Polish-Jazz blog provides media patronage for new album by Maciej Fortuna Trio !!!

Maciej Fortuna Trio

Maciej Fortuna – trumpet
Piotr Lemańczyk – double bass
Krzysztof Gradziuk – drums

Marta Podulka - vocals (track 07)

At Home (2013)

The new, already third album of Maciej Fortuna Trio is a very personal release which came into being in the home recording studio in December 2012. For the members of the band it is a fruit of months of working on the stage, a summary of the chequered past year, during which they played 89 concerts together. New compositions interwine with open forms. This is the first album in which Maciej Fortuna’s unique musical language outlines fully. The end result of this release would not feature its exceptional shape if it had not been for the equivalent input of each member of the Trio. The new recording is a bridge between the previous achievements of the complement and their new programme being under preparation for several months.

Tracks:

01. For Alice - Maciej Fortuna
02. Travel To Anhram - Maciej Fortuna
03. No Man's Land - Maciej Fortuna
04. Rivendell - Maciej Fortuna
05. Night - Maciej Fortuna
06. Prelude - Maciej Fortuna
07. Story in 4 Parts: I - Maciej Fortuna Trio
08. Story in 4 Parts: II - Maciej Fortuna Trio
09. Story in 4 Parts: III - Maciej Fortuna Trio
10. Story in 4 Parts: IV - Maciej Fortuna Trio
11. For Alice - Maciej Fortuna

Jarek Wist / Krzysztof Herdzin Big Band – Swinging With Sinatra (2013)

Jarek Wist - vocals
Krzysztof Herdzin - arranger, conductor

DUX 0090








By Adam Baruch

This is a live recording of a concert dedicated, as the title suggests, to the songs which were part of the classic repertoire of Frank Sinatra. The songs are performed by young Polish vocalist Jarek Wist, who is accompanied by a Big Band led and conducted by distinguished veteran pianist / composer / arranger Krzysztof Herdzin. The album includes fourteen tracks, twelve of which are standards from the Sinatra repertoire and two are original compositions by Herdzin, one used as an intro and the other as a showcase to present the members of the Big Band at mid-time.

Sinatra, who was often dismissed by narrow-minded Jazz buffs as a crooner and mere entertainer, was in fact one of the greatest American Jazz singers and had more swing in his toes alone than most others, certainly more than his critics. His very individual and unique treatments of the great American Songbook are the absolute Holy Grail of American Jazz vocals and remain untouched by time, incomparable, undefeated and uncontested. Especially notable are his superb recordings with Big Bands, like the Count Basie Orchestra and several others, arranged and conducted by such luminaries as Nelson Riddle, Neal Hefti or Quincy Jones. All these recordings are quintessential, pure and unadulterated Jazz classics. It is simply impossible to listen to this album without comparing it, for example, to the classic "Sinatra At The Sands", recorded with the Count Basie Orchestra conducted by Quincy Jones.

Unfortunately the comparison doesn't leave much space to remain positive about this album, which is a great pity, since the intentions were probably quite honorable and the participants are all excellent musicians. I can understand Herdzin willing to step into the shoes of the great Big Band arrangers of the past and indeed his part as the arranger is probably the best ingredient of the entire package. However even these arrangements sound rather pale and lack the zest and the kick which characterize the original Sinatra recordings. I have no idea if the Big Band had ample opportunity to rehearse and considering the economic realities of a Big Band, they most probably did not, which is immediately apparent. As already stated, the participating musicians, who include pianist Piotr Wrombel, guitarist Marek Napiorkowski, bassist Robert Kubiszyn and drummer Pawel Dobrowolski and thirteen additional brass and reed players, are all able and talented musicians, but obviously have limited opportunities to show their skills within the Big Band collective when accompanying a lead singer.

Wist is a rather ordinary singer, completely lacking the theatrical and humorous sides of Sinatra's stage persona. His interpretations of these classic standards are simply dull and often imperfect technically. And of course there is the dreaded Polish accent and pronunciation, which is perhaps acceptable on the local market but completely unbearable to an English speaker. It's a pity the producers of this album did not consider the additional step of getting the lyrics translated into Polish; this might have saved the day, al least to some extent. Even the audience's applause present at the hall where this music was recorded sounds hesitant and weary and the sound quality of the recording suffers from uneven volume, poor separation and overall muddy resonance.

In retrospect this was a lost case before it even begun. Tackling the enormity of Sinatra's talent, heritage and status is not a very wise decision and such things are usually best left alone. The old saying: "a smart man knows how to get out of trouble but the wise man knows how to avoid trouble in the first place" is very appropriate here. During the concert Herdzin complains about the difficulty of his multi-talented persona (he not only arranged the songs, composed two pieces and conducted the band, but also plays the piano on one track and sings on another). Perhaps there is a lesson here for him, since after all he is an extremely talented person. On the other hand those who don't do don't make mistakes, and he surely does a lot.

Sylwester Ostrowski Quartet - Don't Explain (2013)

Sylwester Ostrowski Quartet

Sylwester Ostrowski - tenor sax
Reggie Moore - piano
Wayne Dockery - double bass
Newman T. Baker - drums

Sylwester Ostrowski Quartet (2013)



By Maciej Nowotny

I love Polish jazz, I suppose few can doubt this. But if Polish jazz were like this record, I would hate it! With all my heart! I would stop listening to it and bury all my records deep in the cellar. No! Better I would burn them all so there would be no chance that some other person stumble into such a deadly trap.

But why am I so exasperated? Many of my colleagues are not, indeed to my complete astonishment, they compliment this counterfeit as something true and original. But it isn't! I can say what I already repeated so many times: jazz is a kind of music, more, kind of life approach, totally OPPOSITE to copying, imitating, duplicating. And that's what this whole album is ALL about! Not only all songs are thousand times played standards but they are also reproduced by American musicians (Reggie Moore on piano, Wayne Dockery on double bass and Newman T. Baker on drums) in completely emotionless way. Dream fulfilled of jazz as desired by Marsalis clan! But from my point of view what a incredible waste of talent of so many gifted musicians!

But it is not all! On top of all this is a leader of this ensamble saxophonist Sylwester Ostrowski. Let me ask my noble colleagues jazz journalists and critics: are you deaf? Don't you hear this guy simple cannot play his instrument? He is never in tempo with other players, his tone in uncontrolled, his phrase shapeless. True, I admire his enthusiasm towards jazz but, please, we must not mix amateurs with professionals! If we rally care about music we love so much! If we want it to remain, as Polish Jazz, a synonym of the highest quality of art, of something special in this country culture landscape! Please, just stop it!

New Trio – Perpendicular Realities (2013)

Jan Smoczynski - Hammond organ
Mateusz Smoczynski - violin
Alex Zinger - drums

TMP 004






By Adam Baruch

This is the second album by the New Trio ensemble, which consists of Polish brothers: Jan Smoczynski, who plays Hammond organ and composed most of the music herein and Mateusz Smoczynski, who plays violin and is completed by Russian drummer Alex Zinger. The album includes twelve original compositions, seven of which were composed by Jan and the remaining five are credited to all the trio members.

Aesthetically the music continues exactly from the point where their stunning debut left off and presents more of the same unique sound, which exists only within the particular Hammond / violin / drums setting and which has but a few predecessors, most of which are French, where the violin has a firm position as a leading Jazz instrument. The superb Jean-Luc Ponty / Eddy Louiss / Daniel Humair trio immediately comes to mind as a point of reference. The same "retro" atmosphere, which characterized the debut album, is maintained here as well. The result however losses the surprise effect, that exemplified the reaction to the debut.

But surprised or not, the listeners will find here all the ingredients that make music great and worth listening to: superb compositions and first-class performances. Although well within the Jazz mainstream this music keeps the listener on edge, never being obvious or overtly predictable, with intellectual and emotional approaches intertwined. The diverse tempi enable showcases of different compositional tools, which work out very effectively.

As for performances, this album is full of exceptional playing with the violin work by Mateusz being simply virtuosic from start to finish. He is quickly establishing himself as one of the leading violinist not only in Poland, but now also on a worldwide scale and is surely destined to get far. But both Jan and Alex don't fall far behind and their contributions are first-rate every step of the way.

Overall this is a splendid piece of music and a commendable follow up to their debut effort. Having passed the dreaded "second album" trial with flying colors, they now have a carte blanche to continue this path as far as I'm concerned. Both Jazz violin and Hammond organ connoisseurs will absolutely love this album from start to finish and it is wholeheartedly recommended to every Jazz enthusiast.

We must not forget also the fact that Jan Smoczynski is not only a great musician, but also one of the top (if not the top) sound engineers in Poland and his legendary Studio Tokarnia, where this album was recorded, is one of the best in Europe and produced a myriad of albums of extraordinary sound quality. Hats off!

Waclaw Zimpel Quartet – Stone Fog (2013)

Wacław Zimpel Quartet 

Wacław Zimpel - bass clarinet, alto & Bb clarinet, tarogato, overtone flute
Krzysztof Dys - piano
Christian Ramond - double bass
Klaus Kugel - drums, percussion

Stone Fog (For Tune, 2013)

By Dirk Blasejezak

Despite his young age Wacław Zimpel for me is one of the most important personalities in the field of free and improvised jazz in Poland. And this is not only because of his many collaborations with Polish and international artists, but above all because of his special style. Already with the first songs I heard from him I got the feeling that this must be something special, and since then I have been following his development with greatest interest.

Wacław Zimpel’s compositions outline in a very profound way emotions or ideas of which the listener gets a very precise idea from with just the first few bars. And that applies not only to the recordings on "Stone Fog" but runs through all his work. Despite the precise notion he always leaves some space - not because he could not spin the particular thought to the end or wouldn’t like to describe the emotion to the last detail - but because every emotion and every idea needs a context. And this context he creates with his fellow musicians during the improvisations in the studio and on stage - especially in his solos. There he formulates any emotion out in an incredibly captivating way. If he wants to transmit a feeling, one cannot avoid empathy since he unlike many other musicians in Free Jazz stays within his compositions - he doesn’t stick to strict notation but to the underlying idea. His solos are not identical, they are not schematically - they are actually free. And yet you know at all times what he wanted to say at the beginning of a piece. He always seems to attempt that you as a listener understand him - there aren’t many musicians that have the desire or perhaps the ability to transport something with their music. The wonderful thing about this is that you do not even have to force yourself to listen to him through to the end - you just want to know exactly what he tries to say. It is simply a pleasure to enjoy free improvisation with such depth. This depth can be heard especially well on this album as it appears to me, despite the described similarities with his other work, more harmoniously - perhaps more private.

If you want to learn more about his background and his technical approach, you should definitely read the interview by Bartek Adamczak (http://polish-jazz.blogspot.de/2012/02/waclaw-zimpel-interviewed-by-bartek.html)! And if you don’t know the earlier works of Wacław Zimpel, I recommend the self-titled "Hera" - for me, this album remains one of the best albums of the year 2010! But of course his other projects like "The Light" and "Undivided" should be part of every collection. It’s also from the latter band "Undivided" that Wacław Zimpel and Klaus Kugel know each other. And their collaboration seems to work out quite well, as in the above interview, Wacław Zimpel told Bartek Adamczak about his plans for a new project with him. Also discussed on this blog ist another work of these two: "Tyle Tego Ty" (Milobedzka / Zimpel - http://polish-jazz.blogspot.de/2012/12/milobedzka-zimpel-tyle-tego-ty-2012.html), a project where they could gain experience with the bassist Christian Ramond, that apparently went so well that he too was involved in the quartet for "Stone Fog". The only new member in this circle is Krzysztof Dys who gathered fame mainly with "Soundcheck".

So Wacław Zimpel compiled for the first project that carries his name a Polish-German-quartet that blends together very well indeed. (Although there were some minor coordination problems at the record release concert in Berlin, but that was probably because it was the first concert of this formation and because of the rather small audience.) I'm pretty sure that this record will help to acquaint the name of this quartet and thus its leader to a wider audience outside of Poland. A recommendation is this album by all means!

Marek Jakubowski Trio – My Own… (2013)

Adam Bieranowski - piano
Piotr Max Wiśniewski - bass
Marek Jakubowski - drums

RECART 0007







By Adam Baruch

This is a beautiful debut album by young Polish Jazz drummer/composer Marek Jakubowski, who leads a classic piano trio with pianist Adam Bieranowski and bassist Piotr Max Wiśniewski. The album comprises of eleven original compositions, all by Jakubowski, three of which are short (a minute or less) interludes, i.e. there are eight full scale compositions altogether.

The focus of this album is the level of the compositions, which are all simply outstanding. Deeply rooted in Jazz tradition, they mange to present a fresh look at composition, which amalgamates a myriad of influences, starting with the intrinsically Polish melancholy and including odd meters, subtle World Music themes, vamping and repeated riffs, extra slow tempo and countless other tricks of the trade, which probably partly come about subconsciously. Nevertheless this music is first class – a fresh breath of air within the "mainstream" approach, which so often tends to be simply boring.

Combined with the superb level of execution by the trio, these compositions achieve full bloom and turn into a most pleasurable listening experience. All three musicians show a great level of respect towards each other and even though the drummer is the trio's leader there are no unnecessary solo spots just to prove it. In fact there is a perfect balance between the instruments, with the piano obviously stating the melody and harmony, as well as most of the improvised parts and the rhythm section supports it with a solid and empathetic embrace. The strength of a piano trio is never just a total of the individual talents of its members, must above all the level of cooperation and mutual interplay they are able to generate, as is splendidly shown here.

As usual in such cases my heart fills up with pride and joy every time a representative of the young generation of the Polish Jazz scene comes up with a project, which clearly shows that the heritage will be continued in the years to come. Those young musicians grow up musically much faster than decades earlier and by the time they graduate from music academies they are already accomplished musicians with a level of maturity that never ceases to amaze.

Overall this is an admirable debut, which immediately points out to keep the names of these musicians on the "watched" list, hoping to hear from them again. Every piano trio connoisseur in the world should be able to enjoy this music to the fullest, as I did. Well done indeed!

El Greco - Sing Cuckoo (2013)

Jorgos Skolias - vocals
Joachim Mencel - keyboards
DJ Krime - turtablism
Andrzej Swies - bass
Harry Tanschek - drums

INSPIRAFON 02





By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by Polish ensemble El Greco, led by keyboardist / composer Joachim Mencel, which also includes vocalist Jorgos Skolias, DJ Krime who performs turntablism, bassist Andrzej Swies and Austrian drummer Harry Tanschek. The album includes ten tracks, eight of which are songs and the remaining two instrumental pieces. The eight songs are all composed by Mencel to lyrics by Polish poets (five of the songs, naturally sung in Polish) and literary texts in English (the remaining three, sung in English). One of the instrumentals is a group composition and the remaining one is by Gil Evans.

This is obviously quite an ambitious project, well within the Jazz & Poetry realm, which seems to be a favorite of the Polish music scene. However, contrary to many splendid efforts in this area this album leaves me quite cold. It's quite difficult to pinpoint the exact reasons for my opinion, but somehow the mixture of complex, sophisticated poetry with the rather simplistic music does not work for me. Anybody engaging in the poems of Cyprian Kamil Norwid must be aware of their masterly interpretation by the legendary Niemen or more recently by Stan Borys and in comparison the versions presented here seem to be quite pale.

The music seems to be by and large based on blues themes, with a modernistic rhythm patterns emphasized by the turntablism. There is a limited space for serious improvisation and the atmosphere is more of an alterative Rock album than a Jazz album, which of course might be just what the ensemble (or the leader) wanted to achieve. The only thing that makes this album enjoyable as far as I'm concerned is the truly excellent work by Andrzej Swies, who emerges as the star of this particular project and without whom this music simply wouldn't work at all. As usually the attempt to sing in English proves to be fatal.

Overall this is not a bad album and many people will probably enjoy it, but I just can't seem to be able to warm up towards it. Mea culpa!

Kasia Stankowska Quartet – Nie Ma Szczescia Bez Milosci (2013)

Kasia Stankowska - vocals
Lukasz Perek - piano, trombone
Jakub Olejnik - bass
Przemek Jarosz - drums
with
Maciej Sikala - saxophone

ARTMONIA 5902768831009



By Adam Baruch

Polish pianist / composer Wladyslaw Szpilman was one of the great icons of the country's musical scene for many decades. He achieved popularity already as a very young and exceptional pianist in the 1930s. During the Nazi occupation of Poland during WW II Szpilman, who was a Jew, was hiding in Warsaw and managed to survive the Holocaust, helped by his Polish friends and even a German officer, who was a music connoisseur. Szpilman's WW II fortunes were the subject of his memoirs and after his death in 2000 it was the subject of Roman Polanski's movie "The Pianist", which won three Oscars and worldwide acceptance as a cinematic masterpiece.

The lesser know facts about Szpilman, certainly outside of Poland, are his numerous activities in post-war years as the director of Music Department of the Polish Radio, creator of the Sopot Song Contest, which runs now consecutively for over fifty years, composer of many Classical works, concert pianist touring worldwide and additionally also author of hundreds of songs, many of which were extremely popular and eventually became evergreens.

This album by Polish Jazz vocalist Kasia Stankowska takes twelve of Szpilman's popular songs and presents them in Jazzed up versions. She is supported by a trio with pianist Lukasz Perek, who is also responsible for the arrangements, bassist Jakub Olejnik and drummer Przemyslaw Jarosz. Saxophonist Maciej Sikala is the guest star and contributes some spectacular solos on several of the songs.

Stankowska has a worm and expressive voice, which suits these songs ideally. The piano trio accompanying her does a perfect job, creating a nostalgic atmosphere of a smoky cabaret set sometime in the late 1950s / early 1960s, which I still recall from my childhood, when I was often smuggled under heavy long coat into these sinful establishments, getting my first-hand Jazz experiences. The piano parts are brilliantly arranged and perfectly executed and the rhythm section keeps the music steady and firm, with delicate dynamics and intelligent accents, always at the right moments. Sikala adds great ornamentation, breaking the nostalgic and relaxed mood with his delicate yet forceful solos, which shine like white pearls on a black dress. Szpilman's status allowed him to select superb lyrics to his songs, written by famous Polish poets and lyricist, that are classy, coherent and elegant, and Stankowska makes the best of that asset, which deserves a special mention.

All in all this is a most pleasant and rewarding musical experience, a classic example of "less is more". Keeping a low profile and avoiding excessive experimentation proves exactly right in this case. Beautifully simple, but not simplistic, beautifully melodic, but nor trivial, beautifully lyrical, but not banal…just beautiful. Diana Krall, eat you hat!

Irek Wojtczak – The Bees' Knees (2013)

Irek Wojtczak - tenor & soprano saxophones, bass clarinet

Kamil Pater - guitar

Adam Zuchowski - bass

Kuba Staruszkiewich - drums

Sopocka Odessa 008





By Adam Baruch

Jazz is the Art of the unexpected and unexpected is exactly what the listener will get while listening to this music. Although saxophonist / composer Irek Wojtczak, a native of the Baltic Tricity, has an established reputation on the contemporary Polish Jazz scene, he certainly does not allow anybody to conveniently put him and his music in a tight niche, which would characterize his music. Constantly developing, probing and expanding his milieu, which over time covered such diverse areas as mainstream Jazz, Jazz-World Fusion, Jazz-Rock Fusion and experimental Free Jazz, Wojtczak with his chameleonic ability to fit in any environment and to do it splendidly, is a superb example of a modern Jazz musician.

The music presented here is first and foremost an expression of individual freedom within the boundaries of a collective. The four musicians truly play together here, but at the same time allow each other a lot of individual space. There are clearly defined melodies and chord changes, but the music turns and twists constantly in each and every direction – harmonic, rhythmic and thematic. There are impressive solos, elegant group improvisations and intelligent moves on behalf of all the participants. Wojtczak, who composed all the music herein, is a very liberal leader, which results in collective creativity rather than musical conformity or obedience. The choice of the guitar, rather than piano, as the quartet's harmonic instrument suits Wojtczak's music ideally in this case. All that remains is to hop on and enjoy the ride!

Side Note: The above are my liner notes for this album. I was honored to be asked by Irek to write them and thank him for his confidence.

This album, recorded with guitarist Kamil Pater, bassist Adam Zuchowski and drummer Kuba Staruszkiewicz, is in many respects a direct continuation of the previous meeting between Wojtczak and Pater, which produced the superb "A-Kineton" album, and expands the cooperation between these two musicians even further. It presents eight original compositions, all by Wojtczak, which span a wide range of moods and emotions, all being Free spiritually, but firmly attached to melodic themes, creating a unique overall effect of elegant anarchy. The solo work and the team work of all the quartet members are simply amazing.

Wojtczak emerges here as a rightful member of the elite of Polish Jazz, a status he earned fair and square by years of playing with countless other musicians as a sideman and leader, recording and most importantly constantly developing, always embracing new ideas and never allowing himself to be trapped for too long in one place.

This piece of music is the epitome of modern Jazz, well beyond Fusion, Free and any other specific sub-genre, as it encompasses them all; a true amalgam. Definitely not to be missed!

RGG – Szymanowski (2013) *****

Łukasz Ojdana - piano
Maciej Garbowski - bass
Krzysztof Gradziuk - drums
By Adam Baruch

This is the sixth album by the exquisite Polish Jazz piano trio RGG, and their first release following the changeover of their piano player, with Lukasz Ojdana replacing the founding member Przemyslaw Raminiak. For a piano trio the replacement of the pianist is equivalent more or less to a heart transplant in a human body, which is of course a tremendous upheaval. The fact that such transition not only is possible, but is eventually successful is nothing short of a miracle. Bassist Maciej Garbowski and drummer Krzysztof Gradziuk should be congratulated for going through this experience unspoiled and unshaken in their team spirit. The fact that the trio chose to retain its name (rather than changing it to OGG for example) is a most welcome sign of respect towards their departed colleague and the will to continue the splendid tradition they created so far, a fine and very rare example of camaraderie winning over ego.

But the drama surrounding this album does not end with the personnel change; for the first time the trio decided to pay homage to a Classical composer, in this case the Polish early-20^th Century pianist / composer Karol Szymanowski. Szymanowski, a brilliant early-modernist / impressionist, who combined Polish Folklore and modernist compositional tools, is a rather neglected figure on the Polish scene, which is a great shame. Therefore the fact that RGG decided to make him the center of their new recording fits perfectly their non-conformist approach towards music. Of the thirteen tracks on this album, nine are interpretations of compositions by Szymanowski, three are composed by the bassist and the remaining one is a group composition. The original compositions are of course "in spiritu" inspired by the great composer. Following decades of Polish Jazz musicians obsessively interpreting the music of Frederic Chopin, it's truly refreshing to hear some musicians turning the attention to other great Polish composers, like Szymanowski in this case.

What remains unchanged is the trio's basic approach to music, full of freedom, beautiful silence between the notes, total dedication and amazing intellectual command, which takes the music to lofty peaks. Ideally, the listener of this music should be familiar, at least to some extent, with the original music by Szymanowski, but being realistic, this will be the case only in reference to very few listeners. But this music is so powerful and stunning, that it completely stands on its own as well. RGG managed again to create a sonic universe of its own, which keeps the tradition of the original music at its core alive a Century later, transforming it to contemporary set if aesthetic values and parameters. Perhaps this recording will inspire new listeners to discover Szymanowski, after listening to this gorgeous music: a double winner after all. 

It makes no sense to compare Ojdana with Raminiak and additionally it means absolutely nothing as far as the music is concerned; the only thing that matters is the fact that he became an organic part of the trio, fitting ideally with his two partners and cooperating with them symbiotically and creatively. And most importantly the level of talent of virtuosity displayed by RGG was not lessened by an iota, which firmly places them at the very top of Jazz piano trios not only in their native Poland, but worldwide, easily! I've already written extensively about the talents of Messrs. Garbowski & Gradziuk, suffice to say they are without a doubt closer to Euterpe then most others I happened to have the pleasure to listen to. 

The trio maintains the tradition of recording their albums at the now legendary Studio Tokarnia, under the auspices of the resident sound wizard Jan Smoczynski. The result is nothing short of spectacular, which stands its ground to any ECM recording, again with ease. Therefore for all intents and purposes this album is equivalent to a Keith Jarrett trio album on ECM; it simply does not get any better than this.