Cukunft - Itstikeyt / Fargangenheit (2010)

What is your first association with Poland? It may well be that it is where Holocaust took place. Although the end of story of Jews in Poland is well known: Nazi Germany, Final Solution, ghettos, concentration camps, Auschwitz, gas chambers, the beginning of this story is much less known. When did Jews settle in Poland? Why? What did make their incredible rise possible? The facts are that before II World War in Eastern Poland Jews made half of population of all cities! Even in Warsaw more than one third of citizens were Jews! 

It is often forgotten that such a long and numerous presence of Jewish culture in Poland means that part of our identity, of our culture is Jewish whether we like it or no. Sense of humour, type of feminine beauty, poetry and last but not least music are some of influences we cannot get rid of. Therefore it should not be surprise that Polish musicians were among first which embraced the idea of renewal of old klezmer music, thriving in Poland, before war, among flourishing Jewish community.
Speaking shortly, we have here 2 CD album comprising jazz version of klezmer music. Clearly influenced by most significant figure in this movement, John Zorn, and music of his Tzadik Records established in 1995 it has yet very original and unique identity. As far as sound of this band is concerned on CD1 which was recorded live it is created by two energetic clarinets of Paweł Szamburski and Michał Górczyński, drums of Paweł Szpura and guitar of Raphael Rogiński, the leader of the a band and composer of most of the music on CD2 (CD1 comprises all traditional tunes). CD2 consists of music recorded in studio between 2004 and 2006 in different line-ups with such musicians as above mentioned Rogiński and Szamburski and additionally Kuba Kossak on bassoon, Adam Różański and Piotr Kaliński on percussion, Tomasz Duda on sax, flutes, clarinet, appearing plus guest vocalists Olga Mysłowska and Ewa Żurakowska.
Energetic, swinging, improvising, full of life and yet somehow bluesy to the point of evocating feeling of tragic loss of so many millions Jewish co-citizens, this music is worthy homage to great Jewish culture and people who created it. I wholeheartedly recommend it to you!
Please, listen to a song from this album: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qyuhgvNgW4

Igor Boxx - Breslau (2010)

Igor Pudło vel Igor Boxx is 1/2 of Skalpel duo which recorded in 2004 ("Skalpel") and 2005 ("Konfusion") two albums for legendary Ninja Tune label. After couple of years of silence he has surprised us at the end of last year (in October) with this new material which is as good and inspiring as one could expect. As far as nu jazz and trip hop this is probably the best album of the passing year.

The title of the CD speaks for itself: "Breslau" is for Wrocław. The city where I was born and lived for 20 years until I moved to Warsaw. The city with special multikulti blend of Polish, German, Jewish and other elements, all masterfully described in a book by Norman Davies and Roger Moorhouse titled "Mikrokosmos".

The most tragic event in the history of the city is the siege which started in February and lasted until May 1945. Declared by Hitler as "Festung Breslau" the city was virtually torn to pieces by ferociously fighting Red Army and Wehrmacht while civil population of half a million people was forcefully expelled out of the city in the middle of the harsh winter. Over 90% of buildings in the city perished, more than in Hiroshima, even more than in Warsaw. 

But do not expect any pathos, direness or sadness in this music because it tells the story in a best tradition of Polish absurd sense of humour and grotesque. Check the link below with official video to sense the mood I am talking about or watch one of such masterpieces of Polish cinema as Andrzej Munk "Eroica".  

By Maciej Nowotny
http://kochamjazz.blox.pl/html

2010 Polish jazz albums I cannot stop but listen all the time!

Biased, subjective, unsistematic and thorougly mine list of 10 albums I cannot stop listening in Polish jazz 2010:

Joanna Gajda Quartet - Heaven Earth Earth Heaven (2010)

Adam Pierończyk Quartet - El Buscador (2010)

Tomek Sowiński & The Collective Improvisation Group - Synergy (2010)

Piotr Wyleżoł Quintet - Live (2010)

Leszek Kułakowski Ensamble Piccolo - Code Numbers (2010)

Maciej Obara, John Lindberg, Harvey Sorgen - Three (2010)

Mikrokolektyw - Revisit (2010)

Dwootho - Space Pressures (2010)

Soundcheck - III Druglum (2010)

Tomek Grochot Quintet - My stories (2010)

Now, after so much reading, prize for those who were patient enough to complete full post ;-) Ladies and Gentleman please your applause: Wacław Zimpel!!! Best musician of 2010 and his two albums:

Undivided - The Passion (2010)

Paweł Posteramczak, Ksawery Wójciński, Paweł Szpura, Wacław Zimpel - Hera (2010)

Fazi Quintet Moon Ship - Stawka Wieksza Niż Życie (1997)

A trifle, nothing more, but I somehow like it. It contains set of standards, great tunes indeed, all coming from legendary Polish movies. Mariusz Mielczarek, playing on sax and leader of the band, his style rubato, very much like Coleman Hawkins, brings life to music that is so well known and never stray too far away from what listeners remember. Skip it if such film titles like "Stawka większa niż życie", "O7 - zgłoś się" or "Noce i Dnie" tell you nothing. But if they do you will love this music.

Please listen to sample of music from "07 - zgłoś się" which was local version of Bond movies taking place in communist Poland. Hardcore!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xccr-RmRjqU&feature=related

Bogdan Hołownia Trio - On The Sunny Side (1997)

It is a debut recording of jazz pianist Bogdan Hołownia, made on 1995 and published 2 years later. Since then he recorded more than 10 CDs proving to be permanent and valuable part of mainstream jazz in Poland. Born in 1957 he turned to playing piano professionally in 1990 when he decided to go to the US to study at famous Berklee College Of Music. This disc contains rehearsals of jazz standards and may be seen as a program prepared by a student to pass high school exams. And this student was very good indeed! His arrangements are usually faithful to originals but always very melodic, delicate and soulful. They go well with winter evening, fireplace, good book and a glass of old wine from your cellar. It may certainly appeal to all those for whom jazz is syncopated music that swings and is played on blue note. On the recording with Hołownia play following musicians: David Clark on double bass and Skip Hadden on drums, both professors at the Berklee.

Small sample of music of Bogdan Hołownia, from different album and accompanied by a vocal, yet representative for his style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tQqF3BBwA8

Tomek Grochot Quintet feat. Eddie Henderson - My Stories (2010)

Fantastic, outstanding, extraordinary? How limited vocabulary of jazz music reviewer is when it comes to expressing his admiration, delight, amazement! 

Many people mistake style with progress. They become infatuated by novelty but   my opinion is that what is good, in music as well as in any other field in life, is always en vogue. Let me give you an example: whether we call her Venus, Virgin Mary, Marylin Monroe or Scarlett Johansson I assume it is beauty, Hellenic "charis", that we are all after? Although beauty is always individual and ever-changing, its idea is permanent, complete, final. Any variation or change to idea is not to be mistaken with creativity as creativity is part of identity, while idea is simply matter of divine inspiration.

Speaking shortly, Tomasz Grochot,  on drums, leader of the group, for whom it is his recording debut,  Adam Pierończyk on alto and soprano saxophones, Dominik Wania on piano and Fender Rhodes, Robert Kubiszyn on double bass plus Eddie Henderson, outstanding American trmpeter, who played with Herbie Hancock, Art Blackey and Pharoah Sanders, recorded the album that is mainstream jazz. Let me say in a different manner: that is beautiful. No, let me make final correction: the album that is.

More about Tomek Grochot and his music (including samples): http://www.myspace.com/tomekgrochot

Baaba - Disco Externo (2010)

I always wondered at men who once married stop to look at pretty girls. So despite being enamored in jazz since many years I am always ready to take chances and put music other-than-jazz in my CD player provided it has grace and charm. 

In this case there is plenty of both with very significant drop of wit which makes music of this quartet extremely attractive to me. They juggle with conventions, cut well known tunes and paste them in wrong places, wrong moods, in wrong tempos but it is all their own music, individual voice, creative attitude toward musical reality. 

I am certain that they would not like too big words to be used in order to describe their style but I want to underline that this music is of very high quality reminding me such musicians as for example Ben Lamdin whose Nostalgia77 made so big impact on British scene few years ego. Like Lamdin Bartosz Weber (guitar, sampler) started as DJ working entirely on sampled music and gradually turned into mostly acoustic line-up with some top jazz musicians as Tomasz Duda (saxophones, flute, sampler), Piotr Zabrodzki (bass, keyboards, voice) and Macio Moretti (drums). Other bands and artists they may be compared with are Quantic Soul or Amon Tobin. 

Light-hearted, easy-to-listen, dance-like but at the same time ironic, creative, avant-garde. So if you are in music for improvisation and need an album that your girl friend might like as well this extraordinary disc may be one of few albums that may reconcile both your and her tastes.

Please, check this page for more info and music samples:

http://www.myspace.com/baabapoopemusique  

Author: Maciej Nowotny
http://kochamjazz.blox.pl/html

Mikołaj Trzaska - Dom Zły (2010)

Mikołaj Trzaska is key figure in Polish jazz nowadays. Born in 1966 he studied in Gdańsk Academy of Art in painting class since 1988. However at the time he became fascinated by John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman music so he started to play on alto saxophone. In 1991 he dropped his studies and co-created band called Miłość (Love) responsible for creating yass movement in Poland which pushed Polish jazz in direction of free and improvised music.
Ever since Miłość times when he collaborated with Lester Bowie he remains very active setting up new project with such significant artists like Oleś brothers, Peter Brotzmann, Joe McPhee or Ken Vandermark. Though he is self-taught and never attended to any musical school he managed to work-out his own style on alto: energetic, assertive, warlike even, though capable of being simultaneously very emotional and moving.
With this specific record, being soundtrack to excellent movie by Wojciech Smarzowski, Trzaska proves that   free jazz can be very valuable addition to moving pictures art. I usually am very skeptical toward soundtracks but in this case music not only provides perfect support for movie but is also fully capable to be listened on its own. Significant part of success of this album goes to exquisite musicians accompanying Trzaska on this CD: Clementine Gasser (5 string cell), Tomasz Szwelnik (fortepian), Clayton Thomas (kontrabas) and Micheal Zerang (drums&percussion).
Speaking shortly, one must say that Trzaska recently has produced incredible streak of excellent records:
1) Duval, Rosen, McPhee, Trzaska "Magic" (2009)
2) Trzaska, Bauer, Brotzmann "Goosetalks" (2010)
proving that he is one of true masters of Polish jazz!

Author of text: Maciej Nowotny (http://kochamjazz.blox.pl/html)

Jazzpospolita - Almost Splendid (2010)

In Poland we have very strong mainstream jazz, free and improv jazz getting stronger every year but nu jazz, thriving in the West, is honestly speaking underdeveloped. I wish more Polish young musicians would follow suit of such Polish artists like Stealpot or Skalpel who once recorded for legendary Ninja Tune label. And there is so much to explore in this dancelike and electronical jazz sphere where such different artists as Parov Stellar and Bonobo on easy side or Peter Nils Molvaer and Lars Danielsson on more ambitous one coexist.

In recent years two bands in Poland distinguished themselves in this field and can be recommended wholehearteadly: Contemporary Noise Quintet/Sextet and Pink Freud. They play top notch nu jazz in very ambitious form especially in Pink Freud case. And though there is still plenty of work ahead of Jasspospolita before we can count them among those two top bands I must say that as for debut this is more than satisfactory recording.

Straightforward, unpretentious, yet very melodic and accessible it shall appeal to those who only accidentally look into modern jazz garden. But because it at times is dark in mood, scratchy and oniric it shall also keep attention of more sophisticated jazz listeners for longer than just one song. It lacks complexity, density and ironic power of Pink Freud albums or kitsch refinement of Contemporary Noise CDs but it nevertheless bring promise of some individual and interesting voice to speak on its own in future. As far as I am concerned they got credit from me for their next recording. Let me finally say that music is composed and executed by following artists: Stefan Nowakowski (bass), Wojtek Oleksiak (drums), Michał Przerwa-Tetmajer (gitara) and Michał Załęski (keyboards) and invite you to listen to a song from this album:

or visit web page: http://www.myspace.com/jazzpospolita

By Maciej Nowotny
http://kochamjazz.blox.pl/html

Piotr Wyleżoł, Adam Kowalewski, Łukasz Żyta - Yearning (2001)

There are weather phenomena that make my mood metaphysical. It could be heavy rain that sometimes happens in spring. It magnifies smells of blossoming flowers into erotic perfume. Or wind which in summer comes suddenly from the mountain interior and falls on the seashore. It makes crowded beach deserted in just few moments except for few souls that felt lost among the mob and then they seemed to regain their balance in that wind. Or, like at this specific moment, when from winter sky come down, very slowly, majestically, snow flakes as big as ice chalices. And I ask myself what happened up there, have they lost their minds as we did so long ago? And there is nobody sane in universe, nobody to take care of "harmony of spheres"?

Well, not so fast boy, I start to reassure my tired mind and put this record in my Marantz CD-64 mk II KI. If such music as on this album exists there is still chance that your soul shall find peace again. It shall bring Earth into its usual elliptical orbit and our Heavenly Father back into business as usual.

And if you are more for the facts than impressions let me speak shortly: here's fourth disc that makes my journey with Piotr Wyleżoł complete. This is his debut recording made almost 10 years ago with Adam Kowalewski (bass) and Łukasz Żyta (drums). As it happens only with the best musicians Wyleżoł played perfectly from the beginning. His style inspired by great Bill Evans is all present on this first disc and I hope he will be able to preserve it without waylaying his natural, creative development. But that is what indeed is happening since Piotr started to record in quintet format for the first time this year.  With this refreshing change in his career one may only yearn for more great music from him in future... 

Please listen to fantastic song Deal With Myself  from his album titled Children's Episodes recorded for Spanish Fresh Sound New Talent label last year (2009):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqR7pIxoyG4&feature=player_embedded