Record Reviews

PAWEL KRAWIEC QUARTET ~ OFENSYWA SJ 076 (Barcode: 5905489720478) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2023 Released: 2023 This is the debut album by Polish Jazz guitarist / composer Pawel KrawiecFind albums by this artist, recorded in a quartet setting with trumpeter Mateusz ZydekFind albums by this artist, bassist Filip HornikFind albums by this artist and drummer Mateusz LorenowiczFind albums by this artist. The album presents seven tracks, all composed by the leader (although not credited on the album’s artwork). The music was recorded at the excellent Monochrom Studio, engineered by Ignacy GruszeckiFind albums by this artist, and offers a wonderful sound quality. The music is basically modern mainstream Jazz oriented, but the unusual guitar / trumpet front line is very unique and offers a splendid “twist”, which makes the album stand out amongst the multitude mainstream Jazz releases. The guitar floats between Jazz, Rock / Fusion and Blues, but again in a most original way, the trumpet steals the show with its brilliant sharp and clear sound and virtuosity and a superb rhythm section, which also shows an inventive approach to keeping time. All together, the quartet offers a highly exciting sound and novel sound and attitude, which makes this album to attract attention immediately. The compositions are all also very creative and definitely non-trivial, with less attention to the lyrical side and much more open, even slightly touching on Free here and there, which makes things way more exciting and intellectually challenging. This adds to the general feeling of this album being “something else”, with a wink of humor and a “take it easy” attitude, which sadly are way too rare on most Jazz recordings these days. I absolutely must emphasize the enormous value of the contributions by Zydek, whose trumpet playing is nothing short of phenomenal, as already stated in my review of the ZiemiaFind albums by this artist debut album “Ziemia DniemFind albums with this title”, which accidently shows some similarities to this album, especially as far as originality and attitude are concerned. Overall, this is a wonderful debut album. Creative, vibrant and a true pleasure to listen to, as well as being a vivid proof that the young Polish Jazz scene is alive and kicking, as always. As usual in such case, I am already eager to hear the next album by these talented young people and wish them all the best on their path to artistic development. Well done!

Updated: 22/04/2024Posted: 22/04/2024

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