Krzysztof Urbanski – Urbanski (2010)

Krzysztof Urbanski - saxophone
Pawel Tomaszewski - piano
Michal Baranski - bass
Tomasz Torres - drums

PRIVATE EDITION






By Adam Baruch

This is a brilliant debut album by the young Polish Saxophonist / composer Krzysztof Urbanski and his quartet, with pianist Pawel Tomaszewski, bassist Michal Baranski and drummer Tomasz Torres. The album presents seven compositions, five of which are his originals and two are standards.

From the fist note it is quite apparent that Urbanski is not just one more upcoming saxophonist on a scene overflowing with young talent; he has star quality which is unmistakable. Although the music on this album fits well within the classical Jazz convention (and I'm purposely avoiding the term "mainstream", which unfortunately over the years becomes more often than not associated with mediocrity), Urbanski manages to find very early in his career a very individual tone and approach, which happens very rarely with young players. It is obvious he is capable of reaching beyond the obvious and daring without apprehension, as evident herein for example on his treatment of the two standards, especially the John Coltrane's "Giant Steps", which he in a transfixing way manages to turn upside down rhythmically.

Urbanski the saxophonist is truly something else; his beautiful tone, which in its gentle and sweet manifestation is somewhat similar to Stan Getz and on the more energetic side to the young Wayne Shorter. Anybody in doubt should simply listen to the solo saxophone track on this album to comprehend Urbanski's qualities. The five original compositions also prove a maturity one hardly expects to find in young Jazz composers. His melodic, harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary spans the Jazz tradition and presents elegant, intelligent and highly aesthetic listening experience, which simply grows with each listening session.

Very worm words of praise also go to the superb rhythm section, which enables his to spread his wings but also contributes some excellent moments on its own right, with interesting solos and fabulous team work throughout this album. Tomasz Torres, the son of the legendary Polish (of Cuban origin) percussionist Jose Torres, pushes the quartet with beautiful polyrhythmic and Afro-Cuban influenced drive. Michal Baranski is already a household name on the Polish scene, known as one of the best new generation bassist in the country and his beautiful work on this album reflects his amazing talent. Pawel Tomaszewski also managed to establish quite a reputation despite his young age, with numerous recordings behind him. His solos on this album are simply top class, and his support of the leader is simply perfect.

This is definitely one of the strongest debut albums released on the Polish Jazz scene in recent years, deserving a much stronger applause then it received in actuality. Urbanski is definitely someone to keep an eye on. Wholeheartedly recommended!

Krzysztof Urbański - Urbański (2010)

From time to time one come across the album that would justly deserve two reviews instead of one. And this is exactly the case with this specific record. These two separate reviews might be something like these below:

"Krzysztof Urbański debut recording titled simply Urbański announces the arrival on Polish jazz scene of extremely talented saxophonist. In his playing, technically impeccable, there is present whole tradition of jazz saxophone masters in persons of John Coltrane (Urbański's interpretation of his Giant Steps  is small gem of this record), Sonny Rollins or Joe Henderson. In terms of technical ability, musicality and creativity (he composed majority of the songs present on this album) Urbański may be compared to Joshua Redman. Like Redman Urbański is devoted to traditional jazz, uncompromised by unnecessary additions from musical genres other than this which he loves most. But what is most important this straight-ahead, mainstream and bop climate always sound fresh because the attitude of Urbański and his colleagues towards jazz is joyous, daring and adventorous. This new bunch of pirates arrived on Polish jazz scene that shall bring us many more treasures in following years!"

The other review might be going like that:

"To the music which we ancounter on Krzysztof Urbański debut album one may apply such terms as mainstream, straighthead and post bop. But also conservative, predictable, obvious. Well, perhaps, my  inclination toward free and improvised face of jazz speaks here for itself but although I admire technical capabilities of musicians involved in this project I still must confess that nothing on this record suprised me. I felt like all notes and tempos were perfectly executed but I could also forsee them for ages before and, worst of all, I have a strange feeling I already met them thousands times before. Listening to this excellent musicianship in progress I could not help but see some similarities between Urbański and Joshua Redman who also is technically stellar but sounds to me always secondary to his obvious masters in persons of John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins or Joe Henderson. Whether Urbański (and his cooperatives) will be able to deliver something more challenging over following years remains an open question...".

Strangely to say but I feel like both those positions are to some degree defendable in case of this album. If you want to judge by yourself please visit the site of Krzysztof Urbański and listen to some of his music:

http://www.urbanskimusic.pl/articles/multimedia