Record Reviews

MARTA KROL ~ THE FIRST LOOK ŚTM 05 (Barcode: 5908248979056) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2011 Released: 2013 This is the debut solo album by Polish vocalist Marta KrolFind albums by this artist, a beautiful Silesian Princess whose looks turn men into stone on sight ;) On the album she presents ten Jazz and Pop standards, dressed up in excellent new arrangements, by keyboardist / arranger Tomasz KalwakFind albums by this artist, who also plays some additional keyboards on the album. She is accompanied by a wonderful quartet of Polish Jazz musicians: saxophonist Dawid GlowczewskiFind albums by this artist, pianist Pawel TomaszewskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Andrzej SwiesFind albums by this artist and drummer Pawel DobrowolskiFind albums by this artist. Krol has a delightfully warm voice, which she uses most effectively and with a natural charm and sex-appeal. Her musical education is immediately apparent, as she stays in tune at all times, even during the tricky passages and obviously keeps well in-synch with her band. The accompaniment is excellent, with many interesting solo spots by Glowczewski, beautiful piano and Fender Rhodes parts by Tomaszewski and solid and sympathetic support from the rhythm section with virtuosic, but kept in low profile bass parts by Swies, who is consistently perfect every time he appears on record and earns a well deserved position among the best contemporary Polish bassists. However, in spite of the Jazzy arrangements and instrumental passages, this album is only marginally Jazzy per se. Krol lacks the Jazz sensitivities and fundamental improvisational approach, singing mostly "straight forward". That does not mean she is doing anything wrong, but if the purpose of this album was to present her as a Jazz singer, it fails to do so. Nevertheless it is a very pleasant and well done piece of music, which deserves all praise, especially in view of the fact that it is her debut effort. Of course there is the usual problem of Polish vocalists stubbornly trying to sing in English, which is an insurmountable barrier, which simply keeps reappearing on almost all vocal albums recorded in the country. It´s not that Krol´s pronunciation and accent are terribly wrong; in fact they are not too bad at all, but her struggle to sound "right" takes away her attention from the music, as always. My advice to the lovely young lady would be perhaps to try and find out her unique own style, which would amalgamate Soul, Pop, Blues and just a dash of Jazz, and which would serve her vocal talents to the max. And of course perhaps a bit more risk-taking and ambitious material, original if possible and preferably in Polish – with such a formula she is destined to reach places. But than again, who am I, an old fart, to give advice to lovely young ladies singing the Blues? Overall this is an impressive debut, which holds many promises for those with patience to wait for the lady´s future endeavors. I certainly intend to do so.

Updated: 23/03/2024Posted:

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LUKASZ PAWLIK ~ LONELY JOURNEY PAWLIK RELATIONS 011 (Barcode: 5901289325103) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Funk Fusion Recorded: 2015 Released: 2016 This is the debut album as a leader by Polish keyboardist / composer Lukasz PawlikFind albums by this artist, recorded with saxophonist Dawid GlowczewskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Pawel PantaFind albums by this artist and drummer Cezary KonradFind albums by this artist. The polish team is joined by American guitarist Mike SternFind albums by this artist on one track and trumpeter Michael Patches StewartFind albums by this artist on three tracks. The album presents eight original compositions, all by Pawlik. The music is a slick, melodic Jazz-Funk / Groove / Smooth Jazz, similar to countless other albums of this sort. It is very well performed by all participants, who are true pros, and makes your feet tap, but once it´s over there is nothing left. The compositions are all pretty good, but again, hardly remarkable or memorable. Why on earth would a talented Polish young musician play music, which others (yes Americans) have been playing ad nauseam since the 1970s, not moving an inch forward in the last almost 50 years. Admittedly the Polish team is in every respect as good as their American counterparts, so what? Although this kind of music has its followers, which of course is fine, this is only very marginally, if at all, Jazz and should not be labeled as such. Overall this is a good Funk / Groove album, very well played, which lovers of the genre should enjoy in full, but definitely not something a Jazz connoisseur would listen to. And yes, Stern´s solo is as good as one might expect ;)

Updated: 12/03/2016Posted: 12/03/2016

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