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