Record Reviews

KAROLINA BEIMCIK ~ ZORYA MULTIKULTI MPJ 017 (Barcode: 5907529223581) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-World Fusion Recorded: 2018 Released: 2018 This is an ambitious debut album by Polish vocalist / violinist / composer Karolina BeimcikFind albums by this artist with her new project called "Zorya", which is her interpretation of Polish / Ukrainian Folklore of the ethnic minorities like Boykos, Lemkos and Kurpie people, who maintain their linguistic dialects and traditions. Beimcik is accompanied by four excellent Polish Jazz musicians: guitarist Rafal SarneckiFind albums by this artist, pianist Jan SmoczynskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Michal JarosFind albums by this artist and drummer Michal MiskiewiczFind albums by this artist. The album presents eight tracks (actually the album´s artwork lists eight tracks but credits refer to nine tracks, go figure), six of which are traditional tunes and two were composed by Beimcik. The music was recorded by Smoczynski at his excellent Studio Tokarnia, with excellent sonic quality as usual. In spite of the presence of the Jazz musicians, the music itself has very little to do with the essence of Jazz and is dominated by the Folkloristic themes. The Jazz influences stay mostly in the background and are more ornamentation than the actual quintessence. The basic melodies have, as expected, a strong East European disposition, being all rather melancholic and gloomy, quite similar to each other. The two original compositions, and especially the title track, are much more Jazz oriented and Beimcik performs on them nice wordless vocalese parts in addition to instrumental solos. The instrumental work by the team is all quite excellent, as appropriate from highly talented musicians of this class. Smoczynski takes most of the accompaniment on his shoulders, staying relatively in the background, Sarnecki adds tasteful guitar embellishments and the rhythm section provides a solid basis for the music, with a few exceptional bass solos by Jaros. Overall this is another example of the amalgamation between Folklore and Jazz, which seems to be more popular and successful in Poland than anywhere else in recent years. Preservation of ethnic traditions is of course an obligation of any Cultural people, and projects like this one are all important, but some or more successful musically than others. Personally I´d prefer an entire album of music as represented by the two original compositions.

Updated: 08/06/2018Posted: 08/06/2018

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KAROLINA KOWALCZEWSKA ~ CHIARA NOT ON LABEL ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Classical Fusion Recorded: 2014 Released: 2014 This is the debut album by Polish Jazz pianist / composer Karolina KowalczewskaFind albums by this artist, recorded with a core trio consisting of bassist Maurizio RolliFind albums by this artist and drummer Jozef EliashFind albums by this artist, which is joined on various tracks by saxophonists Mariusz MielcarekFind albums by this artist, Adam WendtFind albums by this artist and Michal KobojekFind albums by this artist, a couple of vocalists, a violinist, a choir and even a symphonic orchestra (sampled mind you) arranged by Leszek KulakowskiFind albums by this artist on the opening track. The album presents eight original compositions, all by Kowalczewska, with one of them being repeated twice as the opening and closing track. Kowalczewska is clearly flirting with both the Classical and Jazz idioms, a perilous game, which is rarely very successful. The music ranges from forms like a concerto for orchestra and sax, via a choir psalm and saxophone trio (with a lot of almost free blowing) which slowly degrades to a bluesy ballad in which the trio supports a lengthy saxophone solo, a series of mainstream quartet pieces, three vocal tracks and a sax quartet to round things up: altogether an unimpressive hodgepodge of musical ditties lacking any coherence or sense of direction. Yes there are some nice melodic themes and nice sax solos but in all honesty there is nothing here which deserves special attention or something that wasn´t played endless times before at best and at it´s worst moments this albums sounds like a junior high school band, completely amateurish. I am truly sorry but this stuff is really embarrassing and releasing this material for the world to hear is a major misjudgment of quality, which should be avoided at all cost.

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KUTIMAN ~ KUTIMAN MELTING POT 047 (Barcode: 673793304725) ~ ISRAEL ~ Jazz-World Fusion Recorded: 2005 Released: 2007 1st album by young Israeli composer / multi-instrumentalist Ophir KutielFind albums by this artist a.k.a. KutimanFind albums by this artist. Although the young generation of Israeli musicians active in the 21st Century already proved time and again that they are capable of producing some amazing music in the Electronic, Rock, Prog and Jazz genres (as witnessed on the numerous CDs found on my site), most of them are deeply influenced by the European classical music tradition and American Rock and Jazz. What the local scene lacks (or rather lacked until this album) almost completely is music, which boasts groove, such as Funk, Soul or Afro-beat. Therefore this album comes as such a delightful surprise, filling the missing gap completely. This Jewish boychik has enough groove to shake the entire country’s butt and a soul as black as the heart of Africa. Of course it all didn’t come from thin air – Ophir did a lot of listening to the right kind of music, which can be traced (but only as influences, not as imitations) in his music: Sly & The Family StoneFind albums by this artist (There’s A Riot Goin’ OnFind albums with this title), Herbie HancockFind albums by this artist’s late 1970’s Funk explorations, late Miles DavisFind albums by this artist (TutuFind albums with this title), African Master musician Fela KutiFind albums by this artist (obvious name reference here) and a lot of Ambient, Lounge and Psychedelic music. All these influences come together, and Ophir’s individual approach glues them into a new and fascinating amalgam. This music although far from trivial or simplistic, hits you right in the place where your soul happens to be located and engulfs you completely, making your body to sway in the process. Although Ophir plays most of the instruments on the album, which BTW is also brilliantly produced, he invited some local musicians and vocalists to take part. These include members of the local Funk band Funk’n’steinFind albums by this artist and the local diva KarolinaFind albums by this artist. Whatever your musical preferences, this music just can’t leave you cold, and if it does (God forbid) then you probably have no soul at all. Absolutely great fun!

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KAROLINA PERNAL ~ CLARIDAD SJ 033 (Barcode: 5912596066665) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2018 Released: 2018 This is the debut album by Polish Jazz saxophonist / composer Karolina PernalFind albums by this artist recorded in a quintet setting with Italian saxophonist / clarinetist Achille SucciFind albums by this artist and Polish pianist Kuba PluzekFind albums by this artist, bassist Jakub OlejnikFind albums by this artist and drummer Wojciech BulinskiFind albums by this artist. The album presents six tracks, five of which are original compositions: three by Karolina Pernal and two by her spouse trombonist Bartosz PernalFind albums by this artist and one is a Sam RiversFind albums by this artist composition arranged by Bartosz Pernal. The album was recorded at the Monochrom Studio and engineered by Ignacy GruszeckiFind albums by this artist with the usual excellent sound quality. The music is all kept within the melodic mainstream Jazz idiom, with solid original compositions by the Pernals, which are mostly ballads with typical Polish melancholic streak. It is easy on the ear but eventually rather uneventful, although professionally performed by the quintet members with Pluzek being the most interesting soloist by far. Having said that, this album offers a pleasant listening experience to mainstream Jazz connoisseurs and can be enjoyed in full, like many similar other albums in that vein. Karolina Pernal is one of relatively few female Polish Jazz instrumentalists, and as such she deserves support and encouragement to achieve an equal footing with her many male cohorts. This debut offering is surely just a first step on the way to a hopefully wonderful musical career.

Updated: 14/12/2018Posted: 14/12/2018

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KAROLINA SMIETANA ~ ILLUSION RECART 0021 (Barcode: 5908285287206) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2015 - 2016 Released: 2017 This is the debut album by the Polish (resident in Denmark) singer / songwriter Karolina SmietanaFind albums by this artist recorded with an excellent Polish / Danish quartet comprising of Polish guitarist Rafal SarneckiFind albums by this artist and drummer Radek WoskoFind albums by this artist and Danish pianist Soren GemmerFind albums by this artist and bassist Anders FjeldstedFind albums by this artist. The album presents nine tracks, six of which are original compositions by Smietana, one is co-composed by her and Wosko and the remaining two are standards. Smietana also wrote the English lyrics to five of the songs, one is a poem by the Polish poetess Wislawa SzymborskaFind albums by this artist (and is the only case of Polish lyrics on the album) and the remaining three texts originate from other sources. The album was recorded (mostly) at the excellent RecPublica Studios and engineered by Lukasz OlejarczykFind albums by this artist with great sonic results, as expected. Smetana´s music is quite typical of the Polish Jazz vocal idiom, with solid melodies and coherent structures, which are pleasant and easy on the ear, without being trivial or boring. The songs are diverse enough to show her compositional palette and the lyrics are not an insult to the intelligence, which in today´s musical world is a success by itself. On the other hand, however, not everything is perfect; Smietana has a nice mellow voice, which she uses wisely, but her vocal range is limited and there are no virtuosic vocal performances herein. The usual problem with singing in English, when it is not the singer´s native tongue, produces the common pronunciation and accent problems. What gives the album a great boost are the great instrumental performances by the quartet, which does a superb job accompanying her. Sarnecki plays superbly and manages to create a few brilliant solos. Gemmer also proves to be a great accompanist, with a great feel for melody and excellent technique. The rhythm section does an amicable job all along and plays along with the vocals and the lead instruments with elegance and flair. In short the instrumental parts are top notch. Overall this is a nice vocal Jazz album, which exposes Smietana as an able vocalist and solid composer, marking a positive kickstart of her career. I am already looking forward to her next project!

Updated: 05/05/2017Posted: 05/05/2017

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