Maciej Dymek – instrumenty klawiszowe
Paweł Kowalski – perkusja
Bartosz Smorągiewicz - saksofony
Wydawca: Music And More Records
Tekst recenzji: Mateusz Chorążewicz
Debiutancki album formacji DR ZOLO od pierwszych minut jasno
sygnalizuje, że nie będzie tu ani gładko, ani bezpiecznie. „Trickster Music”
porusza się w estetyce jazz punka, gdzie energia, zadziorność i pewien
kontrolowany chaos są ważniejsze niż dopieszczone harmonie czy klasycznie
rozumiana jazzowa narracja. To płyta, która bardziej prowokuje niż zaprasza i
raczej stawia opór niż stara się przypodobać.
This is a live recording by the
ensemble led by Polish (of Greek origin) multi-instrumentalist/composer/band leader Milo Kurtis, which includes some of the top World Music musicians
active in Poland, all of whom are multi-instrumentalists playing authentic
acoustic instruments originating from many different corners of the world. They
are: saxophonists Misza Kinsner and Bartłomiej Smorągiewicz, percussionist Adeb
Chamoun, multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Bartłomiej Pałyga and oud player Mateusz
Szemraj. The album presents eleven original compositions, eight of which were
composed by Kurtis, one was co-composed by him and Smorągiewicz and one each
were composed by Smorągiewicz and Pałyga. I had the pleasure not only to be
present at the Polish Radio Agnieszka Osiecka Studio, where this album was
recorded, but even introduced the ensemble to the public before the concert
started.
The album faithfully captures
the music that was played during that evening, which was mostly improvised on the
basis of the pre-composed themes, completely acoustic and deeply spiritual,
with Kurtis directing the ensemble but allowing the individual players to
venture into extensive improvisations, and eventually bringing them back into
the structured framework. Amazingly everything worked out beautifully together
and the superb sound quality and separation allows the listener to hear every
tiny detail within the complex wall of sound created by the six musicians.
In comparison to the earlier
recordings by Kurtis, the music on this album is less Jazz oriented per se and
is much more atmospheric, venturing into Improvised Music idiom, but more form
the World music direction rather than from the Jazz direction. As a result this
album emerges as one of the most successful achievements in his substantial
recording legacy. Of course this is not only due to the compositions and
direction setting done by the leader but also thanks to the amazing talents of
the participation musicians, who offer a vast kaleidoscope of sounds,
instruments and influences, more extensive than what Kurtis ever managed to
collect within one ensemble.
Overall this is probably the
most impressive Jazz-World Fusion album released in Poland in 2019 and a most
significant addition to the important recorded legacy of Milo Kurtis, who
remains, after many years of activity, to be at the vortex of creativity and
activity of the Polish musical scene, hopefully for many years to come. Se efcharistó file mou!
Marcin Masecki - conductor, piano
Maurycy Idzikowski, Filip Mazur - trumpets
Michał Górczyński, Tomasz Stawiecki - clarinets
Bartek Smorągiewicz, Tomasz Duda - saxophones
Michał Tomaszczyk, Piotr Wróbel – trmbones
Jerzy Rogiewicz – drums
Marcin Masecki - still young, in his thirties, a graduate of famous Berklee College of Music - has already gathered experience so unbelievably rich that it makes him personality absolutely unique on Polish music scene. In his teens he presented himself to the audience as prodigiously talented pianist employed by some of Polish best jazz musicians. He collaborated with such great players as Andrzej Jagodziński or Zbigniew Wegehaupt of older generation and also some of most successful of jazz musicians from younger one like Grzegorz Piotrowski (Alchemik's "Dracula in Bucharest") or Wojtek Mazolewski (Pink Freud's "Alchemia"). He summed up this period by releasing in 2006 the album "Live at Mińsk Mazowiecki" in so-well known jazz trio format with Garth Stevenson on double bass and Ziv Ravitz on drums which was easily one of the best mainstream recordings in last decade in Polish jazz.
After he had built for himself position on local jazz scene that many could only dream of, still being very young in his twenties, he became disillusioned with so-called mainstream and turned himself entirely toward avantgarde with - yet another surprise - occasional excursions toward indie or even pop music (Paristetris). Of particular interest are his piano solo projects ("Bob", "John" and "Die Kunst Der Fuge") and works for orchestra.
The first of latter was "Chopin Chopin Chopin" (2011) in which as in the lens were focused all features which makes music of Masecki so extraordinary: superb level of performance, child-like enthusiasm but first of all a total originality of his musical ideas which he builds upon as much jazz as classical music foundations. "Polonezy" could be justly seen as continuation to this very successful project. The size of orchestra has become a bit expanded but musicians taking part in recording of "Chopin Chopin Chopin" were kept on crucial positions. But most importantly the music on "Polonezy" retained the adventurous spirit of this first record.
No labels can describe appropriately what awaits you upon listening to this disc. The mixture is so bizarre, yet simultaneously so fresh and coherent that the listener can only choose between love and hate towards this music. For Masecki there is no way in-between, no compromises, no prisoners taken. But if you are ready to check how would sound Chopin when played by Monk accompanied by auto-ironic swinging military band then you will probably end up being as much awed as I am after the consecutive rehearsals of this outstanding material.
