Record Reviews

KOSMOS ~ KOSMOS AUDIO CAVE 2024/007 (Barcode: 5908298549872) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2024 Released: 2024 This is the debut album by the Polish Jazz quintet KosmosFind albums by this artist, comprising of trumpeter / keyboardist Jan OstalskiFind albums by this artist, saxophonist Iwo TylmanFind albums by this artist, pianist Stanislaw SzmigierFind albums by this artist, bassist Kamil GuzniczakFind albums by this artist and drummer Kacper KutaFind albums by this artist. The album presents eleven tracks, which are uncredited on the album’s artwork and therefore assumed to be co-composed by the quintet members. The music was recorded at the splendid Tokarnia 2.0 studio and engineered by Jan SmoczynskiFind albums by this artist, and offers nothing less than the expected superb sound quality. The album’s liner notes suggest a linkage with space Jazz (see Sun RaFind albums by this artist), referring to the quintet’s moniker (Kosmos in Polish = universe / outer space), but to be honest this is hugely farfetched, as the music is pretty earthly modern Jazz, which other than a bit of electronic effects stays well within the mainstream “universe”. Having said that, the music is quite original and clever, with a perfect balance between composed themes and improvised parts, excellently performed by these young players, who obviously lack the perfection, which comes with years of experience, but are talented enough to compensate with open-mindedness and thinking out of the box. The resulting music keeps the listener right on the edge, unable to anticipate what comes next, which of course is much appreciated. The music is surprisingly diverse and keeps moving into many different avenues, but does not lose coherency and continuity, which makes listening to the entire album quite a journey. More importantly the album offers a substantial amount of music (over fifty minutes), which shows that these people have a lot to say, which they wish to share with their listeners. Many contemporary Jazz releases offer barely about half an hour of music, which often leaves me with a half-baked reaction, and here we get a potent piece of music, which can to be savored and tasted, and later properly digested, as appropriate the occasion. I do have an issue with the sound, not the quality of it of course, only the intentional muddiness of it, which seems to be the latest fashion with young Jazz ensembles. This is Jazz people, not drum and bass! Let us hear the music as it really sounds! Overall, this is a very surprising and promising debut album, which puts a smile on a face of people who can enjoy something new and fresh at last, which does not happen very often these days. The music is a bit rough and lacks the spark of perfection, buy all things considered, it sounds great and more importantly offers so much fresh air. Well done, Gentlemen!

Updated: 23/07/2024Posted: 23/07/2024

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