Keefe Jackson - bass clarinet, tenor saxophone
Waclaw Zimpel - clarinet, alto clarinet)
Peter A. Schmid - bass clarinet, e flat clarinet, sopranino saxophone, baritone saxophone, bass saxophone
Marc Stucki - bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, harmonium
Mars Williams - sopranino saxophone, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone
Thomas K.J. Mejer - sopranino saxophonw
Dave Rempis - alto saxophone, baritone saxophone
A Round Goal (2013)
"The music of Keefe Jackson's all-reed group Likely So is both a new direction and a continuation of his abiding mission: combining composition and improvisation with an emphasis on the interaction of the individual musicians. On A Round Goal, this leads to an exploration of sound-areas including the textural, the melodic, and the instinctual. Mars Williams, Wac[Pi]aw Zimpel, Jackson, Marc Stucki, Dave Rempis, Peter A. Schmid, and Thomas K.J. Mejer play the entire range of saxophones (from sopranino to contrabass) and clarinets. This album is a live set recorded at the Jazzwerkstatt Festival in Berne, Switzerland."
I've got this music thanks to Tomek Łuczak, one of our core team, and invaluable for his ability to dig out recordings nobody else heard of or even imagine to exist. And this one is perfect example of such his findings. I assume not only our public but also none of our critics is aware of existence of this material. Perhaps also the families of artists involved - Mikołaj Trzaska and Jeppe Hojgaard on saxophones and clarinets, Adam Melbye on double bass and Rune Lohse on drums - do not know much as this album has been recorded during third concert of the very short tour given by these artists... when? I don't know! As much as I know next to nothing about other musicians than Trzaska. In this respect I am in the same position as the rest of the audience as info about this CD is very scarce.
Perhaps I should not be surprised by similar situation since sometimes it seems to me as if phrase "well known avantgarde recording" was kind of oxymoron. Not only because of relative lack of interest in this music from the wider public but, even more importantly, because of musicians' reluctance to disclose information about the results of their work. From purely artistic point of view it is of course a shame as such recordings as this surely deserve more attention. There is a lot of inventiveness here and, first of all, authenticity and sincerity in music making. But who I am to talk about it when the artists prefer to leave the fruits of their works as much hidden from public and critics as possible? Not even a sample CD to review! Let me then cut this text short and hope that perhaps in future they will begin to treat seriously not only music itself - they definitely can do that - but also its listeners...
Jerzy Mazzoll - clarinets
Tomasz Sroczyński - violin
Rite Of Spring Variation (2013)
Rite of spring variation is a variation on Igor Stravinsky’s breakthrough ballet masterpiece. The recording, preceded by the Contemporary Improvisation Workshop Mazzolleum, features the first guest: Tomasz Sroczyński (violinist and producer, fascinated with electronics). The album follows the idea of Arhythmic Perfection which assumes the existence of the music ideal which can be perfectly re–constructed, however, apart from such a performance, there is a multitude of aberrations, that is a countless number of other possible performances of a piece of music which assume that the aberration is an integral part of the composition. It is a music idea which derives from the mastery of the ‘ideal’ and conscious use of shifts, aberrations, mistakes.
Any album on which pianist Piotr Wyleżoł apperas immadietely catches my attention. He may be not so well known as for example Marcin Wasilewski or Leszek Możdżer but he definitely is as much talented as those two heavy weights. And what is even more important he does not imitate any of them as much as any other pianist abroad which puts him apart from a pack of young lions (Paweł Kaczmarczyk, Piotr Orzechowski, Dominik Wania or Sebastian Zawadzki) who still are looking for their own unique language.
Here we find him in duo with double bassist Adam Kowalewski who is himself very well known musician on Polish scene with countless recordings already made regardless being still relatively young. Kowalewski composed five out eight tunes on the album with Wyleżoł contributing one and with two - "Little Girl I'll Miss You" written by Bunky Green and "If One Could Only See" by Billy Harper. Most importantly however those two artists have already long story of mutual collaboration with projects such as "Yearning" (2001) or Piotr Wyleżoł Quintet "Live" (2010) stading out as some of the best mainstream recordings in recent decade.
In piano - double bass duo the empathy between players translates directly into the depth of music. If it is combined with boundless imagination of both players what we obtained is a small masterpiece. Many recordings of similar character - and charm! - were coming to my memory while listening to this album: first of all Hank Jones with Charlie Haden. But basically every great piano player has such duo in his curriculum and cherishes it a lot as it is simply a pinnacle of every pianist and double bassist career to be able to play in such a format. Paul Bley with Gary Peacock, Cedar Walton with Ron Carter or Stefano Bollani with Ares Tavolazzi are coming to my memory for similar virtuosity and some artistical affinity since they all have technique based on classical education and their style is influenced by Bill Evans revolutionary recordings (among them of course great album in duo "Intuition" recorded with Eddie Gomez).
Overall mood of this album is cool and down tempo. Music is wonderfully coherent and though generally kept in minor keys, the tunes are very diversified. Speaking shortly: this album is a true gem! A word of praise also shall be dedicated to Hevhetia recording company. This Slovak label is doing good job releasing many artists from Central Europe and it is really great that such artists like Adam Kowalewski, Piotr Wyleżoł or Grzegorz Karnas are making important contribution to its catalogue. Bravo!
This is the second album by Polish clarinet quartet Ircha, founded and led by Mikolaj Trzaska, which also includes Waclaw Zimpel, Pawel Szamburski and Michal Gorczynski. The quartet members play a range of different instruments belonging to the clarinet family and create a completely unique sonic experience, which is unparalleled and completely original. This album consists of sixteen short pieces, which include original compositions by the entire quartet or by individual band members. The pieces vary in length from a minute and a half to over six minutes and could be conceived together as a continuous improvised suite.
Although obviously a part of
the Polish Improvised Music camp, Ircha is quite unique in many respects. Seemingly
limited by the fact that the musicians use only clarinets, an instrument
usually not associated with highly developed improvisational environment (with
few remarkable exceptions of course), the group proves that limitations are
only present in humans, not in the instruments, and with dedication, talent and
virtuosic ability all limitations can be simply triumphed over. Together the
quartet offers such a depth of sonic layers and emotional vistas, that the
listener completely forgets the fact that there are only clarinets involved.
The music firmly belongs to the
Improvised scene, but there is an element of obvious careful planning involved,
which defines the ground rules and the overall order of things. The purely
melodic element is of course deeply hidden beneath the improvisational
approach, but it is there for those who listen carefully. The level of
cooperation between the quartet members is their innermost strength, upon all
this music is firmly based. This is not four individuals making music together,
but a higher-class group spirit of combined consciousness, which presides
herein.
Since this is a studio
recording, there is no interaction with the audience, which in Improvised Music
is often essential. Nevertheless this album, as opposed to many other of its
kind, works very well under these circumstances, perhaps because the overall
atmosphere of serenity, relaxation and above all mutual respect. There are no
attempts to prove who can outplay anybody else, who can play the fastest or the
most astounding solo, etc. on the contrary almost all of the music is a dialog,
trialog or a quatrolog, and therefore a cooperative effort.
Overall this is an excellent
piece of Free Jazz / Improvised Music, which should fully satisfy even the
sternest connoisseurs of the genre, and yet at the same time be accessible to
many open-minded listeners beyond any specific genre classification.
This is the third album by Polish clarinet quartet Ircha, founded and led by Mikolaj Trzaska, which also includes Waclaw Zimpel, Pawel Szamburski and Michal Gorczynski. The quartet members play a range of different instruments belonging to the clarinet family and create a completely unique sonic experience, which is unparalleled and completely original. This album was recorded live and consists of seven pieces, which combine original compositions by the entire quartet or individual band members with traditional folkloristic themes from different cultural backgrounds, like Gypsy, Armenian and of course Easter European Jewish music.
Ircha is one of several
different ensembles that Trzaska leads or participates in, which in the last
decade greatly contributed to the so called "New Jewish Music" which
is being created in Poland, being
also a part of a general Renaissance of the Jewish Culture in Poland. This
quite surprising phenomenon seems to sweep the Polish cultural landscape like a
tsunami, but a highly productive, rather than destructive one. Many of these
attempts to create a new, contemporary face of the Jewish Culture is created by
Jazz and Improvised Music Artists, like Trzaska, and many are released by the
Kilogram Records label, owned by Trzaska and his charming wife.
It is quite difficult to
imagine that just four clarinets can create such complex and emotionally
overwhelming music. I had the pleasure to attend a concert by Ircha recently
and the experience was simply awe-inspiring and spiritually enlightening. Of
course Improvised Music is usually easier to absorb live than by listening to
records, as the presence of the musicians and the visual element contribute to
the immediate contact between the musicians and the audience. A concert
recording is, after all, only a "second hand" experience. And yet
sometimes the strength of the performance can overcome the barrier of lack of personal
contact and reach the listener directly and powerfully, with this album being a
perfect example of this.
Although mostly improvised,
this music is based on very strong melodic elements, as well as atmospheric ventures,
which make it much more accessible and immediate to a much wider audience than
the usual Improvised Music crowd, which is a priori quite limited. With deeply
melancholic and lyrical melodies and delicate, mostly quite low-volume
performances, this music embraces the listener and extends a warm welcome,
inviting and enchanting. Of course there are many levels by which the listener
can relate to this music; it can be enjoyed on the purely emotional level, or
the aesthetical level, or the intellectual level or perhaps all the levels simultaneously.
The fact that this music is able to work on so many level is what makes it so
remarkable, special and unique.
This album is a beautiful
bridge between many artistic directions undertaken by Jazz and Improvised Music
creators. It has a fair amount of many different elements, like melody,
collective and individual improvisation, folkloristic influences, spontaneity and
premeditation, innovation and tradition. This wonderful amalgam, which only happens
quite rarely, is fully achieved here, making it an exceptional piece of High
Culture.
"Since the beginning you could tell that the storm was about to begin. All of those three kids were already hyper active. Tomek and Radek were constantly fighting for toys and shooting to each other with their plastic guns. Joanna was the one who separated her older brothers. The Haribo gummi-bears, hidden in a family's grand piano, were her secret weapon that she used to calm down the situation.
At the time, the grand piano served them as a space ship. They were travelling all around the Universe as if they were the Star Wars characters. Sometimes boys were arguing about who will play the role of captain Hans Solo. Joanna never wanted to become a princess Lea. She was much more into Chewbacca. Still at the playground, none of them expected to become a musician. And to be part of a family band.
They waited till the force came to them. One day, during their grandma's birthday party, they took a quick decision and ran into the rehearsal room. Soon, they will come into your town to present the family songs from their brand new album."
That jazz music was created by the uneducated and sometimes even illiterate people is well known fact. Only in recent decades this situation has changed and now majority of young jazz musicians are the graduates of music schools. Such a situation has its advantages, like very high level of performances, and the disadvantages, like certain similarity of styles, predictability and uniformity of their projects. That's why I feel that influx of musicians that did not undergo regular academic education is so important for jazz to survive. This project, called Re.mus, is a good example of such a process.
It's protagonist is Polish double bassist Jacek Steinbrich who with this record is kind of coming to my attention out-of-nowhere! His musical education is irregular and comprises classes in composition, double bass and jazz piano which he took mainly in Dublin. There in local Centre for Creative Practices he participated in weekly jazz sessions during which he got to know his partners in this project two Irishmen: tenor saxophonist Jamie Evans and drummer & percussionist Jamie Davis. As Steinrich they both are not professional musicians, Evans as Steinbrich is a teacher, while Evans works in IT industry. But who cares when in terms of pure emotionality, enthusiasm and energy this CD surpasses many recordings of so-called professional musicians.
All these guys must have indeed a huge natural talent that regardless technical limitations they can deliver music so engaging and fresh! Stylistically their language is built upon music of such great individualists as John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler but also, surprisingly, John Lurie with his "garage-sound" band Lounge Lizards or Medeski, Martin &Wood with their dedication towards rhythm&blues roots of modern jazz. But first of all it is all open minded, saturated with love towards music, with spontaneity which makes their improvisation childlike fresh and engaging. That's why it moved me really so deep and I decided to write about this music in order to encourage these artists to continue their interest in music making as it would be great loss if such a story would end on this intriguing overture only...
Due to the patronage by Kaiser Soze Foundation the whole album may be downloaded for free here: download album.
In cooperation with The Culture Trip website we prepared a list of ten best albums with Polish jazz released so far in this year 2013. Check this link to access this page:
Wacław Zimpel - clarinet, alto clarinet, harmonium
Paweł Postaremczak - tenor & soprano saxophones
Ksawery Wójciński - double bass
Paweł Szpura - drums
Rafael Rogiński - guitar
Maciej Cierliński - hurdy-gurdy
Special guest: Hamid Drake - drums, frame frum, voice
Seven Lines (2013)
By Martin Schray
Germany’s standard work on jazz, Joachim-Ernst Berendt’s and Günther Huesmann‘s “The Jazz Book”, claims that in the last 20 years jazz has become world music, a hybrid. Of course, jazz actually has always been world music since New Orleans was a cultural melting pot of nationalities, races and cultures, but in times of migration and globalization jazz has indeed established as the improvised music between the cultures more than ever before. Today, in our interlinked world, music of the most various, overlapping, different, even competing styles has been colliding. Moreover, you don’t even have to be from – say – India to play ragas, you can find great – in this case – raga musicians almost everywhere (especially in the big cities). And many of these musicians speak of themselves as members of the jazz community.
An excellent example of this theory is Hera, a Polish band consisting of Wacław Zimpel (clarinet, bass clarinet, harmonium), Paweł Postaremczak (soprano and tenor saxes, harmonium), Ksawery Wójciński (double bass) and Paweł Szpura (drums). They have always been one of this blog’s favorites, Stef has rightfully talked of their debut album and “Where my Complete Beloved is” in glowing terms. But while these albums, which were recorded with a completely different line-up, are either clearly in the Coltrane tradition or knee-deep in Zydeco (or both), Zimpel and his collaborators try the big strike with this release, which is why the band has expanded and is now augmented with Rafael Rogiński (guitar), Maciej Cierliński (hurdy-gurdy) and American master percussionist Hamid Drake.
“Seven Lines” includes Polish folk songs and Jewish klezmer (something you might expect when you see Zimpel and Rogiński in the line-up) but also music from the Far East, Sufi chants, blues sprinkles, African funk or free jazz elements.
Especially the harmonium and Maciej Cierliński’s hurdy-gurdy provide for a very oriental mood in “Sounds of Balochistan” before a repetitive blues riff comes up so that the reeds can kick off melancholic lines and the guitar can add shredded intersperses. Even here they have got you, from the very beginning the music develops a vibrating, vortex-like quality, it overwhelms the senses with an almost psychedelic force. The rhythmic propulsion provided by the double drums reinforces the trance-like, hypnotic character of the tracks, there are so many magical moments in this music, it is an omnipresent experience of sound, rhythm, atmosphere and melody, it takes you by the hand and leads you to a musical Garden of Eden. Just listen to the mourning interplay of the reeds at the beginning of “Roofs of Kyoto”, the meditative spirituality of Drake’s voice in combination with the drums and the harmonium in “Temples of Tibet” or the funk groove outro of “Afterimages” which can match with Drake’s Wels quartet (with Brötzmann, Gania and Laswell) on “Long Story Short”. 2013 has been a very good year for the music we love so much, there have been lots of brilliant albums so far. “Seven Lines” is definitely among them.
The album was recorded live at Manggha during Krakow Jazz Autumn Festival on Nov, 1st, 2012 and is available on CD.
