Polish Jazz 2013 Mid-Year Round-Up!!!

At the end of the year we usually provide our readers with Polish-Jazz Blog Top Ten of Best Albums in a given year (check our 2012 Top Ten list). However first half o this year 2013 was so abundant in exceptionally good albums that we decided to provide you with Mid-Year Report containing Top Five of Best Albums released in this period picked up by our regular staff. How good these six months have been for Polish jazz can be proved by significant number of equally good albums that did not find their place on these three lists. We hope they will surface on our Top Ten list which we will publish for you in December.

Tomasz Łuczak

Obara International - "Komeda"
Wacław Zimpel Quartet - "Stone Fog"
Mikrokolektyw - "Absent Minded"
Nor Cold - "Nor Cold"
Shofar - "Ha-Huncvot"

Adam Baruch

RGG - "Szymanowski"
Irek Wojtczak - "The Bees' Knees"
Kuba Stankiewicz - "Kilar"
Marek Jakubowski Trio - "My Own"
Lichtański Sound Lab - "Live"

Maciej Nowotny

Hunger Pangs - "Meet Meat"

Marcin Masecki - "Polonezy"

Dominik Wania Trio - "Ravel"

Mazolewski/Gonzalez Quintet - "Shaman"

Gorzycki/Pater - "Therapy"

Obara International - Komeda (2013) *****

Obara International (band)

Maciej Obara – alto saxophone
Dominik Wania - piano
Ole Morten Vågan – double bass
Gard Nilssen – drums

Komeda (2013)

By Monika Okrój

It’s not a secret that Scandinavia has always been a fascination for Polish saxophonist Maciej Obara, especially in recent times when he started to look in his music for the "cooler means of expression". It was therefore a happy coincidence when during the Take Five: Europe meeting in 2012 his musical path crossed with two Norwegians: double bassist Ole Morten Vågan and drummer Gard Nielssen.

His decision to record the music of legendary Krzysztof Komeda seems to be natural. On the one hand Komeda is a point of reference for any jazz musician in Poland and to establish himself on our scene it is mandatory to record his music. Moreover Obara and pianist Dominik Wania were lucky to have some personal connection to Komeda as they both collaborated with Tomasz Stańko, a favourite trumpeter of Komeda, in his New Balladyna Project where they also played some of Komeda’s compositions. The same goes for the “Vikings” who were ready or even keen on to take up a role of some of such illustrious Scandinavian players like Rune Carlsson or Bernt Rosengren who used to appear on some of the most significant Komeda’s recordings.

But let’s go back to the music on this album which comprises five long up to 20-minutes tracks which nonetheless are highly expressive, keeping listener’s attention from very first to last second due to abundance of original ideas and great communication between players. The album begins with "Litania": an impressionistic introduction spreading a palette of "cool" sounds with delicate support by the rhythm section whose selectivity is striking. Dominik Wania in particular, as much here as anywhere else on this album, shows his awesome pianistic potential: his intuition, subtlety, feeling of a form and a certain kind of playfulness are simply beyond a praise.

Next "Etiudy Baletowe-Introdukcja” starts with a energetic drum solo of Gard Nilsen announcing an up-tempo character of this tune. And again our attention turns to Wania who masterfully plays with convention and texture, sounding at times with a blues roughness and occasionally giving also rhythmic puzzles to the bassist. He follows the groove by pushing himself in-between aggressive plucking of doublebass strings with surprising passages, repetitions and harmonic returns which though still firmly in the jazz tradition go beyond it at the same time. 

"Walter P-38" is a track from a film etude with the music of Komeda illustrating a detective story. The evocative leitmotif played by Obara exemplifies well his exceptional timbre and expression which astounds me throughout this album. Unlike on his other projects, especially early ones, his tone is fully controlled, aware of what his partners are doing and, the most important of all, it gained this specific, Komeda blues characteristic. Next, another movie track, is a tune from Swedish movie "Kattorna" (“The Cats”, 1965). This tune is feisty and surprisingly courageous as for theme about female love. Like actresses in this film, the music shows predator claws on misleadingly soft creatures, mixing latin rhythms with a hot African beat. Gard Nilsen now in cooperation with his compatriot create a vibrant, fiery base, reminding me of sultry duos of William Parker and Hamid Drake.

The sound of Scandinavia can also be heard in “Komeda’s Medley” featuring bits of “Cages”, “Astigmatic” and “Svantetic” compositions. They are particularly present in airy “Cages” with its unhurried saxophone theme. Then this nostalgic ballad gives place to vigorous "Astigmatic", where the rough melody quickly loops time and again and the band’s music spins like a broken record. Finally “Svantetic” comes (both tunes from the legendary album “Astigmatic”, 1965) and the music is reaching its climax in sophisticated, hardbop solos of all musicians paying their tribute to Komeda’s genius and confirming Maciej Obara’s own words - its a dream team, a powerful trampoline to the international scene. 

Tracklist:

Litania, Etiuda Baletowa, Walter P-38, Kattorna, Cages-Astigmatic-Svantetic

Nor Cold - Nor Cold (2013) ****

Nor Cold (band)

Olgierd Dokalski - trumpet, project concept
Wojciech Kwapisiński - guitar
Oori Shalev - drums, percussion
Zeger Vandenbussche - saxophones, clarinet, Jew's harp

Nor Cold (2013)

By Maciej Nowotny

Of all usual blah blah blah (exceptionally ill-thought and bad-written) provided to us by recording label (in this case Multikulti) only two descriptions of this music deserve to be taken seriously: "pain" and "euphoria". These may very well be keywords to describe any music aspiring to something more than just another piece of usual, overwhelming pop shit. If you are fed up with all-copying-one-after-another mainstream culture (and jazz!) and want to fly away to off-world of alternate music you should definitely reach out for this disc. Instead of a mirage of Hollywood "happy ends" it offers simply boundless sadness. Instead of popularity of mass media prostitutes of Paris Hilton or Rihanna kind, it proposes a glimpse of euphoria, of exultation, of satori.

By all this I don't want to say that it is flawless in itself. On contrary! It is much here to be improved. For example level of recording is difficult to appraise. Recording label only sent us music in mp3 which sounds played on my Marantz KI Signature Hi-Fi rather flat and lacking of space. Also, to be entirely honest, the musicians are not virtuoso or music exceptionally complicated and original. But all these imperfections are more than counterbalanced by incredible emotionalism, authenticity and spontaneity thanks to which this album by far surpasses many other CDs released in this year 2013. 

Before we move to the conclusion and usual mantra of "wholeheartedly recommended" or "must-listen" let me give you few facts about this project. Nor Cold is a collective of four musicians of which young trumpeter Olgierd Dokalski is probably the best known, at least to Polish audience. Co-founder of two interesting bands: Kirk and Daktari he is walking on free side of jazz if such a labeling has any sense at all in the beginning of XXI century. Distinctive feature of his art is continuous interest in Jewish music which is also present on this recording in delicate references to Sephardic songs of Balkan Jews. 

Another Polish musician involved in this project is guitarist Wojtek Kwapisiński who collaborated with Dokalski in Kirk and also co-created interesting ethnojazz duo Gamid Group. They are supported by Belgian saxophonist Zeger Vandenbussche and Israeli drummer Oori Shalev, currently residing in Berlin. Their input deserves as much accolade as that of Polish musicians since this music is first of all collective effort. Unlike mainstream jazz we have here no usual collection of solos and supporting rhythm section but rather well thought-out story, developing logically one piece after another. Yet, as I said before, this solid frame is filled up with emotions of such intensity that it leaves us with impression of total freedom, if not in form than at least in spirit.

All in all, this is of course "wholeheartedly recommended" and "must-listen", but on top of these so-much-worn-out adjectives there is here simply exceptional passion of artists involved in creation of this music. It made a listening to this album an experience special and rare. 

Jachna/Buhl - Tapes (2013) ***1/2

Jachna/Buhl

Wojtek Jachna - trumpet, flugelhorn, electronics
Jacek Buhl - drums, percussion

Tapes (2013)

By Stef Gijssels

Last year I praised the Polish duo of Wojtek Jachna on trumpet and Jacek Buhl on drums for their skills, yet I thought they could do better in finding a more personal style and more coherency in their musical vision, and that's exactly how they have improved, as if they had read this blog, which of course might be the case. The only counterargument is that the music on this album contains a collection of older material, dating from 2009 and 2010.

Anyway, it is fun to listen to, innovative in its construction of multilayered sounds, with sometimes joyful trumpet phrases à la Rob Mazurek, lots of electronically distorted and looped sounds, carefully structured pieces, with the occasional high energy drumming and lots of "nu jazz" influences and sometimes weird but fun adventures in avant territory.

Despite the collection of loose recordings, the album brings a lot of variation and a strong unity of strange beauty, and since it is absolutely free, also in financial terms, the value offering is excellent. My advice for the next album (if they read this), is to ask money for the download. The music is more than worth it.

Can be downloaded from here. 

Maciek Pysz Trio – Insight (2013) ****

Maciek Pysz - guitar
Yuri Goloubev - bass
Asaf Sirkis - drums

33 RECORDS 231






By Adam Baruch

This is one of those unexpected pleasant surprises that arrive in my mail box from time to time, which are not only musical delights but also have a personal aspect, closing one of the infinite connections woven during my life as a Jazz activist. Maciek Pysz is a Polish guitarist / composer resident in London since 2003 and is considered as one of the most interesting upcoming players on the scene. His cohorts are Russian bassist Yuri Goloubev, a classically trained player living now in Milan, and Israeli drummer Asaf Sirkis, also resident in London, considered as one of the best players around. Of course Sirkis is one of the many "kids on the block" that grew up under my wings and received their first recording opportunity on my record label, hence I consider him as one of my "musical children" spread all over the world.

The trio performs nine original compositions, all by Pysz (one co-composed with the Italian guitarist Gianluca Corona), who was also in charge of the exquisite arrangements. The music is a wonderful amalgam of influences mixing Jazzy improvisations with multicultural backgrounds including Gypsy, Flamenco, Latin and Brazilian folklore and European Classical music. Rhythmic influences also touch upon Middle Eastern pulsations. Together these elements are wonderfully interwoven, producing a completely unique musical identity, which belongs to the guitar based Jazz-World Fusion universe pioneered by such luminaries as Al Di Meola, Ralph Towner or John McLaughlin, among others. Without any exaggeration, this music is every bit as good as the music created by these great Masters.

But the excellent compositions and arrangements are also accompanied by superb performances. All three players are obvious virtuosi, each capable of astounding performance, and when combined are capable of truly wondrous music making. Pysz has a superb technique but even more so a deep feeling. The acoustic / classical guitar laughs and weeps, switches between cheerful lightheadedness and moody melancholy. The single notes and the chords are always in harmonious relation to each other and to the two other musicians. Goloubev is already quite famous as a classical player, but his performances here show that his feel and respect for Jazz are of no lesser magnitude. Sirkis, who "holds his horses" and intelligently fits his percussive magic to the delicate acoustic surroundings, simply binds the entire musical experience into a complete and perfect artistic message.

As if all the above was not enough, the album is also superbly recorded, with an astonishing sonic ambience and dynamics of the highest quality, which turns the experience of listening to the music into a true delight. This is obviously "guitar heaven" for guitar buffs, but any true music connoisseur should find this album extraordinary in every sense. Wholeheartedly recommended!

(Editor) This album is available for purchase, among many other interesting releases, at recording label: 33 RECORDS.

An On Bast / Maciej Fortuna – Live (2013) ***1/2

An On Bast - electronics
Maciej Fortuna - trumpet

PRIVATE EDITION







By Adam Baruch

This is the second album by the Polish duo, which consists of ambient / electronic music artists An On Bast (a.k.a. Anna Suda) and Jazz trumpeter / composer Maciej Fortuna. The album includes ten tracks which were composed and conceived by the duo, all recorded live on two different occasions. The last track is a tribute to the memory of the great Polish Jazz trumpeter / composer Andrzej Przybielski, who died in February 2011.

This album continues the direction set up by the duo's debut album, which combines electronic / synthesized ambient vistas with trumpet solos stating the melodic elements of the music. Although not completely innovative, this music differs from most similar projects since it involves a virtuosic player like Fortuna, who is capable of lengthy and complex improvisations, keeping a clear tone and superb fluency at all times. Although this music is not very easy to listen to, requiring maximal attention blended with fruitful imagination, it speaks to a wider population of listeners than the very limited Jazz audience. Ambient / electronic music gained quite a following in the last decades and therefore there is a good chance this music might be appealing to them as well.

Of course the trumpet parts played by Fortuna are the focus of this music, as the melodic sounds he produces are what the human ear is used to, much more so than the ambient sounds in the background. And yet an experienced listener quickly discovers the symbiotic relationship between these two layers, which enables the existence of one only in the presence of the other. The combined sound is dense, engaging and aesthetically pleasing, even at its darkest moments.

The fact that Fortuna is engaged in this project in parallel to his numerous other, mostly Jazz oriented activities proves his diversity as an artist and his open-mindedness, which is often quite limited among other players. Overall this is a project that deserves to be heard and praised for bridging the cross-genre gaps and exploring uncharted territory.

This is definitely worth investigating, especially for the more adventurous listeners, who are willing to take certain risks in order to gain new experiences.

Maciej Fortuna Trio – At Home (2013) ****

Maciej Fortuna - trumpet
Piotr Lemanczyk - bass
Krzysztof Gradziuk - drums

PRIVATE EDITION






By Adam Baruch

This is the fourth album by the Polish Jazz trumpeter / composer Maciej Fortuna, who emerges as one of the leaders of the local scene in the second decade of the 21st Century. His prolific activity as a player and recording artist is unprecedented and his rapid development as a musician and composer, as documented by his frequent recordings, is simply astounding.

This album is a "home" recording in a trio format, with the same lineup that recorded Fortuna's previous album "Sahjia", which features the brilliant and by now veteran bassist Piotr Lemanczyk and the excellent drummer Krzysztof Gradziuk (of RGG fame). The material includes eleven original compositions, seven of which are by the leader and the remaining four (which are parts of a four-piece suite, the first of which features vocals by Marta Podulka) are credited to the trio.

Following a period of touring together, this trio is a prime example of team cooperation and collective effort, which results in the outcome being much more than a sum of its parts. One should hardly look at this music as a leader with a supporting rhythm section; on the contrary Fortuna puts his ego away in order to construct a unit, which performs as one. Obviously there is also plenty of superb soloing here, as appropriate for a Jazz recording; Lemanczyk plays way beyond a typical role required by a bassist; his lyricism and sublime feel of harmony create a whole layer of background sounds parallel to trumpet lines, Gradziuk hardly ever keeps time per se, using his kit as a melodic environment and less so as a rhythmic tool and Fortuna is of course phenomenal as a soloist, with a beautiful tone and breathtaking arpeggios. His playing is changing over time to become similar to the great Jazz trumpeters of the past, even somewhat similar to early Tomasz Stanko, but much more polished technically.

The most important characteristic of the wonderful music presented here is its minimalism and modesty. There is so much lyricism and melancholy in Fortuna's compositions that they become probably the most genuine extensions of the Polish Jazz legacy that first started in the 1960s. It's not a conscious attempt to play "retro" oriented music, au contraire it is completely up to date, and yet, at least for me, it carries on the tradition more than most other Polish Jazz ensembles do at the moment. There is also more freedom here than in Fortuna's earlier recordings, without loosing any of the coherence and clarity his music is blessed with. This melody based Free Jazz is after all the ideal mixture of everything Jazz is all about: a perfect marriage of discipline and liberty.

This is a remarkable album by all standards and it is a pleasure to follow the development of such talented Artists, who are like a tree bearing better and better fruit year after year. There is nothing else one can do but raise one's hat in salute and hope for the next harvest. God bless you guys for sharing this music with us.

Dominik Wania Trio - Ravel (2013) ****

Dominik Wania Trio

Dominik Wania – piano
Max Mucha – bass
Dawid Fortuna – drums

Ravel (2013)

By Maciej Nowotny

This album by a pianist Dominik Wania is nominally his debut. But in fact Wania is already fully matured artistic personality. Quick overview of recordings in which he took part in last couple of years is at the same time the testimony to stunning renaissance of Polish jazz: Piotr Baron's  "Jazz na Hrade", Maciej Obara's  "Equilibrium", Bronisław Suchanek's "Sketches In Blue" or Jacek Kochan's  “Filing the Profile” and “Man of No Words” are all creme-de-creme of jazz in Poland in recent times which are unimaginable without Dominik's creative contribution. Indeed by participation in above mentioned and other projects Wania has won such an esteem that his debut may be easily described as one of most anticipated in Polish jazz in last couple of years. 

No less promising are musicians invited by Wania to this project: drummer Dawid Fortuna and double bassist Max Mucha are among Polish top young jazz players on their respective instruments. Fortuna has become known to our audience through collaboration with the pianist Paweł Kaczmarczyk, while Mucha recorded with veteran drummer Arek Skolik, another talented youth saxophonist Jarek Bothur and in two interesting bands: New Bone and Inner Spaces. Not bad for a guy being just 22 years old...

As title suggests the CD is dedicated to Maurice Ravel. Ravel's importance for classical music far exceeds the fame of his best known composition "Bolero". He was one of so-called 'French impressionists', together with Claude Debussy and Eric Satie, who at turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries created music which, although often sophisticated, sounded deliberately rather simply, because its main goal was to speak through emotions. What is interesting in Wania approach to this material is that he carefully avoided playing this music literally as it was written by its composer. He treated material indeed very loosely, picking up scratches of melodies, harmonies but most of all emotions which Ravel strived to evoke.

The effect is extraordinary! Although recognizable Ravel, it is above all fresh and spoken in language of modern mainstream jazz. Vibrant with energy, exuberantly bop in its rhythm, it is nonetheless played with a great attention to detail and incredible technical proficiency. I must say that it is a true feast for any jazz lover who, as I am, was raised on the classical music. That's why I believe this album fully deserves to be placed among best Polish jazz recordings of year 2013 being the important part of recent movement of young jazz musicians towards re-interpreting anew classical music. In this context such powerful projects shall be mentioned as "Szymanowski" by RGG, "Polonezy" by Marcin Masecki or "Experiment: Penderecki" by Piotr Orzechowski. Clearly Dominik Wania's "Ravel" deserves  to be put among these elite albums because of originality of concept and of level of its execution.

Mikrokolektyw - Absent Minded (2013) ****

Mikrokolektyw

Artur Majewski - trumpet, cornets, electronics
Kuba Suchar - drums, percussion, electronics

Absent Minded (2013)

By Stephan Moore

Well it's been three years since we heard the dynamic and creative duo Mikroklektyw. They have been working in various forms with their respective collaborative groups, but finally we get hear their dense, expansive imagination again on "Absent Minded".

"Absent Minded" delves deeper into the rabbit hole of sound as the duo completely restructure our thoughts on what jazz and sound sculpture can be. A slightly less emphasis on the electronics from it's predecessor,  "Revisit", Mikrokolektyw are still exploring melodies that burst out of spontaneity than structure. "Thistle Soup" and "Crazy Idea" a great sources improvisation exploding into melody before you know it. Majewski provides sharp notes that are juxtaposed to Suchar blistering pace and while at first seem completely unrelated slow unravel to showcase a beautiful picture of sound and space. "Fossil Stairway" is the one track that does hearken back to Revisit's electronic elements. A cascade of sound, almost like air raids. This, all the while, Majewski and Suchar are weaving between the noise with pattens that set a rough but fun path for the listener to follow. Fun might the other way to describe "Little Warrior" in which the tribal elements of this piece reminded me of Les Baxter, Raymond Scott, Don Cherry shoved in a room with Chris & Cosey (of Throbbing Gristle) and told to make beautiful music. This is what they might come up with. Intriguing, beat-driven, exotic and masterfully executed.

"Absent Minded" is great follow up to "Revisit". And Mikrokolektyw have shown that they are a duo with layers of ideas and will continue to challenge our conceptions. Once again, for me, they have made one the best albums of this year.

LXMP - Back To The Future Shock (2013) ***1/2

LXMP  (duo)

Piotr Zabrodzki – Korg Mono/Poly, Korg Delta, Korg MS-20, Alesis QS6, Akai VX-73, Minimoog, Talkbox, Programming

Macio Moretti – drums, Korg MS-20, MicroKorg, Vocoder, Dutch Hardcore

Back To The Future Shock (2013) 

By Maciej Nowotny

LXMP is band consisting basically of bassist Piotr Zabrodzki and drummer Macio Moretti. But on every release they are also accompanied by a 'guest star'. On their first album "Broken Strings" they invited Japanese guitarist Kazuhisa Uchihashi, on second "Lost Tuba" - American drummer and keyboardist Chad Poppe and on third "The Posenburg Concertos" - Japanese guitarist Tabata Mitsuru.

Music of LXMP is all about the deconstruction. Deconstruction is European idea originating from analytical approach of Bacon and Descartes but in its modern form was popularized by anthropologist Claude Levi Stauss. In last century it become omnipresent being applied in philosophy, sociology, psychology and also in art: most of all in literature, painting and music. Sonorism, punctualism, dodecaphony, serialism and other similar genres can be seen as the emanation of this idea. Irrespective of all differences between them they share one common feature: they were unanimously hated by the audience which boycotted any concert hall or orchestra which dare to play it.

Eventually all this movement come down to popular music as evidenced by such projects as LXMP. But the problem with deconstruction is that it cannot stand on its own. Without some base, foundation and reference it is meaningless like bones without flesh. That is the case with first two albums by this band which I criticized thoroughly in this review. I was so discouraged by them that I passed third one but when I've seen the title of their fourth release, clearly referring to the legendary Herbie Hancock's disk from 1983, I decided to give them 'second chance'.

"The Future Shock" is one of the most famous Hancock's albums, partly due to the huge commercial success of the hit song "Rock It". The result of cooperation with Bill Laswell and bunch of other musicians it was influenced as much by pop as by funk and electronic dance music of that era. The connoisseurs of Hancock's recordings however do not value it particularly high and to be honest the time treated this album rather cruelly. But that was exactly what LXMP needed to implement their deconstruction method successfully: material was easy to transform and the language simple to distort.

The result of such a transformation turned up to be a little bit funny, perhaps odd but... fresh! Its appeal reminds me a little a charm of old Monty Python sketches. Lovely but hopelessly old school. But are we not lately kind of fascinated by old school clothes, cars, behaviors? Perhaps that is just my overstatement but is it not a respect or even love that shines through all this irony present on this album? Respect and love toward music long-forgotten, seriously outdated but in its kind perfect, composed and performed on level often unattainable in present decadent times? That's at least what I like to imagine during repeated rehearsals of this material which prove something more than pitiful waste of time as was the case with first two albums of this duo. 

Finally let me add that like on previous discs Zabrodzki/Moretti invited a guest for his recordiding in person of Thymme Jones from band called Cheer-Accident who plays drums on the title track.

Tracklist:
1. Rockit
2. Future Shock
3. TFS
4. Earth Beat
5. Autodrive
6. Rough
7. Rockit (Mega Mix)*