Martyna Sabak – wokal Adam Jarzmik – fortepian, aranżacje Tymon Trąbczyński – kontrabas Piotr Budniak – perkusja Jakub Łępa – saksofon Ignacy Wendt – trąbka Michał Zwierniak – gitara Kinga Moczydłowska, Katarzyna Motyka-Dziedzic, Adam Jarzmik, Martyna Sabak – chórki
Tytuł albumu: "Nic nie trzeba"
Wydawca: SJ Records
Tekst: Maciej Nowotny
"Nic nie trzeba" to album nagrany przez Magdalenę Sabak z towarzyszeniem naprawdę dobrych muzyków, dzięki którym w najlepszych momentach ta muzyka przypomina trochę uwielbiane przeze mnie płyty Gretchen Parlato.
„A Piece of a New Day” można byłoby opisać bardzo prosto: pandemia, wojna za wschodnią granicą, narodziny dziecka, osobisty przełom. Wszystko to pojawia się w materiałach towarzyszących płycie i ustawia słuchacza wobec konkretnych zdarzeń. Sam Adam Jarzmik pisze o kompozycjach powstałych w czasie napięć, skrajnych emocji i narodzin syna, a także o płycie jako zapisie osobistej drogi.
Ale najciekawsze w tym albumie jest chyba coś innego. Nie to, że układa się w opowieść od jednego wydarzenia do drugiego, lecz to, że takiego porządku właściwie nie ma. Każdy nowy dzień składa się z fragmentów, które nie muszą do siebie pasować. Obok wojny może pojawić się narodzenie dziecka. Obok zmęczenia – czekanie na piątek. Obok snu – zwykła nocna aktywność. Zdarzenia nie ustawiają się w kolejce. Po prostu dzieją się tego samego dnia.
For an alien like me, Olsztyn is associated with great summer blues nights - open air between red-brick gothic ruins. Can't remember if I ever heard any jazz artists or bands based in Olsztyn. So, when knowledgeable Google told me that guitarist Jakub Paulski, a leader of the „Free'Odde” band and author of the album of the same title, is a teacher at Olsztyn University, I expected to listen to something like … Robben Ford or Joe Bonamassa music. With catchy melodies, heavy rhythms, and prolonged guitar riffs, right in a place you expected them to happen...
This is the debut album by
young Polish Jazz pianist/composer Kuba Banaszek recorded in a classic
quartet setting with saxophonist Marcin Konieczkowicz, bassist Tymon
Trąbczyński and drummer Maksymilian Olszewski - all three already with some recording
experience on the young Polish Jazz scene (the lineup was sadly omitted from
the album's artwork). The album presents eight compositions, seven of which are
by Banaszek and one is a standard.
The music is excellent modern
Jazz, with remarkable original compositions, full of typical Polish melancholy
and lyricism, which make Polish Jazz what it is, but also clever usage of
unusual time signatures and intrinsic cool, which sets them immediately apart
from most of the competition. Even the unusual treatment of the standard is outstanding.
The performances do not stay behind and these young Lions show superb skills despite
their young age and relative lack of experience.
Banaszek's compositions are
very open and allow unlimited freedom of expression both for the leader and the
entire crew. Piano solos are the obvious centerpiece of the album, but the
saxophone parts are no less impressive and the rhythm section is outstanding,
playing the difficult odd time signatures, which seems to be the composer's
natural habitat, with ease and elegance. Trąbczyński offers some really
impressive bass support and Olszewski, who stays mostly in the shadows, shows
some sublime drumming minimalism, which is way more effective than obsessive banging.
Overall this is definitely one
of the most impressive Polish Jazz debuts for 2020, especially since it is able
to take the classic Jazz quartet so far away from its much ragged banality. It
has been a while since I have been so deeply impressed with a piano quartet
recording, simply playing Jazz - no shticks and no tricks - just pure music. This
album certainly immediately makes the listener want to hear more, which
hopefully won't have to wait long to take place. This is brilliant stuff and I
am grateful to its makers for keeping my desire for good music to prevail, as
it often gets pretty desperate under the barrage of mundane bullshit. Respect!
This is the debut album by young
Polish Jazz trombonist/flugelhornist Szymon Klekowicki, recorded in a sextet
setting with saxophonist Jakub Łępa and Marcin Dąbrowski, pianist Adam Jarzmik,
bassist Tymon Trąbczyński and drummer Michał Dziewiński. The album presents
seven original compositions, five by Klekowicki and two by Jarzmik.
The music is conventional melody
based contemporary European Jazz, with solid compositions and arrangements,
which create ideal opportunities for the members of the sextet to show their
chops. The two compositions by Jarzmik are more rounded and mature, similarly
to his excellent work presented on his two earlier album releases. Klekowicki's
music is somewhat Bebop oriented, but by no means outdated and full of great
ideas. All the compositions are coherent and interesting, creating a wonderful
musical flow that seems to be over way too soon, leaving the listener wishing
for more.
The level of execution is of
course nothing short of excellent all the way through and these
"youngsters" sound like Jazz veterans, which never ceases to amaze. The
saxophone unisono parts are a neat and effective arrangement trick, which
produces a "big" sound of the entire sextet and wonderful harmonic
"colorization". Klekowicki seems to be proficient both on trombone and
flugelhorn, thus adding sonoric diversity to the entire album. Jarzmik is of
course also a terrific piano player and his superb melodic phrases ale balsam
on the ears. The rhythm section plays exactly what is expected of them, keeping
strict time and not being obtrusive, which is what this music needs the most,
being already dense enough, but they get an opportunity to shine as well.
Overall this is a first class
debut effort, which gives Klekowicki a solid head start of his career. He joins
the ranks of the young generation of European Jazz musicians, who proudly keep
the idiom alive and kicking, making us, the elders, smile with hope that not
all is lost. Albums like that one are heartwarming and obviously highly
recommended. Already waiting for the next one!
This is the debut album by young
Slovak pianist/composer Ludo Kotlár, recorded with his trio: Polish bassist
Tymon Trąbczyński and already established Slovak drummer Marian Ševčík. Slovak
trumpeter Lukas Oravec and American (Born in London) saxophonist Wayne Escoffery guest on
four tracks, transforming the classic trio into a classic quintet. The album
presents eight compositions, five of which are original compositions by Kotlár,
two are by Oravec and one is a standard.
The music is all melodic
mainstream Jazz, with solid compositions but very little challenge as far
innovation and contribution to the idiom is concerned. The way the music is
performed is also very conventional and although highly professional, it lacks
inspiration or flair. The album is very similar to thousands of American
mainstream Jazz albums, which were all made as if from one mold. The music
lacks any European aesthetic or Folkloristic influences, and is therefore just
a copy of the American tradition, which stopped developing since the days of
Bebop.
The individual statements by
the musicians are all flawless of course and Kotlár plays very well
technically, but lacks originality. Of course this is just my opinion and many
mainstream Jazz lovers could probably enjoy this album immensely. For me it is
all just déjà vu.
This is the second album by Polish Jazz pianist/composer Aga Derlak, recorded again in a classic piano trio format, this time with bassist Tymon Trąbczyński, who also played on the debut, and drummer Szymon Madej. The album presents nine original compositions, all by Derlak.
Musically the album continues
exactly from where the debut left off. The long, contemplative themes,
introvert and full of silent breaths are still here, but they are much more
condensed and compressed, which works all for the best. This music is very
minimalistic, hinting more that it is actually saying, hiding more than it is
actually disclosing. This clever game of hide and seek keeps the attentive
listener on the edge at all times, trying to guess the next move. Derlak
manages to define her very personal style on this album much more fluently and
precisely that on her debut, which is quite understandable.
The performances are extremely
hard to judge, as they are fragmented into short passages, which limit the
possibility of displaying technical fluency. But perhaps the ability to play a
myriad of fragments rather than a steady flow of notes is the true challenge
here. If I might use a metaphor from another field of Art, Derlak's music is
like impressionist pointillist painting, which in music is called divisionism.
I have no idea if Derlak is at all aware of these terms, but that what her
music is really all about. Of course in painting, as in music, the individual
dots of paint/sound dots create a complete picture of uniquely structured
beauty.
The rhythm section faces the
same difficulties as the leader, with the music being introvert and constantly
intervallic, which of course makes the traditional role of keeping time and
pulse devilishly difficult. These young players stand up to the challenge
bravely, supporting the pianist amicably, elegantly and with superb
cohesiveness and harmony, which is nothing short of being brilliant.
Derlak and her fellow musicians
mange to overcome the proverbial second album jinx with flying colors,
producing a brilliant piano trio album, which is not only elegant and
intelligent, but also completely innovative and unique. Even on the incredibly
busy and productive Polish Jazz scene albums like this one are an exception. As
a result Derlak becomes a talent worth watching, and considering her
achievements in such early stages of her career, God only knows where she
intends to take us in the future. Mon plus profond respect
Milady!
This is the debut album by a young Polish Jazz trio led by pianist/composer Aga Derlak with bassist Tymon Trąbczyński and drummer Bartosz Szabłowski. The album presents five lengthy original compositions, all by Derlak.
It takes a lot of courage to take the bold step of recording a debut album in the classic piano trio format and play one's original compositions, like Derlak and her cohorts do on this album. Piano trio is a "naked" environment, where every note, every nuance, even every touch of the keyboard is perfectly audible with absolutely nothing to hide behind. Such endeavors are often quite risky and perilous and therefore I'm happy to say that in this particular case the courage pays off big time.
The music is mostly very lyrical and melancholic, almost meditative, even on the mid/up tempo compositions. The melodic statements played as the usual at the entry point of each track develop into lengthy improvised passages, which feature extensive dialogues between the piano and the rhythm section, which gets much more exposure on this album that usually accepted on piano trio albums. Trąbczyński and Szabłowski both perform wonderfully throughout, using the almost universal approach in today's young piano trios, where the bass is actually playing the rhythm and the drums are allowed to play "around", often polyrhythmically. There is an obvious empathy and comradeship between the trio members, which is always the best glue which turns musicians into one harmonious entity.
Of course not everything is perfect, which is quite understandable considering the age of these young Lions and a Lioness. The extensive improvisations, which last on three of the tracks well over ten minutes, are honestly a bit over the top. It takes a lifetime of playing Jazz to be able to keep an audience on the edge for ten continuous minutes… Perhaps inclusion of at least a couple of additional tunes and shortening the timings considerably would have produced an even more impressive album? But of course these are just my personal musings.
Overall this is a most impressive debut, which hopefully will be followed by many more mature albums in the future. I intend to follow the careers of these youngsters, as they are surely a promising bunch. Well done Lady and Gentlemen!
