Maciej Sadowski - I Have Absolutely Nothing To Say, So Listen (2021)

Maciej Sadowski

Maciej Sadowski - double bass, cello, synth 

Antoni Wojnar - piano 

Kevin Scott Davis - guitars, synth 

Dawid Lipka - trumpet (7) 

Krzysztof Pawłocki - electric cello (2) 

Barbara Maja Maseli - violin 

Alisa Kopac - violin 

Joanna Kravchenko - viola 

Małgorzata Znarowska - cello 

Katarzyna Golecka - vocals 

Maciej Świniarski - vocals 

Lario Nowhere - vocals (7) 

Ben Moore - drums (7) 

Tomasz Koper - drums

I have absolutely nothing to say (2021)

Tekst: Jędrek Janicki

Powiedzieć, że pandemia i związana z nią dojmująca izolacja wszystkim nam mocno przywaliła, to tak naprawdę nic nie powiedzieć. Również w świecie sztuki to zdarzenie wywarło swój niemały wpływ. Dla mnie być może najbardziej bolesnym opisem pandemicznych lęków i prób ucieczki przed nimi jest utwór Miasto niejakiego Baascha, który powstał jeszcze… przed wybuchem zarazy. Pakuj walizki, wyjeżdżamy stąd, o nic nie pytaj – te proste słowa nadal nic nie tracą ze swojej zaskakującej precyzji… Czemu jednak piszę o wydarzeniu, którego każdy ma już szczerze dość i to jeszcze w kontekście muzyki zupełnie niejazzowej? Ano tylko dlatego, że solowy (jako producenta) album kontrabasisty Macieja Sadowskiego zatytułowany I Have Absolutely Nothing to Say, so Listen właśnie taki jest – bolesny i niejazzowy.

Groza bywała już nieraz składową muzyki tworzonej przez Sadowskiego. Naturalnym skojarzeniem wydaje się współtworzony przez niego wraz z trębaczem Dawidem Lipką duet Gdańsk Necropolitan Orchestra (tak, tak, mamy oto dwuosobową orkiestrę). W ich przypadku groza ta nabierała jednak wydźwięku kpiarskiego danse macabre, który poczynania chłopaków odczytywać kazał raczej jako na poły dadaistyczny wybuch nieokrzesanego poczucia humoru. Nieco inaczej sprawa jakiegoś bliżej niedookreślonego niepokoju egzystencjalnego wybrzmiewała na płycie Murmurs zespołu Lowbow, który obok Sadowskiego tworzy wiolonczelistka Małgorzata Znarowska. Surowość tych mocno zakorzenionych w muzyce klasycznej kompozycji zdecydowanie nie wywoływała już uśmiechu, lecz raczej przyprawiała o pewne narastające poczucie niepokoju. I właśnie tym tropem Sadowski podąża na swojej autorskiej płycie I Have Absolutely Nothing to Say, so Listen. Sadowski, posługując się frazą Fisza (oklaski za świetną niedawno wydaną płytę Ballady i protesty), śmiało mógłby powiedzieć – mam dla was nie za miłe wiadomości…

Płytę otwiera znakomita kompozycja Paraglider Ticket. Zbudowana jest ona wokół prostego fortepianowego motywu, który naprawdę sporo mówi o całym koncepcie brzmieniowym płyty. Choć poszczególne instrumenty zachowują wyrazistość i moc wybrzmiewania, to jednak I Have Absolutely Nothing to Say, so Listen absolutnie nie traci świeżości nagrań spod znaku lo-fi – estetyki tak bliskiej sercu Sadowskiego. Drugi na płycie utwór Ladybug Drones to już prawdziwa waga ciężka. Przeciągłe kontrabasowe dźwięki generują nastrój niczym z dobrego filmu katastroficznego (swoją drogą, „dobry film katastroficzny” to być może oksymoron, bo czy ktokolwiek zna naprawdę dobry film tego typu?). Cała płyta zbudowana jest na zaskakujących tropach i skojarzeniach muzycznych. Proste struktury wzbogacane bywają rozbudowanymi, „klasycyzującymi” partiami, a typowo akustyczne brzmienia ramię w ramię podążają z tymi elektronicznymi. Absolutną perełką pozostaje jednak utwór Believe in Nothing, w którym wszystkie te stylistyczne tropy ogniskują się w doskonałej hiphopowej… balladzie. Tak, tak, twór to karkołomny, lecz pełen skrywanego dramatyzmu sposób śpiewania francuskiego rapera Lario Nowhere powoduje, że kompozycja ta moim zdaniem jest najbardziej intrygującym punktem tej jakże ciekawej płyty.

Wbrew nihilistycznym zapowiedziom ujawnionym w tytule płyty, Sadowski naprawdę sporo nam powiedział. W muzyczne słowa ubrał te odczucia, które tak często towarzyszą nam od ładnych kilkunastu miesięcy – niepokój i nadzieję, które wzajemnie przeplatają się w nieprzekraczalnym jak na razie klinczu. I Have Absolutely Nothing to Say, so Listen to dzieło w pełni świadomego i doświadczonego już muzyka, który za nic mając wszelkie muzyczne etykiety tworzy muzykę szczerą, bezpretensjonalną i nieprawdopodobnie wciągającą.

LowBow - Murmurs (2019)

LowBow

Maciej Sadowski - double bass
Małgorzata Znarowska - cello
Kevin Scott Davis - ambient
Antoni Wojnar - piano (9)
Mikołaj Zieliński - trombone (9)
Maja Maseli - violin (9)
Piotr Guz - tuba (9)

Murmurs


EASTRINGS 002

By Adam Baruch

This is a stunning debut album by Polish duo LowBow comprising of bassist/composer Maciej Sadowski and cellist/composer Małgorzata Znarowska. American multi-instrumentalist/composer Kevin Scott Davis (a.k.a. Glowworm) accompanies the duo on four tracks and four other musicians participate on the final track. The album presents nine original compositions, all by Sadowski, except two which are co-composed by him and Znarowska.

The music is an absolutely marvelous collection of strongly melodic tunes, which elegantly escape genre classification, and flow between Medieval Church Music, contemporary Classical Music, Ambient vistas and whatever else comes to the listener´s mind while experiencing these deeply moving sounds. The stern minimalism, which seemingly rules a priori due to the duo´s instrumental range, proves to be a complete false assumption, as the duo manages often to sound like a full orchestra in spite of the intrinsic limitations, partly due to multi-tracking but mostly due to the power of the music itself. The ambient synthesized sounds on the tracks with Davis´ participation are completely organic with the rest of the material, which leaves only the last track played by a sextet to round things up with a slightly different accent but completely consistent with the rest of the album.

But beyond the unique low key sound, the melodic lyricism and ocean deep melancholy of this music are its most striking characteristics. It easily stands shoulder to shoulder with some of the most profound contemporary Polish Classical Music by such lofty names as Witold Lutosławski, Wojciech Kilar, Krzysztof Penderecki, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki and others. I know this statement will raise a brow or two, but honestly anybody listening to this music should be able to immediately recognize the distinctive "Polishness" it radiates, and although the formalism of the orchestration may still lack the sophistication of the Masters, it has all it takes to make it profoundly beautiful and lasting.

Albums like this make the life of a music reviewer worth living. It is not very often that music of such striking quality lands on my desk in spite of the fact that I get thousands of albums every year. It takes just a few seconds to hear that this is something completely different as far as quality and beauty are concerned and a repeated listening only strengthens this feeling. People who know me are aware of the fact that I am rarely left speechless, but in this case I am truly short of words to say anything more… just listen!

Arek Czernysz Trio - Breath (2019)

Arek Czernysz Trio

Arek Czernysz - accordion
Filip Arasimowicz - bass
Antoni Wojnar - drums

Breath

BCD 45




By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by young Polish Jazz accordionist/composer Arek Czernysz recorded in a trio format with bassist Filip Arasimowicz and drummer Antoni Wojnar. The album presents seven original compositions, all by Czernysz.

In the contemporary music world the accordion became almost completely neglected and its glorious past is by now utterly forgotten. In Jazz accordion was always a rarity and of course it is even more so today, but an accordion trio with bass and drums is just about unheard of. The physical difficulty involved in playing the instrument, the technique and rigor required to master it and of course the complete absence of sex appeal the instrument radiates are just some of the reasons why very few young musicians want anything to do with it. Therefore Czernysz a priori deserves respect and praise for accepting the challenge.

The music Czernysz composed for this album was obviously created with accordion in mind and suits the trio perfectly. It offers a wide range of stylistic influences obviously Jazz but also many World Music elements, some hints of Blues and of course the omnipresent Polish lyricism and melancholy present on almost every album made in Poland. He also cleverly avoids exploring the palpable accordion temptations like Tango, Polka and various folkloristic areas clearly associated with the instrument, creating his own musical ambience that shows no signs of imitation. In fact the music is certainly way more mature that what one might expect from such young composer.

As a player Czernysz obviously shows a lot of talent and potential, but his performance lacks the polish and virtuosity that come with time and experience. Having said that the music is perfectly executed in every respect, it only lacks certain brilliance that is simply not here just yet but will definitely appear soon, perhaps even on his next album. I hope this does not sound discouraging in any way, as it is not meant to be; all I am saying at this point is that when Czernysz will add virtuosity to his performance, he will be unstoppable.

The rhythm section does a splendid job shoulder to shoulder with the leader. As already mentioned above a bass/drums accompaniment to accordion does have a limited precedence and a tight cooperation as displayed on this album is definitely praiseworthy. Overall this is an exciting, bold debut album which offers splendid compositions, fine performances and a novelty effect of hearing accordion in a fresh musical environment. It is definitely wholeheartedly recommended and absolutely worth being discovered!

Dominik Kisiel Exploration Quartet – Exploration (2018)

Dominik Kisiel Exploration Quartet

Dominik Kisiel - piano
Michał Jan Ciesielski - tenor & soprano saxophones
Piotr Szajrych - double bass
Antoni Wojnar - drums

Exploration



ALPAKA 003

By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by the young Polish Jazz pianist/composer Dominik Kisiel and his quartet called Exploration Quartet, which also includes saxophonist Michał Jan Ciesielski, bassist Piotr Szajrych and drummer Antoni Wojnar. The album presents eight original compositions, all by Kisiel.

The music is a melody based modern Jazz, with typical Polish lyrical inclinations, and melancholic tendencies, which the young Polish Jazz generation seems to have adopted as their favorite modus operandi. The beautiful themes are all wonderfully crafted and serve as ideal vehicles for the musicians to express their improvisational abilities. Some more energetic and more open compositions are also included, to balance the low-key material, and those are equally impressive.

Both Kisiel and Ciesielski are able to articulate the melodic motifs and the improvised parts formidably, amicably supported by the rhythm section every step of the way. Together the quartet is able to create a coherent and well balanced ensemble sound, which does not reflect any lack of experience in spite of the of the musicians' young age.

Overall this is a very impressive debut, which emphasizes both Kisiel's compositional skills and his work as an instrumentalist, superbly supported by his quartet members. Since the album's release was postponed for technical reasons (it was recorded in 2016) and Kisiel and the quartet also released this year (2018) a live album, with different but no less excellent material, this year is certainly a remarkable jumpstart of his future career, which is definitely worth following. Well done indeed!

Almost Jazz Group - Fade Out (2017)

Almost Jazz Group

Paweł Nowak - accordion
Ignacy Jan Wiśniewski - piano
Maciej Sadowski - double bass
Antoni Wojnar - drums

Fade Out

WOOD AND MOOD 0005



By Adam Baruch

This is the third album by the Polish quartet called Almost Jazz Group, led by accordionist/composer Paweł Nowak and pianist/composer Ignacy Jan Wiśniewski. The rhythm section comprises of bassist Maciej Sadowski and drummer Antoni Wojnar. The album presents eight original compositions: two each by Nowak and Wiśniewski, three by Sadowski and one by Wojnar.

The quartet's name accurately describes the music that it presents, which is borderline Jazz, based on melodic themes which serve as basis for the improvisations, which are very tamed and stay within the strict mainstream idiom, bordering on Groove, Smooth Jazz and even Pop. Nevertheless the music is very well composed, coherent and harmonically pleasing, without being trivial or crossing over to kitsch.

Personally I love the accordion's sound and regret it is such a neglected instrument in Jazz, in spite of its enormous potential. The subtle balance between the accordion and the piano creates a wonderful atmosphere, which suits both the melancholic ballads and the swinging pieces. The bass supports the soloist amicably and very accurately, adding a crucial ingredient to the music. The drums are a bit too Rocky at times for this kind of music, but nothing dramatic which would break the charm. Both Nowak and Wisniewski play excellently and with obvious emotional involvement.

Overall this is a very pleasant, somewhat nostalgic album, very well recorded, which offers a splendid listening experience to connoisseurs of the lighter side of the Jazz spectrum, but still being honest, superbly played and definitely worthy of listening. I had a great fun listening to it and I'm sure it will work for many other listeners as well – recommended!