Jarosław Śmietana & Bill Neal - Live At Impart (2012)

Jarosław Śmietana & Bill Neal

Jarek Śmietana - guitar, vocal
Bill Neal - vocal, tenor sax
Wojciech Karolak - keyboards, Hammonds
Paweł Tomaszewski - keayboards
Marcin Lamch - bass
Adam Czerwiński -drums

Live at Impart (2012)

By Maciej Nowotny

This is an album containing basically  only blues music. Still it features some of the best Polish jazz players as guitarist Jarek Śmietana, keyboardists Wojtek Karolak and Paweł Tomaszewski, bassist Marcin Lamch and drummer Adam Czerwiński, so it is justified to write about it on this blog. Co-leader, along with  Śmietana, is an Australian vocalist Bill Neal who occasionally also play some notes on tenor sax. 

Such a high-quality team produces of course very good music. They reproduce all time blues and rock classics from repertoire of such well known bands as The Animals, Fleetwood Mac or such great musicians as Ray Charles or Jimmy Hendrix. Most of these tunes Jarek Śmietana and Wojtek Karolak arranged for studio album of the latter titled "I love The Blues" and released a year before this disc.

The time has comes for some assesement of this music. I believe it can be two-fold depending on which point of view you represent. If you treat blues (or jazz) as some definite form of music which is basically finished and shall be now copied (better or worse) by new generations then you should be very happy with this album. It sounds very well, even if nothing special distinguishes it from similar (or identical) one (or more) hundred other good blues albums recorded during last, say, century or so.

However if you feel that blues (and especially jazz) shall be living form of music whose vitality depends on its ability to change to reflect the evolution of world around then it is rather depressing. No challenge, no innovation, no creativity - very well played but so well known that eventually boring.

Oleszak / Turner - Fragments of Parts (2013)

Oleszak / Turner

Witold Oleszak - inner piano
Roger Turner - studio drumset and cymbals

Fragments of Parts (2013)

This is a second disc by this duo I have an opportunity to listen to. Previous one "Over the Title" was interesting piano/drums duo verging between freeimprov and avantgarde classical (such a label sound stranges I admit) music. If you want to learn more about both musicians please read my review of above mentioned album. Stylistically this kind of music is all about experimenting with sound. It can be refreshing experience especially if someone is bored with all too well known mainstream music. However since it  has nothing in itself of melody or even rhythm, just sound distortions and fluctuations, I suppose target for this CD must be rather limited. (Editor)

Waclaw Zimpel Quartet – Stone Fog (2013)

Waclaw Zimpel - clarinet
Krzysztof Dys - piano
Christian Ramond - bass
Klaus Kugel - drums

FOR TUNE 009






By Adam Baruch

This is the debut recording by the quartet led by Polish Jazz clarinetist / composer Waclaw Zimpel with his countryman pianist Krzysztof Dys and two German musicians: bassist Christian Ramond and drummer Klaus Kugel. The album presents eight compositions named using lines from poems by the US poetess Laura Winter. Three of the compositions are credited to Zimpel and the remaining five are group compositions.

Despite his young age (he was 29 years old when this music was recorded) Zimpel is already considered as one of the most important upcoming Free Jazz / Improvised Music figures on the European scene. In the scope of the last decade he managed to cooperate with many first-class musicians from Poland and abroad, play many concerts and record quite a few albums as a leader and as sideman, most of which were received enthusiastically by the critics.

The clarinet, Zimpel's "weapon of choice", is sadly a much neglected instrument in contemporary music, avant-garde and Improvised Music included, and therefore his contributions are especially important, keeping the clarinet tradition alive. Except for the older generation clarinet Giants, like American Perry Robinson, Israeli Harold Rubin, French Louis Sclavis, Italian Gianluigi Trovesi and a handful of others, Zimpel's young voice is a fresh breath of air in this particular niche.

As to the music on this album, I find it slightly less exciting personally in comparison to his earlier recordings with ensembles like Undivided or Hera. Not that this album lacks anything in quality and power of expression, but perhaps it is less based on incorporating World Music motifs, which Zimpel excels at. This album firmly belongs to the "traditional" Free Jazz / Improvised Music milieu, if the word "traditional" applies at all in such cases. But regardless of my personal preferences, this is excellent music from start to finish, performed with passion and masterly ability, by all four musicians involved. The rhythm section provides exceptional backing, moving swiftly between almost swing to free form, Dys on piano spreads layers of twisted harmonic structures and Zimpel, as usual, plays the role of the of Hamelin's Pied Piper, snake charmer and a Hassidic Klezmer, all in one. Most connoisseurs of Free Jazz will find this music very interesting and aesthetically enchanting.

The album was released by a new Polish label called For Tune, which seems to be specializing in "unconventional" musical projects, like this one. All the releases on the label have a distinct graphic design, which appears to be copying the early ECM, Hat Hut and other avant-garde labels following this path. Polish avant-garde Jazz fans know that this label is of course not the first of its kind, but the more the merrier. There is always place for good music and I wish the label a lot of success.

Joanna Duda - The Best Of (2013)

Joanna Duda (piano, keyboards)

Participation: Agim Dżeljilji, Jan Młynarski, Marek Pospieszalski, Kuba Janicki, Wojtek Mazolewski, Katarzyna Borek, Jerzy Rogiewicz, Radek Duda, Tomasz Duda

The Best Of (2013)

By Borys Kossakowski

Joanna Duda is well known for the audience as a pianist of Wojtek Mazolewski's Quintet. Five years ago no one would have thought that the punky-hairstyle Joanna is going to collect so many music creations & projects, published on her DIY produced LP "The Best Of". She grew up in a musicians family and she presents herself as composer, multiinstrumentalist, producer as well as classical music performer. You can hear all of her features on her debut album : you're gonna find there some romantic pieces of Maurice Ravel played in duo with Katarzyna Borek, as well as remixed Chopin's Polonaise A - major with some effects and analog instruments added. As an improviser, she explores huge range of options - you can find here some jazz harmony, funny melodies played on Wurlitzer electric piano or abstract sounds generated with analogue synthestizers (as in the example of J=J duo with Jan Młynarski ; you should check out their new album 2013ep ).

However "The Best Of" is not " the story of Joanna Duda" that I've been expecting. It's rather a disheveled (as her hairstyle) impression, a patchwork made of different "dudian" sounds. Joanna appears to the listener as a sensitive romantic, a laughing rascal, a piano virtuoso and a mad constructor experymenting with weird machines from some SF novels. After listening to the album, you have no doubt - Joanna Duda is simply the best!

Slawomir Jaskulke – Moments (2013)

Slawomir Jaskulke - piano

UNIVERSAL 3734659








By Adam Baruch

This is the fifth solo album by Polish Jazz pianist / composer Slawomir Jaskulke and his second solo piano recording. Jaskulke has been a dominant figure on the young Polish Jazz scene since the turn of the Century, participated in numerous projects and recorded over thirty albums, mostly as a sideman. This album presents eight original compositions by Jaskulke the composer, which all receive an extended treatment by Jaskulke the pianist.

The immediate impression of the music on this album is quite surprising, especially to people who are familiar with Jaskulke's earlier recordings. It seems he went through a deep transformation over time, during which the Classical music influence won over his initial focus on Jazz, taking him towards new pastures. One might even quite seriously wonder if this music is Jazz at all; a serious question not about how to label this music, which of course is irrelevant, but how to react to it aesthetically. A sort of question one might also ask about the solo piano works of Keith Jarrett, where there is no clear answer to that dilemma. The music is melodic, lyrical and melancholic, with few, if any, rhythmic changes. After stating the melodic theme of each composition, Jaskulke enters a hypnotic, dreamlike phase of variations (rather than improvisations), returning intermittently to the melodic theme. Any listener, without prior knowledge of the artist involved, would most probably come to the conclusion that this is contemporary Classical piano music.

Gone is Jaskulke's percussive attack on the keyboard, his long arpeggios and his youthful carefree chutzpah, all to be replaced by poise, introvert soul-searching and almost lethargic delivery. Obviously his excellent technique as a player is still very much there, but it is less dazzling and flamboyant. Are we talking about "growing up" I wonder, a wiz-kid becoming a celebrity? I have no answers only a lot of questions, but it seems a bit early in his career to "take it easy".

At least the music is all beautifully recorded, with an incredible sound quality, ambience, balance, separation, etc. A Steinway and a superb recording engineer are always worth their cost in gold. This is (sound wise) as good as any ECM recording!

I'm pretty sure this album will win many ecstatic reviews and make numerous listeners very happy. Good for them! It probably even deserves it; and it must be simply me looking for the imperfections of the universe. Talking of which I wonder is the fact that several albums I didn't fall head over heels in love with lately were all released by Universal Music Polska? A coincidence, one wonders?

Stanislaw Sojka – W Holdzie Mistrzowi - Live (2012)

Stanislaw Sojka - vocals, piano

Przemyslaw Greger - guitar

Marcin Lamch - bass

Kuba Sojka - percussion

Zbyszek Brysuak - percission
Antoni Gralak - trumpet
Aleksander Korecki - saxophone
Antoni Sojka - keyboards
Tamasz Jaskiewicz - guitar

UNIVERSAL 602537329854
By Adam Baruch

This is a live recording of a concert by veteran Polish Blues / Jazz / Rock vocalist Stanislaw Sojka (a.k.a. Soyka) and his band, performing songs by Poland's greatest ever singer / composer Czeslaw Niemen. Niemen composed all the nine songs performed here, three of which also have his lyrics and others are by other lyricists or poems written by Polish poets. Sojka also plays piano and the band comprises of seven players, including a brass section, and a guest guitarist Tomasz Jaskiewicz, original member of the band Akwarele, Niemen's first group, which recorded many of these songs originally.

Considering Niemen's legendary status on the Polish scene, any attempt to tackle his material is a priori a potentially perilous affair. No other Polish vocalist managed, in the decades that followed, to come even close to Niemen's power of expression and vocal virtuosity. Therefore this album, although a tribute, faces enormous challenges, which unfortunately prove insurmountable even to such an experienced and talented artist as Sojka. Niemen's songs needed to be rearranged quite radically in order to fit within Sojka's vocal range. In addition the instrumental accompanied was updated, which distances the songs from their original Rock setting and places them into a comfortable middle-of–the-road relaxed Pop setting with slight Jazzy overtones. Overall the album sounds incredibly nice, which of course is its key problem; Niemen's music might mean many different things to different people, but "nice" was never among them.

The music is played perfectly and beautifully recorded, with a warm, clear sound quality, especially so for a live recording. The audio CD is accompanied by a DVD capturing the same concert, so the listener has a choice of just listen to or also watch the proceedings.

Personally, I find little affinity for this project, which simplifies and even to some extent trivializes the original songs in my opinion, but I'm sure many others will find this a most pleasurable listening experience. Luckily I still have the original Niemen recordings to keep the memory alive and the fire burning.

Elder Space Bankers - Money Back Guarantee (2013)

Elder Space Bankers (band)

Paulina Owczarek: Alto and Baritone Sax
El Pricto: Alto Sax and Conductor
Wiktor Krzak: Bassoon and electronics
Michal Dymny: Electric Guitar
Vasco Trilla: Drums and percussion

Money Back Guarantee (2013)

By Maciej Nowotny

This Polish- Spanish collaboration is a next project of small yet active cooperative of young musicians from Kraków who are obviously enamored in freeimprov version of modern jazz music. What I have written with respect to their previous album "Live in Cracow" released in 2012 may very well be repeated here. The quality of this music can be measured by depths of collective spontaneity. It seems to me most sophisticated form of jazz of all and most difficult to accomplish successfully. Surprisingly it is often taken by young or poorly educated musicians. The result is often discouraging to audience which is confronted with meaningless cacophony.

However when musicians start to read each other well this music can be very rewarding offering pleasures hard to met on so well trodden mainstream paths. This specific album shows many moments of such unrestrained beauty, in fact many more than on above mentioned their previous disc. It is clear that members of this band begin to resonate better one with each other, to harmonize, to have the common goal. The music is therefore more coherent, truly captivating, even if somewhat challenging to listener. But with freeimprov such a challenge is all this kind of music is about and I definitely do not regret to be confronted with it. On contrary I feel intrigued and will be waiting impatiently to listen what their next step will be. As this CD clearly shows that they are on right track as far as this project is concerned.

Krzysztof Urbanski – Urbanski (2010)

Krzysztof Urbanski - saxophone
Pawel Tomaszewski - piano
Michal Baranski - bass
Tomasz Torres - drums

PRIVATE EDITION






By Adam Baruch

This is a brilliant debut album by the young Polish Saxophonist / composer Krzysztof Urbanski and his quartet, with pianist Pawel Tomaszewski, bassist Michal Baranski and drummer Tomasz Torres. The album presents seven compositions, five of which are his originals and two are standards.

From the fist note it is quite apparent that Urbanski is not just one more upcoming saxophonist on a scene overflowing with young talent; he has star quality which is unmistakable. Although the music on this album fits well within the classical Jazz convention (and I'm purposely avoiding the term "mainstream", which unfortunately over the years becomes more often than not associated with mediocrity), Urbanski manages to find very early in his career a very individual tone and approach, which happens very rarely with young players. It is obvious he is capable of reaching beyond the obvious and daring without apprehension, as evident herein for example on his treatment of the two standards, especially the John Coltrane's "Giant Steps", which he in a transfixing way manages to turn upside down rhythmically.

Urbanski the saxophonist is truly something else; his beautiful tone, which in its gentle and sweet manifestation is somewhat similar to Stan Getz and on the more energetic side to the young Wayne Shorter. Anybody in doubt should simply listen to the solo saxophone track on this album to comprehend Urbanski's qualities. The five original compositions also prove a maturity one hardly expects to find in young Jazz composers. His melodic, harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary spans the Jazz tradition and presents elegant, intelligent and highly aesthetic listening experience, which simply grows with each listening session.

Very worm words of praise also go to the superb rhythm section, which enables his to spread his wings but also contributes some excellent moments on its own right, with interesting solos and fabulous team work throughout this album. Tomasz Torres, the son of the legendary Polish (of Cuban origin) percussionist Jose Torres, pushes the quartet with beautiful polyrhythmic and Afro-Cuban influenced drive. Michal Baranski is already a household name on the Polish scene, known as one of the best new generation bassist in the country and his beautiful work on this album reflects his amazing talent. Pawel Tomaszewski also managed to establish quite a reputation despite his young age, with numerous recordings behind him. His solos on this album are simply top class, and his support of the leader is simply perfect.

This is definitely one of the strongest debut albums released on the Polish Jazz scene in recent years, deserving a much stronger applause then it received in actuality. Urbanski is definitely someone to keep an eye on. Wholeheartedly recommended!

International Jazz Platform - Master Jazz Workshop Lodz July 2013, 8-11

Intl Jazz Platform is an international educational project, organized within VI Summer Jazz Academy by the Wytwornia Foundation, which gathers creative artists interested in developing their improvisational skills and looking for inspiring conditions to create and express their own music ideas.

First edition of Intl Jazz Platform is organized from July 8th till July 11th in Lodz.

It is a four-day master workshop for instrumentalists having individual musical aspirations and interested in modern approach to music. During these four days workshop's participants will have an opportunity to create music, share experiences and learn from each other.

Programme prepared by the teachers consists of four days of intensive work in comfortable spaces of Wytwornia club and studio, of everyday instrumental classes and classes in small ensembles with international musicians as well as evening meetings and jam sessions in club Wytwornia. The program also includes seminars with invited guests: jazz promoters and directors of jazz festivals.

Teaching through experience, practice and breathing in inspirational environment are the main goals of organizers of the first edition of jazz creative workshop within VI Summer Jazz Academy in Lodz.

Jazz is the music of community in which development comes from being around other musicians.

Time spent together devoted to playing and talking about music provides a possibility of gaining unique experience and ideas for your own artistic path. The role of a teacher comes down to encouraging and supporting young students’ search for personal language, sound and inspirations.

Musicians that are going to run the classes within the Lodz jazz workshop are known for their openness and readiness to initiate creative dialogue with students.

This year classes will be run by the talented and thriving musicians from Poland, Norway, and Great Britain, who take part in a vast number of international projects and music tours:

Maciej Obara (sax), Dominik Wania (piano),Tom Arthurs (trumpet), Marek Kądziela (guitar), Ole Morten Vaagan (double bass), Gard Nilssen (drums).

Krystyna Stanko – Uslysz Mnie (2008)

Krystyna Stanko - vocals
Jacek Krolik - guitar
Piotr Zaczek - bass
Piotr Lemanczyk - bass
Piotr Krolik - drums

POLSKIE RADIO 1125




By Adam Baruch

This is the fourth album by Polish singer / songwriter Krystyna Stanko, which marks an end of the initial phase of her career during which she tried to establish a unique identity, both as a songwriter and a singer. All through that phase she moved between Pop, Alternative Rock and even Jazz-Rock Fusion and recorded three albums with two different groups she was part of at the time and finally recorded this, her "real" debut solo album. The album presents twelve songs, eleven of which are original creations by Stanko (lyrics and music) and the last one is a tribute to the great Polish Jazz pianist / composer / arranger Andrzej Kurylewicz, who wrote this beautiful lullaby to the words of Polish National Poet Adam Mickiewicz, which was previously magnificently performed by the great Niemen.

The album was recorded during two separate recording sessions, almost a couple of years apart. Stanko is basically accompanied by a trio: guitarist Jacek Krolik, bassists Piotr Zaczek (electric) or Piotr Lemanczyk (acoustic) and drummer Piotr Krolik with five additional musicians contributing occasionally on several tracks. In spite of this rather limited instrumental accompaniment, the overall result is beautifully coherent and sounds complete as it is. Her vocals are the focus of this album, and rightly so, as her vocal abilities, her intelligent treatment of the lyrics and her emotional range are all of star quality, in evidence of her coming of age as an artist and a vocalist.

But the most amazing thing about this album is of course the quality of the original songs, all of which are excellently crafted musically and adorned by meaningful, sometimes witty and always sincere lyrics, which are extremely rare these days. Stanko doesn't hold back and dares to touch on painful subjects and deeply personal feelings about human relationships and even political / social issues, reminiscent of the protest songs of the 1960s. In complete contrast to the brainless lyrics the showbiz and media use to brainwash the human race, these songs really have something to say.

In retrospect one might lament the fact that Stanko did not (yet) repeat this format, i.e. writing lyrics and music herself, in her next albums, hoping that this will be remedied soon. Her decision to move into the Jazz & Poetry realm is now completely understandable of course. This album lost nothing of its charm and freshness over time. It's probably less perfect than her later recordings, but who cares; this is a beautiful collection of superb songs, which should make any listener happy. Grab it before it disappears forever!