Record Reviews

JACEK MIELCAREK KWARTET BASMYT ~ CORAZ AUDIO CAVE 2023/015 (Barcode: 5908298549766) ~ POLAND ~ Free Jazz / Improvised Music Recorded: 2023 Released: 2023 This is an album by Polish Jazz saxophonist / clarinetists / composer Jacek MielcarekFind albums by this artist, recorded in a quartet setting with guitarist Marek KadzielaFind albums by this artist, bassist Jakub MielcarekFind albums by this artist (Jacek’s son) and drummer Lukasz StworzewiczFind albums by this artist. Vocalist Emilia HamerlikFind albums by this artist guests on one track. The album presents eight tracks, two composed by Jacek Mielcarek, one each by Jakub Mielcarek, Marzena MielcarekFind albums by this artist (Jacek’s wife) and Kadziela, two co-composed by the quartet and one is a standard. The music floats between Freely Improvised and more conventional Jazz vistas, beautifully played by Jacek Mielcarek and his cohorts, displaying strong spiritual trends, mysticism and contemplative moods, similar to his earlier recordings. Despite the high degree of freedom, the music remains completely cohesive and coherent, which of course is remarkable in itself. The fact that the compositions are contributed by several musicians adds to the diversity and scope of the music. Kadziela’s dense guitar passages and his utilization of electronically generated sounds also expand the range of the sonority and the rhythm section is hardly keeping time in the traditional sense, adding active tempo / rhythmic improvisation on top or perhaps just under everything else. The arrangement of the classic standard is one of the highlights of the album, demonstrating a perfect merger of tradition and innovation, all with sympathy and respect to the past put looking forward for new forms of expression. Overall, this is a wonderful example of Improvised Music, which makes sense, is reasonably easy to listen to, offers a balanced portion of high energy and tranquility, in short being a highly absorbing and fascinating listening experience, which continues previous achievements by Jacek Mielcarek and his favorite team of musical Argonauts. As usual I had a wonderful time listening to this music as should all open-minded listeners the world over.

Updated: 07/03/2024Posted: 07/03/2024

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