Mateusz Smoczyński Quintet – Berek (2017)

Mateusz Smoczyński Quintet

Mateusz Smoczyński - violin
Jan Smoczyński - piano
Konrad Zemler - guitar
Wojciech Pulcyn - bass
Michał Miśkiewicz - drums

Berek

UNIVERSAL 602557610710


By Adam Baruch

This is the third album as a leader by Polish violinist/composer Mateusz Smoczyński, recorded again in a quintet setting with guitarist Konrad Zemler, his older brother pianist Jan Smoczyński, bassist Wojciech Pulcyn and drummer Michał Miśkiewicz. The album presents twelve original compositions, one of which is repeated twice, seven of which were composed by Jan Smoczyński, two were composed by Mateusz Smoczyński, two were co-composed by the Smoczyński brothers and one is credited to all five members of the quintet. The album was recorded in the legendary Studio Tokarnia and engineered by Jan Smoczyński, with spectacular sound fidelity.

In the last decade Mateusz Smoczyński, both as a solo artists and member of the already legendary Atom String Quartet, has been consistently paving his way to the Top of the Polish Jazz violin school, which has very little competition in any other part of the world. That top, extremely overcrowded by young musicians, is simply exploding with talent and incredible dexterity, to the delight of Jazz lovers, both in Poland and the world over, and is just one of the symptoms that characterize the Polish Jazz scene in general.

On this album Mateusz Smoczyński does not have to prove anything anymore, and therefore he is able to concentrate on his total delivery of the music, his personal style and the finesse of his skills. The exquisite compositions by Jan Smoczyński suit ideally his expressive style and their intrinsic elegance and lyricism, as well as superb Swing are simply ideal vehicles for the music to come forward.

Of course he is splendidly supported by the members of the quintet, all of which are Top Polish Jazz players with extensive experience and outstanding talents. The almost completely acoustic sound of the album allows for delicate and intricate interactions between the musicians, full of mutual respect. The round sound of the quintet, and the blooming sound quality, create a wonderful aural experience, which should leave no listener cold.

The music is a wide amalgam of many influences, none of which are particularly dominant, but to a sensitive ear are obviously audible, such as some Classical stylistic hooks, Polish Folklore motifs, tribute to past Polish Jazz violin legends, and many others. Of course these elements are perfectly well balanced and manage to create a new entity, which simply speaks for itself.

Overall this is a "perfect" album, one that has nothing that should be changed or added to it in any sense. It is beautifully performed and offers wonderful music, full of European aesthetics. There are no false pretences, no exhibitionism and no boring derivative fillers, just honest, straightforward great music from start to finish. So far definitely one of the best offers in 2017 that landed on my desk (or in my ears). Chapeau bas!

Mateusz Smoczynski Quintet – Expressions (TMP, 2008)

Mateusz Smoczyński Quinet

Mateusz Smoczyński - violin
Konrad Zemler - guitar
Jan Smoczyński - piano, tambourine, sleight belles
Wojciech Pulcyn - bass
Łukasz Żyta - drums, percussion

Expressions (TMP, 2008)


By Adam Baruch

This is the 2nd album as a leader by the young Polish Jazz violinist / composer Mateusz Smoczynski. Recorded with a superb quintet, which includes his brother Jan Smoczynski on piano, guitarist Konrad Zemler, bassist Wojciech Pulcyn and drummer Lukasz Zyta, the album presents his talent and obvious virtuosity to the fullest extent. Of the ten compositions included on the album Jan contributed four, Mateusz one, Wojciech another four and the last is credited to all quintet members. 

The music is modern Jazz, which has solid roots in Jazz mainstream, but is open to glimpses of Free, which is not surprising since Mateusz points out John Coltrane as a major influence. Of course he also continues the Polish Jazz violin tradition, naming Zbigniew Seifert (who in turn was also strongly influenced by Coltrane) as another direct influence. However, attentive listening to his brilliant solos brings also memories of the other great Polish violinist, like Michal Urbaniak and Krzesimir Debski and of course the French giant Jean-Luc Ponty. 

Since recording this album, Mateusz recorded another superb album (again with his brother Jan) in a trio setting ("Simultaneous Abstractions"), participated in a Zbigniew Seifert tribute album ("A Tribute To Zbigniew Seifert") and recorded with the Atom String Quartet. All these projects are impeccable pieces of intelligent, rewarding and highly aesthetic music and it seems that Mateusz is heading to the very top of the local (and perhaps also international) scene. 

The album was recorded in the "Tokarnia" recording studio owned by the Smoczynski brothers, and engineered and mastered by Jan. From several other Polish Jazz recordings I've heard, which were recorded there, one can hear that this is probably the best recording studio in the country and Jan (in addition to his musical abilities) is a great sound engineer. Well, it's always a pleasure to give credit, where credit is due, as in this case. Altogether this is brilliant piece of music, which any Jazz connoisseur anywhere should cherish. Most warmly recommended!

Jerzy Małek Group - Bop Beat (2009)

Jerzy Malek is trumpeter which is good example of the strong wave of young Polish jazz musicians coming one by one to the scene over the last few years. Regardless of his young age, 29 years, he already recorded seven albums and is assertively looking for his own, individual sound in jazz. Not all of those albums were immadietely printed after recording. This cd is for example waited nearly three years to be issued. Nonetheless it sounds very well and freshly proving that Małek and his companions are able to create music that may last longer than few days or months after premiere. First I shall write few words about Małek, then about musicians that accompany him on this record and finally about the program and music itself.

Jerzy Małek started his musical education in his native city of Elbląg and completed it in excellent jazz faculty of Music Academy at Katowice (in class of Polish virtuoso trumpeter Piotr Wojtasik). He quickly made his name in polish jazz through participating in jazz competishions and through playing as sideman with such renown polish jazzmen like Jarosław Śmietana, Zbigniew Namysłowski or Zbigniew Wegehaupt to name just a few. He feels very well at concerts, like plays live and is able to fit in almost any squad or type of music. This is basically what is his strongest side: great universality and width of his musical interests. And to some extent  his weakness also because he clearly has not yet developed his individual style, he is still looking for it.

Another strong side of him is that he is able to gather around himself excellent musicians. Look at the personnel playing on this record: Tomasz Grzegorski (1,4,7,8), Dariusz Herbasz (2,3) and Radek Nowicki (6,7) are all very promising tenor saxophone players. Dominik Bukowski plays vibes. Jan Smoczyński - hammond, rhodes and electrical piano. Konrad Zelmer on guitars. Sławek Jaskułke rhodes (7). Adam Kowalewski (1,3,4,5,8) and Krzysztof Pacan (2,6,7) bas. Roman Slefarski drums. Bogusz Wekka percussion (1,2,4). And Mika Urbaniak vocal (3).

I believe that so many polish names at once may be puzzling for foreign listeners but the fact is that nearly all of them are very promising players, winners of country and international jazz competitions and many of them already recorded interesting albums on their own. Simply speaking these are all names to remember and one should pay tribute to Małek that he was able to persuade them to play together. The sligltly funny side of such a success is that quite ofhen on this album Małek sounds not as a leader but rather like average band member. Other musicians take over from him and dominate one song or the other like Jan Smoczyński whose play on this record is especially noteworthy.

All music on the record is composed by Malek. So what is its style? Up to this date Malek was known for playing mainstream jazz, in this cd however he deviates (as the title of the album suggests) toward fusion, funky and neobop, therefore music is jazz but also easy-to-listen, communicative. To sum up I want to say that although is some respects this record could be better, for example in my opinion it lacks idea that would keep music together, securing its integrity and cohesion, it is so attractively composed and played that I return to it over and over again.

Author: Maciej Nowotny

http://kochamjazz.blox.pl/html