Record Reviews

BALDYCH / HERDZIN / PIERONCZYK / SZTABA ~ GREAT ENCOUNTERS ANAKLASIS 075 (Barcode: 5907795210841) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Classical Fusion Recorded: 2020 - 2021 Released: 2021 This is an album produced to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the PWM Edition (Polish music publishing house), which also owns the prestigious AnaklasisFind albums on this label record label. The album collects five musical pieces, which represent the cross-genre projects released by the label as part of its “Revisions” series. Those are mostly Jazz-Classical Fusion or Pop-Classical Fusion explorations, which were inspired by Polish Classical Music composers: Frederic ChopinFind albums by this artist, Stanislaw MoniuszkoFind albums by this artist, Ignacy Jan PaderewskiFind albums by this artist, Karol SzymanowskiFind albums by this artist and Henryk WieniawskiFind albums by this artist. Three Polish Jazz instrumentalists / composers: violinist Adam BaldychFind albums by this artist, pianist Krzysztof HerdzinFind albums by this artist and saxophonist Adam PieronczykFind albums by this artist, as well as pianist / composer / arranger / conductor Adam SztabaFind albums by this artist, mostly associated with Polish TV and entertainment industry, were selected to create the music for this album. Herdzin is the author of two of these pieces and the others authored one piece each. The music is performed by Baldych, Herdzin, Pieronczyk and additional musicians: vocalist Igor HerbutFind albums by this artist, Moldovan cimbalom (hammered dulcimer) player Marcel ComendantFind albums by this artist, pianist Krzysztof DysFind albums by this artist and the AUKSO Chamber OrchestraFind albums by this artist conducted by Marek MosFind albums by this artist. The music offers quite a diverse stylistic amalgam, dominated by the two pieces by Herdzin, which comprise almost half of the album’s duration, ranging from romantic easy listening Classical music to Jazz Avant-Garde and Avant-Pop. The level of the performances is absolutely superb and the music offers intelligent and highly aesthetic listening experience. Overall, this is another highly successful album in this wonderful series, and certainly something worthy of pursuing by the Jazz-Classical Fusion enthusiasts. Since these pieces do not appear on any of the albums released in this series, it is absolutely worth getting as well. Wholeheartedly recommended!

Updated: 31/03/2023Posted: 31/03/2023

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KRZYSZTOF HERDZIN ~ IMPRESSIONS ON PADEREWSKI ANAKLASIS 011 (Barcode: 5907795209722) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Classical Fusion Recorded: 2019 Released: 2020 This is an album by Polish Jazz pianist / composer Krzysztof HerdzinFind albums by this artist, recorded live in a solo piano setting. The album presents five interpretations (impressions) of compositions by the Polish Classical pianist / composer Ignacy Jan PaderewskiFind albums by this artist. The album was released by the prestigious Polish AnaklasisFind albums on this label label as part of its “Revisions” series. Despite Herdzin’s highly successful career as a Jazz musician, he obsessively returns to his Classical Music alter ego, mostly as a composer of his own music, but sometimes, as in this case, as an interpreter of Classical Music composed by others. It seems that some Jazz musicians / composers, especially those with Classical Music education and training, are caught in a duality conflict between these two streams of artistic musical expression. After all, the European musical tradition cultivated Classical music for centuries as a lofty and superior cultural form, leaving other kinds of music, like Folklore, Pop and later also Jazz to the masses. Since the late 20th Century Jazz managed to achieve some recognition from the Classical music elite, but is hardly commonly accepted on equal terms. Herdzin is a classic (pun intended) case of this dichotomy and sadly, as much as I like his Jazz facet, I often find his Classical facet difficult to swallow. To my surprise and delight, this adventure by Herdzin with Classical Music is quite enjoyable. He does show off with his technique, playing as many arpeggios as possible, but his “impressions” are creative and even innovative, which summa summarum turns out to be a very nice piece of music, which is enjoyable and easy on the ear, but avoids being a schmaltzy chaltura. Perhaps the wonderfully melodic music by Paderewski is a more suitable medium for being Jazzed up, but whatever the reason, the end result works out fine (assuming that the composer is not turning in his grave). Overall, this is another highly successful album in this wonderful series, and certainly something worthy of pursuing by the Jazz-Classical Fusion enthusiasts. It is probably the most approachable album in the entire series, as far as wide audiences are concerned, but definitely stands up to the standards of excellence set up by the Anaklasis label. Grab a copy and enjoy!

Updated: 30/03/2023Posted: 30/03/2023

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