Record Reviews

INTUITION ORCHESTRA ~ CASE OF SURPRISE FOR TUNE 0071 (Barcode: 5902768701753) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2014 Released: 2015 This is the second album released on For TuneFind albums on this label Records and their fourth consecutive release by the Polish Improvised Music ensemble The Intuition OrchestraFind albums by this artist. On the previous album, entitled "To The InsideFind albums with this title", they created a bridge between the origins of their activities by including archival material of early recordings going back as far as 1993, and their (then, 2011) current material. Listeners interested in the genesis of the ensemble (and the fascinating Polish Avant-Garde in general) should check out the fabulous Legendarne ZabkiFind albums with this title album as well as the Grupa W SkladzieFind albums with this title album, which are both related to Intuition Orchestra. On this album the ensemble is down to a trio lineup with saxophonist / clarinetist Ryszard WojciulFind albums by this artist, keyboardist / cellist Boleslaw BlaszczykFind albums by this artist and drummer Jacek AlkaFind albums by this artist. They are joined by three guests: vocalists Marta GrzywaczFind albums by this artist and Basia BlaszczykFind albums by this artist and recorders player Dominik StrycharskiFind albums by this artist. Together they perform twenty one short (averaging around two minutes) collectively improvised pieces. The titles of all the pieces are in fact lines from a poem by Grzywacz. The music on this album can be treated as a continuous flow from start to finish, since the separation into the individual pieces is pretty arbitrary. It includes a wide variety of sounds produced by the instruments, voices and electronics, all combined into an unusual, bubbling amalgam, which is unpredictable and keeps the listener at his toes at all times. There is very limited melodic content here, and when present it lasts just for a brief moment, before it is picked up by the improvisers and taken into another dimension. As such, this music is obviously much more difficult and challenging, but of course provides a much stronger emotional as well as intellectual interaction. Avant garde music is not supposed to be measured by its likeability, but rather by its ability to absorb the listener´s attention and take him unconditionally on a timeless, completely subconscious journey into sound aesthetics. To an untrained ear this music can sound chaotic and even cacophonic, and yet it does make perfect "sense" and "intelligibility" to the cognoscenti. The trick is simply to let the flow of the sound engulf you and carry you on. This music seems to be able to serve as a vehicle to reach "higher planes", a rare and precious quality, which should be cherished. Overall this is superb contemporary music, which still tries to expand the realm of what we consider as being sonic Art. Regardless of the current trend of music imploding into itself, people who are pushing outward at least try to slow the process. This album is warmly recommended to open minded listeners, who have no Avant-Garde phobias!

Updated: 17/12/2021Posted:

CD 1 Recommend To A Friend

RGG ~ OCTOBER SUITE FSR 2022/09 (Barcode: 5904441617108) ~ POLAND ~ Free Jazz / Improvised Music Recorded: 2020 Released: 2022 This is a live album by Polish Jazz trio RGGFind albums by this artist, which comprises of pianist Lukasz OjdanaFind albums by this artist, bassist Maciej GarbowskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Krzysztof GradziukFind albums by this artist, which was expanded to a sexted for the appearance at the 15th Ad Libitum Festival in Warsaw, recorded on October 17, 2020. The additional musicians are vocalist Marta GrzywaczFind albums by this artist, cornet player Artur MajewskiFind albums by this artist and flautist Dominik StrycharskiFind albums by this artist (the last two also use some electronic effects). The album presents a seven-part suite (on seven tracks), which remains uncredited and is assumed to be co-created by all the participants. The music appears to be completely freely improvised, with no melodic threads as such, but is beautifully coordinated between the participating musicians, who perform a group improvisation with great respect towards each other, exactly what such format demands. The music is sparse and most of the time minimalist, but occasionally intensifies into bursts of energetic exchange of common improvisations. The RGG trio leads the proceedings steadily and dominantly, with the excellent rhythm section firmly dictating the tempi and the piano spreading harmonic splashes, which build the fabric for the rest of the team to place their colorful ornaments on. For me, personally, the music creates strong visual associations, in addition to the obvious aural content. The individual contributions by all the participants are superb, and the excellent recording sound quality adds to the total result. Although Free Jazz / Improvised Music is rarely able to create music, which offers a lasting value, beyond the actual moment of being created, this album certainly offers a piece of music, which can be returned to periodically and enjoyed repeatedly. Overall, this is a wonderful example of Free Jazz / Improvised Music, which has a lasting value. Definitely not for casual listeners, but those who enjoy the convoluted minds of musicians, who eschew triviality and conformism, this is definitely a splendid occasion to enjoy themselves.

Updated: 12/01/2025Posted: 12/01/2025

CD 1 Mini-Sleeve Recommend To A Friend

TATVAMASI ~ THE THIRD EAR MUSIC AUDIO CAVE 2020/013 (Barcode: 5908298549186) ~ POLAND ~ Avant-Garde Jazz-Rock Fusion Recorded: 2018 - 2019 Released: 2020 This is the sixth album by Polish quartet TatvamasiFind albums by this artist, which documents a series of music meetings held under the slogan of the album´s title, recorded over a period of couple of years by the four members of the ensemble: guitarist Grzegorz LesiakFind albums by this artist, saxophonist Tomasz PiatekFind albums by this artist, bassist Lukasz DownarFind albums by this artist and drummer Krzysztof RedasFind albums by this artist and a plethora of guests from Poland and abroad, including Avant-Garde drummers Vasco TrillaFind albums by this artist from Spain and Peter OrinsFind albums by this artist from France. The album presents seven compositions, all uncredited and assumed to be a result of improvisations by the participating musicians. The music, as expected from the underlying concept, is a series of extended improvisations, based on sketchy melodic fragments and rhythm patterns, which characterizes Improvised Music. It preserves to some extent the usual Jazz-Rock Fusion modus operandi of Tatvamasi that was dominating their earlier recordings, but expands the horizons and embraces Free Improvisation, basically letting things happen on the fly as they develop. The three pieces recorded by a quartet, with vocalist Marta GrzywaczFind albums by this artist (and without Piatek) are definitely the high point of the entire album pointing to a direction worth pursuing. To be perfectly honest, as much as I like Tatvamasi, this stuff just doesn´t work for me as well as I expected it would. I admit to being somewhat fed up with the Improvised Music recordings that the Polish scene produces en mass and often without any selective process on one hand, and the fact that throwing a group of unrelated musicians in one room and let them play whatever comes to mind very rarely guarantees a spectacular result on the other hand. I appreciate the will to explore and search, and the courage to try something new, but hope this is a one time extravaganza, and the music will return to more productive exploration in the future. Overall this is an interesting experiment, and as such worthy of appreciation, but the resulting music, stripped of the circumstantial excitement, is rather pale summa summarum, with just occasional interesting moments. Sorry guys, it´s just me.

Updated: 12/01/2021Posted: 12/01/2021

CD 1 Digipak Recommend To A Friend

VOICE ACT ~ LIVE REQUIEM / ZAWIEJE 43 ~ POLAND ~ Free Jazz / Improvised Music Recorded: 2025 Released: 2025 This is a live album by Polish Jazz vocal quartet Voice ActFind albums by this artist, which comprises of Anna GadtFind albums by this artist, Marta GrzywaczFind albums by this artist, Natalia KordiakFind albums by this artist and Gosia ZagajewskaFind albums by this artist. The album presents one continuous track, with a series of vocal pieces, all of which are spontaneously improvised. The music was recorded at the RequiemFind albums on this label Records performing space, called “Zawieje”, and the music was copied to CD-R discs immediately at the end of the concert and made available to the people who attended the event, so called an “instant live” album, packaged into a beautiful cover pressed in advance – a unique concept by Requiem’s owner Lukasz PawlakFind albums by this artist, one of the most passionate and creative people in Polish record industry. This was the 43rd edition of the “Zawieje” series, which I had the immense pleasure to attend. The music is absolutely stunning, a sublime proof of the fact that the human voice is the ultimate instrument. Sadly, improvising vocal quartets are very rare in Jazz / Improvised Music these days, but this miraculous performance took me back to the days when I attended concerts by Vocal SummitFind albums by this artist and other vocal ensembles, which included vocalizing improvisers like Urszula DudziakFind albums by this artist, Jeanne LeeFind albums by this artist, Lauren NewtonFind albums by this artist, Jay ClaytonFind albums by this artist, Julie TippettsFind albums by this artist, Bobby McFerrinFind albums by this artist and others, which pioneered pure vocal improvisation. In some respects, this concert offered more complex vocal techniques than those used decades earlier, less melody oriented and concentrating on the interpersonal communication and harmony of the four voices, in solo, duo, trio and quartet versions, offering a constant flow of ideas and exchange of emotions, often entirely based on pure sound, rather than on melodic flow. Gadt is of course already recognized as a pioneer of vocal improvisation on the contemporary Polish Jazz scene since over a decade, and her many recordings offer excellent examples of her ground-breaking approach. Kordiak released so far a couple of albums and I am not aware of any recordings as leaders by Grzywacz or Zagajewska, but hopefully those will appear soon. Overall, this is a very unique and beautiful album, which should be a proud part of every Improvised Music record collection, especially since it is a very limited edition. If you can find a copy, grab it instantly. Side Note: Recently the Requiem Records lost the premium location residence, where it operated in recent years, including the concert space, which produced 45 editions of the “Zawieje” concerts. This means, that until Lukasz Pawlak is able to find a new home for his label, his activities, including the concert series, will be (hopefully only) temporarily suspended, which is a great loss to the ambitious Polish music scene, a sad reflection of the times we live in.

Updated: 09/09/2025Posted: 09/09/2025

CD 1 Recommend To A Friend