michał Załęski - keyboards
Stefan Nowakowski - bass
Wojtek Oleksiak - drums

Repolished Jazz

AMPERSAND 29

By Adam Baruch

This is the third album by Polish group Jazzpospolita, which consists of guitarist Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer, keyboardist Michał Załęski, bassist Stefan Nowakowski and drummer Wojtek Oleksiak. In fact this album hardly counts as another stage in the group's recorded legacy, as technically in includes no new contributions by the group per se. The first CD of this double CD release includes six remixes (one of the tunes is included in two different remix versions) of their material from the previous two albums, created by other artists, while the second CD is a reissue of their early EP from 2009, which was not formally released previously. As usual there are no composition credits anywhere on the album's artwork, so the assumption is that the group members share the credits.

Considering that both CDs are about 25 minutes in duration, it seems that this album is one huge ego trip, which hardly justifies the lavish (and obviously expensive) packaging and the entire hullabaloo about it. The music could easily fit on one CD and a much modest packaging would have done the job. A numbered limited edition is a luxury artists have first to earn by producing some viable product.

It is nice to have the "legendary" EP finally released, but the group did move ahead since it was released and in retrospect it does not really hold the ground that well. Yes it was innovative at the time, but also very amateurish in many respects. Nevertheless, regardless of the many labels the "critics" stick to their music, Jazzpospolita was quite unique and interesting from the very start, which is already a great achievement.

The remixes, on the other hand, are a complete waste of time, completely unattached to the original music and make no sense whatsoever. Aesthetically there is nothing exciting about the way they are done, not is there any innovation in it. Personally I think that they do injustice to the original music, which is interesting enough and does not need to be transformed into other musical planes.

Overall life is, as experienced people know, a game of Hit or Miss, and this album is somewhat on the miss side, which of course is quite normal and happens to the best. The road to hell is paved with good intensions…

Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer - Doktor Filozofii (2014)

Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer

Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer - guitar
Jan Smoczyński - piano
Michał Jaros - double bass
Hubert Zemler - drums

Doktor Filozofii (2014)




By Maciej Nowotny

Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer managed to surprise me and that is always a good sign as far as jazz record is concerned. Up to this moment I have known him mainly from his playing in a group called Jazzpospolita, arguably one of very few Polish successful enterprises on the field of new/acid jazz. His mellow tone on guitar fit perfectly into moody ambient of Jazzpospolita's electronically propelled dancing rhythms. But to be honest it was all about team effort as on "Almost Splendid" (2010) as recent "Impulse" (2012). And it did not cross my mind that this guitarist may have any future at all in world of jazz. But I was clearly wrong because first this record is 100% jazz and second it introduces Michał as a distinctive musical personality aspiring to be put among first ranks of our jazz guitarists.

What is so special about this album that changed my view on him so thoroughly? Knowing me you could expect that he did something crazy, unexpected, innovatory or perhaps revolutionary? Nothing of that sort. On contrary "Doktor Filozofii" is all about old good jazz of Blue Note era. Specifically, as he himself admits, about legendary guitarist Grant Green. To reconstruct his legendary bluesy tone Michał went not only on extensive studies on music of his hero but also went 100% analog during recording session. The outcome of all this effort is simply awesome! The tone is deep, warm as the ocean washing the shores of southern islands and bluesy as the beautiful lady lost in the night blackness. Oh God! How this sound rocks and rolls!

But "it would be nothing" without original compositions all written by Michał which though clearly rooted in bop nevertheless sound entirely fresh. One must be totally astonished by the scale of melody making talent as displayed in these compositions by Przerwa-Tetmajer. I must confess that I already listened to this record more than twenty times and I am still far from being fed up or bored. It is one vamp tune after another but the reason why you not find yourself tired with them as on many all-hit records is that they are part of some bigger scheme like a story or tale. 

Two more things should be highlighted before this text ends. First, astonishing work as delivered by rhythm section. Composed of experienced pianist Jan Smoczyński and double bassist Michał Jaros plus young Hubert Zemler they miraculously managed  to keep the music within limits of vintage jazz and blues while occasionally saturating it with modern unpredictability. Last but not least the quality of recording is simply outstanding which is not surprise when we take into account that it was done in having already cult status "Tokarnia" studio (BTW its co-owner is Jan Smoczynski himself). All in all this is definitely a potential gem recording especially for all those who (like I do!) look onto Blue Note catalogue as modern equivalent of jazz Holy Bible.

Jazzpospolita - Impulse (2012) by Adam Baruch

Jazzpospolita (band)

Stefan Nowakowski – bass
Wojtek Oleksiak – drums
Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer – guitar
Michał Załęski – keyboard

Impulse (2012)

This is the 2nd album (not counting their early EP) by the young Polish ensemble Jazzpospolita (Jazz Republic in Polish), one of the many very interesting ensembles emerging recently on the local scene. The current lineup of the group includes guitarist Michal Przerwa-Tetmajer, keyboardist Michal Zaleski, bassist Stefan Nowakowski and drummer Wojciech Oleksiak. The album consists of eight tracks, which are all original compositions (no compositional credits are given on the album's packaging).

Although obviously deeply rooted in the Jazz tradition (as their name suggests), the group expands their influences into other areas as well, including Rock, electronic and ambient. The music includes plenty of improvisation, but the overall sound is pretty metallic and electronic, which is quite innovative on one hand but often difficult to swallow on the other. They are clearly cross-genre, still searching for a unique identity, but their path of experimentation and reaching beyond the obvious is commendable.

In the more "conventional" pieces they sound pretty much Jazz-Rock, but on the more advanced / experimental pieces their sound could be called Psychedelic and even Spacey. Obviously there is a lot of versatility herein and listeners, who like to be surprised and kept in suspense, will enjoy this immensely.

The nature of the music makes it quite difficult to estimate the individual talents and abilities of the ensemble members; well perhaps it is for the best, as the ensemble sound is exactly their forte. Whatever one thinks about this music, one thing is sure: these young musicians do their thing, which is more that most of their contemporaries do.

This album is highly recommended to the more adventurous listeners, who are not afraid to struggle with first impressions and harsh sounds, and are willing to give this music a second chance. Eventually there is a high probability this will become some of their favorite music in the long term. Impressive stuff!

By Adam Baruch

http://www.adambaruch.com/ 

 

Track listing: 1 03:09 Co Myslisz O Wandalizmie? 2 04:09 Czerwona Flaga (Ale Ja Sie Kapie) 3 07:23 Pasazer U-Boota 4 05:18 Pobudzenie 5 05:08 Ciezkie Powietrze 6 04:59 Grzyb 7 07:17 Nigdy Nie Pada Na Gornym Mokotowie 8 08:32 Protest Song? 

Jazzpospolita - Impulse (2012)

Jazzpospolita (band)

Stefan Nowakowski – bass
Wojtek Oleksiak – drums
Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer – guitar
Michał Załęski – keyboard

Impulse (2012)

The Warsaw-based band releases their second album - a rare blend of classical and futuristic sounds. Impulse, released in February 2012, is a set of freely improvised, harmonically and rhythmically strong songs appealing to traditional jazz aficionados, as well as fans of post-rock and ambitious pop music. The new album is rich in guitar reverberations, overdrive sounds, delays and harmonic progressions.

Jazzpo, as they are known to their loyal fans, is a popular group of four young highly skilled musicians: Stefan Nowakowski, Wojtek Oleksiak, Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer,Michał Załęski. Emblematic of a rich Polish jazz heritage, their music shows an appreciation for the traditional and a taste for experimentation. They uniquely blend of nu-jazz, electronica and melodic themes. "Our inspirations are so varied it’s sometimes hard to understand how the four of us play so well together!" they say.

Since the 2010 release of Almost Splendid – a critically acclaimed album fussing classical and more imaginative melodies, the jazz quartet Jazzpospolita performed nearly one hundred concerts. They played at Open'er festivals, Men Playing/ Męskie Granie, Jazz Jantar, Garan Jazz Festival in Romania, and figured in the same line-up as Bonobo during their tour of Poland. The musicians state "We started to play live what progressively set a new, sharper sound. (…)". The album emanates their increased confidence and experience.

source: http://www.myspace.com/jazzpospolita

Track listing:
1 03:09 Co Myslisz O Wandalizmie?
2 04:09 Czerwona Flaga (Ale Ja Sie Kapie)
3 07:23 Pasazer U-Boota
4 05:18 Pobudzenie
5 05:08 Ciezkie Powietrze
6 04:59 Grzyb
7 07:17 Nigdy Nie Pada Na Gornym Mokotowie
8 08:32 Protest Song?

Jazzpospolita - Almost Splendid (2010)

In Poland we have very strong mainstream jazz, free and improv jazz getting stronger every year but nu jazz, thriving in the West, is honestly speaking underdeveloped. I wish more Polish young musicians would follow suit of such Polish artists like Stealpot or Skalpel who once recorded for legendary Ninja Tune label. And there is so much to explore in this dancelike and electronical jazz sphere where such different artists as Parov Stellar and Bonobo on easy side or Peter Nils Molvaer and Lars Danielsson on more ambitous one coexist.

In recent years two bands in Poland distinguished themselves in this field and can be recommended wholehearteadly: Contemporary Noise Quintet/Sextet and Pink Freud. They play top notch nu jazz in very ambitious form especially in Pink Freud case. And though there is still plenty of work ahead of Jasspospolita before we can count them among those two top bands I must say that as for debut this is more than satisfactory recording.

Straightforward, unpretentious, yet very melodic and accessible it shall appeal to those who only accidentally look into modern jazz garden. But because it at times is dark in mood, scratchy and oniric it shall also keep attention of more sophisticated jazz listeners for longer than just one song. It lacks complexity, density and ironic power of Pink Freud albums or kitsch refinement of Contemporary Noise CDs but it nevertheless bring promise of some individual and interesting voice to speak on its own in future. As far as I am concerned they got credit from me for their next recording. Let me finally say that music is composed and executed by following artists: Stefan Nowakowski (bass), Wojtek Oleksiak (drums), Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer (gitara) and Michał Załęski (keyboards) and invite you to listen to a song from this album:

or visit web page: http://www.myspace.com/jazzpospolita

By Maciej Nowotny
http://kochamjazz.blox.pl/html