Tomasz Szulaski is probably THE best saxophonist in Polish jazz history. He earned this reputation while playing with Tomasz Stańko, Zbigniew Namysłowski and countless others. His incredible versality allowed him to fit well as much in Stańko's free jazz "Balladyna", on Namysłowski's mainstream "Kuyaviak Goes Funky" or, recently, on Aga Zaryan's pop "My Lullaby". His own project swere not always so succesful. There were excellent ones like collaborations with Józef Skrzek (check "Ambitus") and less succesful like this one with Janusz Szprot. The difference is that Józef Skrzek, though not jazz musician himself, had enough charisma and individuality to counterbalance Szukalski overpowering presence. While Szprot is just very able accompaniator. And nothing more. Enough for so many ordinary musicians but it revealed to be too little for such a genius as Szukalski. In consequence this album is entirely one-sided: it comprises one after another splendid saxophone improvisations of Szukalski and one after another meagre, pale, insufficiant piano lines by Szprot. Unfortunately (for this recording) jazz is always team effort. Without interplay the music lacks depth and in consequence fails to engage the listener. Excellent album but it could be great. It is a pity it isn't...
Tracklisting:
1. Amazing Grace
2. Backwater Blues
3. Trouble In Mind
4. Sz-Sz Blues
5. Left Alone
6. Goin Home
7. Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor
8. Nobody Knows You When You Are Down And Out
9. Proof Of Man
10. Barefoot Boy From Queens Town
11. Blue Moon
Krzysztof Topolski is a one of the most interesting experimenters on the field of improvised electronic music in Poland. His last releases "ŚĘ" (2010) and "Polymer" (2012) has made an good impression on connoisseurs as much in Poland as abroad. What was written in insightful reviews of these albums (check links) by Ryan McMichael and Stephan Moore can only be repeated by me here. Once again Topolski proves that electronic sounds may be as much good vehicle of one's individuality as those generated by traditional instruments. His samples breathe, pulse, beat as living creature. They surprise, they refresh, renew listener's connection with our aural common sphere. Once again one may feel as a child who enjoys every sound as if it was heard for the first time. The music was released on tape by Samgoplasmo Records in just 100 copy.
El Paso - one city, five musical personalities - Mack Goldsbury, Ricky Malichi, Erik Unsworth, Shaun Mahoney Maciej Fortuna. Whether they were born there, lived all their lives, had returned after many years, or came to guest for a few days. Jazz is a passion that they joined and led to the series of musical meetings, which resulted in the album "Live in Texas". Material, without a second thought, was decided to be released by prestigious New York Cadence Jazz Records label.
Record of shows, is not only a common language of improvisation at the highest level, but also capturing the phenomenon of "Solar City", lying on the border of the designated river Rio Grande. Desert El Paso is steeped in the magic of contact between two cultures, American and Mexican, harmonizing with nature for hundreds of years inspired the formation of the "Live in Texas".
22.10.2012, 1:00 PM – Las Cruces, New Mexico State University (USA) – Maciej Fortuna Jazz Workshop
23.10.2012, 1:00 PM – El Paso, Texas (USA) The University of Texas – Maciej Fortuna Jazz Workshop (big band)
24.10.2012, 9:00 PM – El Paso, Texas (USA) Conservatory of Music – Mack Goldsbury Quartet feat. Maciej Fortuna – concert
25.10.2012, 1:00 PM – El Paso, Texas (USA) The University of Texas – Maciej Fortuna Jazz Workshop (combo)
25.10.2012, 9:00 PM – El Paso, Lotus Nightclub, Texas (USA) – CD Release party
Marcin Olak - classical and acoustic guitar
Maciej Szczyciński - bass
Hubert Zemler - drums
Mikołaj "Miki" Wielecki - percussion (tracks 7 & 8)
Crossing Borders (Luna Music, 2012)
Marcin Olak Trio is an exciting, new jazz group from Poland. Music - mostly Marcin's own compositions - can be placed somewhere between jazz and contemporary chamber music. It's concentrated around theacoustic and classical guitar sound, widened with double-bass and prepared drum set. What's interesting: Marcin Olak Trio is one of the few jazz bands in the world (!) when classical and acoustic guitars are are the lead instruments. Electronic instruments are not used, every sound is natural, and musicians become the only source of energy on stage, and a quite efficient one. The Trio played on the most important Polish jazz festivals, like:Warsaw Summer Jazz Days (2008 - that concert was recorded by Polish TV, TVP Kultura), Guitar City (2005, 2008), Jazz na Buduku (2006, 2008), Jazz w Ruinach (2007), Jazz Juniors (2005),Warsaw Underground Jazz (2003) etc. One of the most interesting events was Warsaw Guitar Festival (2008), when Marcin's concerto for jazz trio and symphony orchestra premiere performance took place.
Marcin Olak is one the most interesting Polish jazz guitar players. He is one of the few, who can play modern jazz on classical and acoustic guitars, using specific sound and articulation possibilities of those instruments; sometimes he plays electric guitar as well. He moves between various styles: jazz, classical and contemporary pieces, fully composed and improvised music. Marcin Olak peforms solo and in various bands: from free - jazz combos, through a classical guitar ensambles, up to the symphony orchestra. His own project: Marcin Olak Trio, is especially worth mentioning. The trio has released its first CD, Zealot in 2005. In 2008 another album, Simple Joy was released.
Marcin graduated Fryderyk Chopin's Musical Academy inWarsaw (PL) on classical guitar. He took part in numerous master classes with both classical guitarists (like David Russel or Jorge Cardoso) and jazz performers (like Ralph Towner or Scott Henderson).
Marcin Olak played on some cool guitar and jazz festivals: Warsaw Summer Jazz Days (2008), Warszawska Jesień (2007, 2009), Jazz na Buduku (2006, 2008), Jazz w Ruinach (2007), Guitar City (2005, 2008), Jazz Juniors (2005), Warsaw Underground Jazz (2003) and some more. Warsaw Guitar Festival in 2008 seems especially worth mentioning, as Marcin's own concerto for jazz guitar trio and orchestra was performed there for the first time. Marcin played in the most important concert halls in Poland, National Philharmony Hall inWarsaw and Polish Radio Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio among them. He made numerous recordings for polish radio and TV. He doesn't avoid jazz clubs anyway...
Marcin's improvising art has been appreciated by polish guitarists. As he is one of the very few improvising classical guitar players, Marcin's been asked to write workshops on jazz improvising and harmony in all - polish magazine: Top Guitar.
Tracklist: 1. Crossing Borders – episode 1, 2. Hej, od Krakowa jadę (Blue Deconstruction), 3. Ach, mój Jasieńko (Quasi ad libitum), 4. Na jabłoni jabłko wisi (Work Song), 5. Just One More Day, 6. Blue Study, 7. Waterfall, 8. Olive Tree, 9. Responsorium, 10. Katwar, 11. Infundybuła chronosynklastyczna, 12. Crossing borders – episode 2.
Free jazz in Europe is a kind of vehicle which brings contemporary Western classical music alive. To describe this phenomenon the term "chamber jazz" was forged. Though it is not perfect it however is useful as it helps a listener to learn what to expect. In this case what we got is music made in acoustic-based small ensemble (trio), focused as much on improvisation as on interplay, strongly influenced by experiments by Stravinsky, Schoenberg or Webern.
All three members of this band are strongly attached to such a tradition. Lisa Ullen is Korean-born Swedish pianist which graduated from Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. She also studied jazz (in the US) and electro-acoustic music (again in Sweden). She is working in many ephemeral constellations (which is typical for this kind of highly exclusive music) but she has made also few recordings on her own with solo album "Catachresis" (2011) being the latest (issued on her own Disorder Production label).
Hungarian saxophonist Attila Dora studied math and philosophy. To Polish audience he may be familiar by album "1st Meeting Towards Sky Flight Of Dragon" (2008) by Ensemble 56 issued by Cracow's recording label NotTwo. This CD collected favourable reviews worldwide. He recorded it with Polish drummer Mieczysław Górka and bass guitarist Rafał Mazur. He shares with Mazur also interest in Far East as he graduated as ’buddhist theologian’ in ’The Gate of Dharma’ College in Budapest while Mazur studies Chinese philosophy and martial arts in his native Cracow.
Mazur is best known of three to readers of this blog as we already reviewed couple of his albums. His rececent duo with American saxophonist Keir Neuringer titled "Unison Lines" (NotTwo, 2010) deserves especially to be highlighted. It brings what is the most characteristic for Mazur's style: spontaneity coupled with thoughtfulness, the beauty of the sound with constant exploration of new way of chiseling it.
Since there is no melody and no rhythm in this music it should be seen as kind of refreshment from what is so well known and heavily exploited in modern music taken as a whole. It requires as much open ears as some freedom of soul. It assumes that the listener has time and will to engage her or himself in the creation process. If you happen to meet such requirements you will discover great treasures in this seemingly modest effort...
This
album was recorded in three days during an improvisational meeting in
Mózg, Bydgoszcz. The idea was to capture unique sound of seven different
personalities merging into one stream of free-flowing peaceful and
sincere musical experience. The results of this meeting turned out very
fruitful and the listening opportunity that we give to you should be as
opening as creating those sounds was for us.
Album was recorded by Jarek Hejmann in August of 2011 and mixed by
Hejmann and Ziołek. Cover art "Towards Katahdin" by Tom Staley.
Tracklist: 1. Moonrise 2. Czarodziejska góra 3. Ołowiane słońce 4. Storm-Stereo 5. Nauka 29 liter 6. Mecanique Celeste 7. Sin Cara Azul 8. Niedziela życia III
Ken Vandermark (sax, clarinet)
Mikolaj Trzaska (sax, clarinet)
Michael Zerang (drums)
Tim Daisy (drums)
Steve Swell (trombone)
Per -Ake Holmander (tuba)
Dave Rempis (sax)
Magnus Broo (trumpet)
Waclaw Zimpel (clarinet)
What Country Is This? (Not Two Records; 2012)
I've written very briefly about this band's performance in the beginning of the year and you can check the old post for a bit of background history. "What Country Is This?" is basically is a result of the third meeting of the band, recorded in Chicago studio session after busy small-groups concerts and rehearsal schedule. If you know the previous recordings (especially the last year's "Kafka in Flight") you know more or less what are you going to get, which means you shouldn't hesitate to take another round.
Resonance is Vandermark's chance to experiment with massive sound, orchestral arrangements and structured group improvisation and he found just the right guts to to the job. The pieces are multi-layered, the riffs are gritty and down-right nasty, the double rhythm section drives you through as the horn sections chase each other in a dynamic exchanges of chords and solos and choirs and counter-point attacks.
There are three pieces on the album, and don't let me spoil the fun trying do give a mediocre description of the colourfull themes, full-scale horn attacks, and the continuous succesion of melodies, harmonies, abstract and concrete. You'll get blasting solos, minimalistic mini-plays, edgy avant-garde chords and downstraight blues grooves and rock energy (yeah!). Resonance as an unit (and it's mind-blowing how disciplined and yet how wild can those guys be) works in a perfect symbiosis between composition and execution because Vandermark's gift is in writing material that fits these musicians like a tailor-made suit - he finds a way to let all of them shine and collaborate and cover all the various fields of interest (funk, rock, big band, minimalistic, orchestral) without loosing vision of the whole thing.
You (should) know those musicians, you (should) know what they can do. And if you don't, and you're think you're ready to listen to all ten of them at once - I dare you. For my part, I'll just say they deliver the goods.Vibrant, vivid, succint, stellar.
PS. Although Poland was a birthplace of the band and Vandermark's composition reflect the source of inspiration (dedication to Czeslaw Milosz and Witold Lutoslawski on the tracklist) the cd was recorded in Chiago as the end result of a mini festival held in march 2011 at Chicago and Milwaukee.
The sad part to the story behind this recording is that Mark Tokar from Ukraine, whose muscular tone on bass was at a foundation of the Resonance' sound couldn't partecipate in the project, as the United States goverment denied him a visa (nevermind the fact he was invited and he's visit was to be sponsored entirely by the Polis arts foundation). Hence the title.
Tomasz Kudyk – trumpet & flugelhorn
Marcin Ślusarczyk – alto saxophone
Paweł Kaczmarczyk – piano
Maciej Adamczak – bass
Dawid Fortuna – drums
special guests:
Jan Pilch – percussions
Tomasz Grzegorski – tenor saxophone
Destined (2012)
If free jazz was the affair and this album was the marriage, a divorce would almost be certain. The lawyers would have been called in and all parties lectured on what to say as to not lose everything in the settlement. The point I will try to make surfaces in songs like, 'New Ballad For'; a beautifully played tune with plenty of hooks and familiar melodies but a marriage needs to be based on love and when loves fades or leaves completely, we tend to go out and find a new variation or a complete replacement. This song and many others on the New Bone album 'Destined' fit into that category. They are easy to really like but difficult to love.
As with any marriage that has had any longevity, there are moments and memories that will play over and over in your head regardless of how horrid it ended. The opening track, 'We'll See', will have you humming the melody days after you have turned the album off and started listening to something else. One morning you will be frozen in front of a mirror brushing your teeth trying to place where such a lovely melody came from. Was it the music on the beach during the honeymoon or was it New Bone?
The musicianship on this album is at times breathtaking but it also seems that they are playing a very familiar songbook. Tomasz Kudyk (trumpet and flugelhorn), Marcin Slusarczyk (alto sax), Pawel Kaczmarczyk (piano), Maciej Adamczak (bass) and Dawid Fortuna (drums) sound like they could play this blindfolded. To their credit, and what seems to be a sense of the marriage starting to fall into complacent mode, decide to spice up the relationship by adding percussionist Jan Pilch and tenor sax player Tomasz Grzegorski. However, they too fall into some mainstream trappings with familiar Latin beats and comfortable solos and breaks, albeit played very well.
'Altanowa 18' again gives us a killer melody that is destined to get stuck in your head in no time. The solos get traded off seamlessly and sound effortless. Kaczmarczyk kicks off 'Like Me' with a wonderful piano mood giving way to a wall of horns. Can it be that this piece is predicting the end? It is more serious than the rest while generating some guilty emotion and a little darkness.
The moral of the story; buy your loved one a little something on your way home today just for the element of surprise.
Track listing: 1. We’ll see; 2. New Ballad for...; 3. Altanowa 18; 4. Like me; 5. At last free; 6. Destined...; 7. Straight and Swingly; 8. Oh! The end
As a supplement to Fre3JazzDays, one of the most interesting jazz festivals taking place in Warsaw this summer, this autumn, from 19th do 21st OCtober 2012 in Warsaw, we will have three-day event called TuJazz (info in Polish). It promises to bring to us very good music indedd featuring some of the most valuable projects on Polish jazz scene.
On Friday we will have opportunity to listen to Ahead Trio. If features arguably most charismatic rhythm section in Polish jazz, that is Oleś Brothers, who will support excellent vibraphonist Christopher Dell. This year, together with Theo Horgensmann, they released album "Fragments & Moments" (2012), a fine example of how sophisticated and inspiring can be modern jazz avantgarde. What adds spice to this project is that they will play music of Krzysztof Komeda!
Next day, on Saturday, we will have an rare opportunity to listen to Rafał Gorzycki's legendary band called Ecstasy Project. Their newest CD "They Were P" (2012) will surely be among contenders for the Album of the Year title.
Finally, on Sunday, we will see duo of two guitarists Przemek Strączek and Teriver Cheung with material from their latest disc "Evans" (2012) dedicated to great Bill Evans.
This is a very interesting line-up and I hope we will all meet there, especially since all concerts take place in lovely Teatr Academia (ul. 11 Listopada 22) in Warsaw's Praga and tickets are available at a very reasonable price of 20 PLN.
Tomasz Dabrowski, Nils Bo Davidsen, Anders Mogensen
Tomasz Dąbrowski - trumpet, Balkan horn
Nils Bo Davidsen - double bass
Anders Mogensen - drums
Tom Trio (ILK Music, 2012)
“TOM TRIO” is the title of Tomasz Dąbrowski’s first album as a leader and the name of his international group. Featuring double bassist Nils Bo Davidsen and drummer Anders Mogensen, the music of “TOM TRIO” expresses an extraordinary blend of Slavic and Scandinavian personalities through long melodic lines, rough sound textures, and a precise sense of time.
Dąbrowski plays trumpet and a vintage instrument he calls “balkan horn.” His strong, instantly-recognizable sound and expressive playing are inspired by free jazz, Eastern European folk music, and avant-garde music. Tomasz is considered one of the most original Polish trumpet players and composers on today’s European jazz scene. At the age of 28 he has released eleven albums as a co-leader and sideman and he has toured extensively in Europe, the US, and Africa.
For the last four years, while living in Denmark, Dąbrowski has worked and performed with some of the finest musicians and bands on the Danish scene: Kresten Osgood, Jacob Anderskov, Kasper Tranberg, the Copenhagen Art Ensemble, Lotte Anker, Andreas Lang, Simon Krabs, and Kasper Tom to name a few. In January 2012 Dąbrowski visited New York where he recorded three albums in twelve days, collaborating with Tyshawn Sorey, Kris Davis, Jonathan Blake, Gilad Hekselman, Andrew Drury, and Jaleel Shaw.
The album “TOM TRIO” features 11 compositions written by Tomasz, most of them in a form of short songs without words. Some of the songs (such as “7 Days to Go”) utilize strong melodies while others seem to frame simplicity itself within twisted musical forms (e.g. “Wave”). “I like to create in musically uncomfortable situations, to challenge myself. Playing in a trio forces me to stay on my toes, and to constantly push beyond my boundaries. There is no harmonic instrument, therefore I’m free to expand my sound and look for new colors.” - Tomasz Dąbrowski
Both Anders Mogensen and Nils Bo Davidsen are major players on the Scandinavian scene, known for their personal sounds and approaches to music. Through the years they have collaborated with artists such as Han Bennink, Bunky Green, John Tchicai, Marc Ducret, Tom Rainey, Chris Speed, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Peter Brötzman, Evan Parker, Herb Robertson, Tim Berne, and many more. “TOM TRIO” is released on cd and will also be available on iTunes and at other digital music vendors.
Tracklisting: 1. 7 Days to Go 2. I'll Repeat Only Once 3. Cold Hands 4. Wave 5. Buzz Wow 6. Triangle 7. After Jam 8. Cph Talk 9. European 46 10. This Way Up 11. Unison
