Record Reviews

JAZZPOSPOLITA ~ HUMANIZM NOT ON LABEL (Barcode: 5907796319956) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Rock Fusion Recorded: 2017 Released: 2017 This is the sixth album by Polish ensemble JazzpospolitaFind albums by this artist and the last one to feature the original lineup of bassist Stefan NowakowskiFind albums by this artist, drummer Wojciech OleksiakFind albums by this artist, guitarist Michal Przerwa-TetmajerFind albums by this artist and keyboardist Michal ZaleskiFind albums by this artist. Vocalist Paulina PrzybyszFind albums by this artist is featured on one song and another vocalist NovikaFind albums by this artist is featured on another song. The album presents eleven original compositions, all co-composed by the ensemble members, except the song featuring Przybysz, which was composed and written by her (lyrics in English) and the song featuring Novika that includes her lyrics (in Polish). Stylistically the music preserves the unique qualities characterizing all the earlier albums by the ensemble, but is somewhat more Pop oriented, not only because of the presence of vocals but primarily due to the melodies being more "tame" and well organized and the instrumental passages being less expressive and searching. In retrospect it might seem that they ran out of steam, being enslaved within a formula, which stopped to "lay the golden eggs". Nevertheless this music is still a slick aesthetic experience and the atmosphere of dreamy, mysterious and repetitive soundscapes did not lose its magic touch entirely. Przerwa-Tetmajer still produces long, lazy guitar solos that seem to flow on the wind in slow motion, and are easy to impress. The keyboards remain mostly in the background in a supportive role and the rhythm section keeps the music moving ahead gently, with little rhythmic variety. The two songs don´t really belong with the rest of the music and as far as I am concerned don´t contribute anything in the big picture. Overall this is still Jazzpospolita, and these guys are masters of ambient Jazz / Fusion, so the album is still very enjoyable altogether, although it created little reverberation on the scene at the time of its release. For dedicated fans of the group this album is of course a must, but their next album with a new lineup and new musical direction proves to be much more rewarding. Still definitely worth investigating!

Updated: 27/06/2020Posted: 27/06/2020

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KUBA WIECEK TRIO & PAULINA PRZYBYSZ ~ KWIATECZKI (POLISH JAZZ VOL. 87) WARNER MUSIC POLAND 190296481222 (Barcode: 190296481222) ~ POLAND ~ Pop & Rock Recorded: 2021 Released: 2021 This is an album by Polish Jazz saxophonist / composer Kuba WiecekFind albums by this artist and his trio, with bassist Michal BaranskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Lukasz ZytaFind albums by this artist with vocalist Paulina PrzybyszFind albums by this artist. The album offers twelve songs, based on a twelve poems cycle by Polish 16th Century poet Jan KochanowskiFind albums by this artist. All the songs were co-composed by Wiecek and Przybysz. Although seemingly a Jazz & Poetry project, in reality this album has almost nothing to do with Jazz even in the most liberal definition of the term. It is a Pop album, and a bad one at that, with many elements that dominate contemporary Pop, such as simplistic melody themes, strong bass & drums sound, layers of ambient and electronics sounds that don’t add anything to the music, New Wave, Hip hop, Rap and many other elements, which results in a mishmash that is quite difficult to swallow, surely for a Jazz listener. There is a faint improvisational element hidden deeply in the background, which basically is completely out of context. The vocals are theatrical and full of mannerisms, which have no connection whatsoever to the original poetry. To put the record straight, I love Wiecek’s music within the Jazz idiom and of course I completely respect his Artistic freedom, which allows him to explore any avenue he chooses, but I don’t have to approve automatically of everything he does. Baranski and Zyta are brilliant musicians, which can be heard even here. Sadly, this album is beyond my tolerance and inserting it as part of the Polish Jazz series is nothing short of sacrilegious, even in my extra-liberal terms of reference. Overall, this is just a boring, badly conceived album, which often offends my basic aesthetic values. Of course this is only my highly personal view, but I am never keen to criticize work by Artists, that I respect and love. Well, shit happens… Side Note The iconic "Polish Jazz" series of recordings, originally released between 1965 and 1989 by the Polish state owned record company Polskie NagraniaFind albums on this label, which used the MuzaFind albums on this label label as its moniker, consists of seventy six LP albums. It presents the history of Polish Jazz recordings during that period, which includes some of the most important Polish / European modern Jazz milestones and reflects the extraordinary development of Jazz music behind the Iron Curtain. It is one of the most important historic documents of Polish Music and of course Polish Culture in general. The series had an eminent logo designed by Roslaw Szaybo and the albums were numbered sequentially from Vol.1 to Vol.76 accordingly. The album's artwork was wonderfully stylish and modernist, featuring the brilliant photographs and characteristic design by the legendary Polish Artist Marek Karewicz. Stylistically the series presented all Jazz genres, from Traditional Jazz to Avant-Garde / Free Jazz, which was extraordinarily liberal considering the cultural censorship imposed by the Socialist Regime. It suffered from some inconsistency, as far as the musical quality and aesthetics were concerned, as well as the internal "politics" of the Polish Jazz scene at the time, but in retrospect it achieved a spectacular overall result, unparalleled as far as consistently documenting a national Jazz scene is concerned. After the Polskie Nagrania catalogue was bought by Warner Music PolandFind albums on this label, the new owner started a reissue process of the Polish Jazz series, carefully remastered, repackaged and including extensive liner notes, which keeps the artwork as close to the original design as possible. So far forty four volumes of the original series were reissued. In 2016 Warner Music Poland decided to continue the original series by releasing new contemporary Polish Jazz recordings under the same format and even to continue the sequential numbering starting with Vol.77 – a decision I personally consider almost sacrilegious. Some things are simply untouchable, and the "Polish Jazz" series is surely one of those things. If Warner Music Poland wants to produce Jazz albums, which is always more than welcome, they could have started a new series, under a new title, rather than exploiting the reputation of the historic series. As a result, some artist whose albums are released as part of the new series might be led to expect instant gratification, fame and stardom, just for being an artificial part of a prestigious past, which of course is as bogus as it is sad.

Updated: 23/04/2023Posted: 23/04/2023

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