Record Reviews

JAZZPOSPOLITA ~ OBIEKT AUDIO CAVE 2023/010 (Barcode: 5908298549704) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Ambient Fusion Recorded: 2022 Released: 2023 This is the 8th album by the Polish ensemble JazzpospolitaFind albums by this artist, led by bassist Stefan NowakowskiFind albums by this artist, with a new lineup including guitarist Michal MilczarekFind albums by this artist, keyboardist Milosz OlenieckiFind albums by this artist and drummer Wojciech SoburaFind albums by this artist. The album presents eight tracks, all original compositions co-credited to the members of the ensemble. The music is an interesting cross-genre amalgam of Jazz, Ambient and other influences, which continues the convoluted path of Jazzpospolita over the last decade and a half, with their chameleonic ability to constantly transform their musical direction. Nowakowski is the only remaining founding member, but the ensemble, despite the constant personnel changes, always managed to offer some exciting and innovative music over time. I followed them since their early days and they never disappointed, despite some turbulent times they went through. This album is quite different, even radically different from the earlier albums, with a much stronger Ambient, meditative and melancholic presence, with a dash of Avant-Garde, obviously influenced by the presence of Milczarek, who showed similar tendencies on his earlier recordings with his trio. Oleniecki confirms his talent as keyboard player, as evident from his previous recordings. I am sadly not privy to any recordings by Sobura. Overall, it is great to see Jazzpospolita rise as a phoenix from the ashes again, offering some new music and searching for new directions. This lineup probably needs to refine their stylistic approach some more, which I am sure they will do before their next recording.

Updated: 21/10/2023Posted: 21/10/2023

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MICHAL MILCZAREK TRIO ~ AMBIENT WORKS NOT ON LABEL ~ POLAND ~ Electronic & Ambient Recorded: 2015 Released: 2016 This is the second album by a Polish trio led by guitarist / composer Michal MilczarekFind albums by this artist, which also includes bassist Bartek LuczkiewiczFind albums by this artist and drummer Mateusz ModrzejewskiFind albums by this artist. The album presents eleven original compositions, which are co-credited as improvisations by all the trio members. The music is exactly what the album´s title suggests, i.e. a series of improvised ambient pieces, mostly concerned with sounds rather than conventional melodic themes or tonal progressions. Although improvised, the music has little, if any, connection to Jazz and is firmly within the ambient idiom. This kind of music makes it very difficult to recognize the individual contributions by the trio members, since those are limited by the restricted nature of the music. The guitar mostly plays long series of chords, over a painfully slow background created by the rhythm section, which soon blend into ambiguity, similarity and repetition, which at least in my case bordered on lack of interest. When the music is over, forty three minutes later, there is a feeling of confusion and depravation as to what just happened. There are a few passages when the music is slightly more energized and has a Fusion tendency, but those are brief and rare, with little impact on the overall result. Obviously fans of the ambient genre might find this music interesting or enjoyable, but as far as I am concerned it leaves me completely cold.

Updated: 23/12/2016Posted: 23/12/2016

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MICHAL MILCZAREK TRIO ~ SQUIRRELS AND BUTTERFLIES NOT ON LABEL (Barcode: 5903420641967) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Funk Fusion Recorded: 2014 Released: 2014 This is the debut album by the Polish Jazz-Rock Fusion trio led by guitarist / composer Michal MilczarekFind albums by this artist, with bassist Bartek LuczkiewiczFind albums by this artist and drummer Mateusz ModrzejewskiFind albums by this artist. The album presents ten original compositions, nine by Milczarek and one by Luczkiewicz. The music is typical contemporary Jazz-Rock Fusion, with catchy riffs and somewhat unusual sound, which uses ambient effects in addition to the guitar power-trio format. The compositions are pretty basic, but serve the purpose as vehicles for the lengthy improvisations. The performances are solid, and within the Fusion idiom suit the music well. The overall sound of the album and the flow of the music are a bit repetitive, but there are enough interesting moments here to keep the listener attentive. Overall this is a promising debut album, which offers some fresh approach to guitar based Fusion, but does not manage to deliver anything truly innovative. However, Fusion fans should find this album very interesting, especially due to the ambient associations and excellent guitar and bass parts. Recommended! The trio´s second album entitled "Ambient Works", which left the Fusion direction and concentrated on Ambient Music, turned out to be a disappointment for me.

Updated: 22/09/2017Posted: 22/09/2017

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NUDA ~ NUDA NOT ON LABEL ~ POLAND ~ Avant-Garde Jazz Recorded: 2020 Released: 2020 This is the debut album by Polish quartet NudaFind albums by this artist (Eng. Boredom), which includes cornetist Marcin Albert SteczkowskiFind albums by this artist, guitarist Michal MilczarekFind albums by this artist, bassist Marcin JadachFind albums by this artist and drummer Michal BryndalFind albums by this artist. The album presents eight original compositions, all co-credited to all four members of the quartet. The members of the quartet come from very different backgrounds, between almost mainstream Jazz, via Jazz-Rock Fusion to Avant-Garde Jazz, but the music on this album is mostly improvised and rather free, with limited melodic contents. The overall approach is very minimalistic and the music plays around with sound and silence, creating imaginary, almost ambient soundscapes. Although the cornet and guitar are at the front line, the quartet distributes equal weight between all four players, which is very effective. The rhythm section often plays in a completely different space-time continuum than the soloing instruments, and even creates polyrhythmic diversity between the bass and the drums. Therefore at times all four musicians play seemingly "inconsistently" between each other, but highly creatively and artistically. There is no doubt that the album manages to present a fresh, highly unconventional approach to music making and has a lot to offer together to an open-minded listener. The concept needs perhaps a bit of refining and the short playing time (just above half an hour) needs expanding, which can all bee achieved on the next album. Overall this is a splendid debut effort and a most welcome fresh breath of air. Well done!

Updated: 21/08/2020Posted: 21/08/2020

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