Record Reviews

KUBA CICHOCKI ~ FLOWING CIRCLES BJU 076 (Barcode: 195269264673) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2021 - 2023 Released: 2023 This is an album by Polish (resident in US) Jazz pianist / composer Kuba CichockiFind albums by this artist, recorded with American musicians: saxophonist Lucas PinoFind albums by this artist, guitarist Brandon SeabrookFind albums by this artist, bassist Edward PerezFind albums by this artist and drummer Colin StranahanFind albums by this artist. Polish vocalist Bogna KicinskaFind albums by this artist (also resident in US) adds vocalese parts and in one case sings lyrics. Three musicians guest on one track and a string quartet guests on three tracks. The album presents ten tracks, all of which are original composition by Cichocki, and one includes lyrics by Polish poetess Wislawa SzymborskaFind albums by this artist. The music comes as a huge surprise, considering the fact that earlier recordings by Cichocki, which I am familiar with, were pretty straightforward Fusion, whereas this album is way more advanced musically and offers pretty radical modern Jazz, often bordering on Free, uses mostly odd meters and unconventional instrumentation. Kicinska’s vocalese parts are similar to her work on her debut album “The MazeFind albums with this title”, recorded almost a decade earlier, which was excellent, and the track, which features the lyrics, is definitely of the best ones on the album. The radical change in Cichocki’s approach is very interesting and commendable, but on the way he lost much of his melodic / romantic touch, which was pretty impressive on his earlier recordings, and as a result this new album suffers from many pretty chaotic moments, where the music seems to have lost its course. It seems that the stylistic change was tad too radical, at least to my ears. Also the recording quality lacks depth and detail, which makes the music sound detached and alienated, being quite difficult to listen to. The last track on the album, a solo piano piece, which was recorded more than a couple of years following the rest of the material, is another radical stylistic change, in a Jazz-Classical Fusion direction, which is perhaps a sign of things to come. It is the most interesting piece on this album. Overall, this is a very interesting experiment, perhaps somewhat to drastic and recorded too early, before the music had time to crystalize and settle. But it is definitely a step in the right direction, as far as making ambitious music is concerned, and one can hope the next effort should be more focused.

Updated: 26/07/2024Posted: 26/07/2024

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