Record Reviews

PRZEMYSLAW CHMIEL ~ WITCHCRAFT FSR 2020/16 (Barcode: 5905279364745) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2019 Released: 2020 This is the debut album by Polish Jazz saxophonist / composer Przemyslaw ChmielFind albums by this artist, recorded in a quartet format with pianist Mateusz GramburgFind albums by this artist, bassist Piotr NarajowskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Michal SzeligowskiFind albums by this artist. The album presents eight original compositions, all by Chmiel. The music is modern Jazz, very open and yet firmly based on melodic themes, which are clearly stated and returned to throughout each of the tracks. The music is well behaved despite being highly spirited, often pretty minimalist and charmingly hesitant, creating a feeling of anticipation and searching. Each of the tunes offers a process of dynamic development, changing in intensity and volume, sometimes more than once within one tune, which makes things certainly interesting and blissfully different. The most interesting facet of the music is the fact that it certainly does not sound like typical Polish Jazz, successfully avoiding the melancholic / sentimental traps, but also not succumbing to the dreaded American Jazz derivatives, which in itself is a major success. The album is dominated by the performances by the leader, which is hardly surprising under the circumstances, but all the members of the quartet get ample opportunity to show their chops. Chmiel´s youthful energy and courage is immediately obvious and his improvisational skills shine throughout the album´s duration. Perhaps not yet fully achieving a personal / identifiable voice, he is definitely a highly interesting and already unique player, with considerable potential. Gramburg manages also to show some highly unusual approach and his contributions add a massive spicing to the proceedings, which would have probably been much less successful without him. His wonderful sensitivity and ability to play around with the dynamics and intensity of his touches on the keyboards make me immediately want to hear more of his playing, hopefully soon. Narajowski, who is an excellent bassist and a pillar of stability and precision, is in charge of the quartet´s "swinging" stability. Szeligowski plays over zealously at some points, which might have been corrected by lowering the drums in the mix, but overall does a splendid job and shows that drums can be as fascinating as any other instrument. Considering that these are young and relatively little experienced players, the fact that they manage to create such a sophisticated and complex music together is awe inspiring. Kudos to the FSRFind albums on this label label, which usually releases live recordings by much more prominent names, for issuing this debut album, which of course is well deserved. The recording quality of the music could have been better, but all things considered this is surely one of the most interesting Polish Jazz debut albums released in 2020 and a nice whiff of fresh air. Well done!

Updated: 06/11/2020Posted: 06/11/2020

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NATALIA KORDIAK ~ BAJKA HEVHETIA 0194 (Barcode: 8588005258708) ~ POLAND ~ Avant-Garde Jazz Recorded: 2019 Released: 2019 This is the debut album by Polish Jazz vocalist Natalia KordiakFind albums by this artist recorded in a quintet setting with saxophonist Przemyslaw ChmielFind albums by this artist, pianist Mateusz KolakowskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Alan WykpiszFind albums by this artist and drummer Grzegorz PalkaFind albums by this artist. The album presents seven original compositions, all by Kordiak, two of which feature lyrics (one by Polish poetess / playwright Maria Pawlikowska-JasnorzewskaFind albums by this artist and the other by Kordiak) and the rest feature wordless vocalese. The album was recorded at the RecPublica Studios and engineered by Michal WasylFind albums by this artist, and offers a superb sound quality. A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to hear Kordiak sing live in Katowice as a member of the First Was The VoiceFind albums by this artist vocal ensemble conducted and directed by my friend the fabulous Anna GadtFind albums by this artist, which should have prepared me for what I was about to hear on this album, but now I have to admit that probably nothing could have really prepared anybody for what this album offers. This is simply the Polish Jazz vocal album I have been dreaming about for the last half a Century, since Urszula DudziakFind albums by this artist appeared on the Polish Jazz scene and revolutionized the approach to vocal Jazz not only in Poland but worldwide. Kordiak treats her voice as an instrument and her vocalese explorations are simply unbounded by any previously set limitations, conventions or boundaries. Her singing is completely intuitive and her sense of melody is so open and free that the music becomes completely boundless and unconventional. Each of the tunes offers a melodic theme, but the vocal and instrumental improvisations move freely beyond the sketched horizons into the unknown and unexpected, which happens extremely rarely and immediately pushes this music into the "high sphere" of Jazz aesthetics. The instrumentalists do a magnificent job on this album, with the most important task always before their eyes: do not disturb the vocals. Each of these players is able to play exquisitely as a soloist but this album sets a textbook example of respect and supportive role by the instrumentalists, who are clearly heard within the delicate fabric of the music, but never overshadow the vocal parts even for one moment. The rhythm section of Wykpisz and Palka, which is certainly phenomenal on its own, offers here a magnificent assistance to the vocals, often just in a trio settings. Kolakowski, who deserves a much wider recognition that he enjoys in Poland at the moment, is a key element which makes this music what it is, playing absolutely stunningly and beautifully free, which is amazing considering his Classical Music upbringing and education. Chmiel, also relatively anonymous, offers some stunning saxophone parts, which immediately put him alongside the most respected names on the Polish scene. In short this is a true dream team and Kordiak was extremely fortunate to record this album with these magnificent musicians at her side. Polish vocal Jazz has been struggling in the last decades to produce anything as artistically and aesthetically valuable as the output it managed to offer time after time in modern instrumental European Jazz, which won it an international acclaim. Sadly Polish vocal Jazz got stuck mostly in imitating rather that inventing, with the ever present obsession of singing English lyrics, more often than not with appalling results. Therefore, although obviously hardly politically correct, the most accurate compliment I can think of under these circumstances is to say that Kordiak emerged here as someone with truly "big-balls", setting everything aside and doing her own thing. I am not surprised that Kordiak comes from under the wings of the above mentioned Anna Gadt, who is a true revolutionary Artist and obviously also and Educator. Considering the fact that Kordiak is still a student, God only knows what she is capable of in the future and I can’t wait to find out. And yes, now I know what my best Polish Jazz album for 2019 will be on my list ;) Thank you for a true fairytale my Dear!

Updated: 13/12/2019Posted: 13/12/2019

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SABINA MECK ~ SLOWO NA T SJ 048 (Barcode: 5912596066849) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2019 Released: 2019 This is the third album by Polish Jazz vocalist / songwriter Sabina MeckFind albums by this artist (a.k.a. Sabina MyrczekFind albums by this artist), recorded in a sextet setting with saxophonist Przemyslaw ChmielFind albums by this artist, guitarist Lukasz KokoszkoFind albums by this artist, pianist Michal JakubczakFind albums by this artist, bassist Piotr NajarowskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Szymon MadejFind albums by this artist. Sabina´s brother vocalist Wojciech MyrczekFind albums by this artist guests on one track. The album presents ten original songs, all written (music and lyrics, all bar one in Polish language) by Meck. The album was recorded at the Monochrome Studio and engineered by Ignacy GruszeckiFind albums by this artist with excellent, as usual, sound quality. The album is a perfect document of the process Meck completed in the first five years of her career, both as vocalist and even more so as songwriter. The choices she made here to sing only original material and finally singing in Polish prove to be the right ones in every respect, as this album is definitely the most advanced and sophisticated achievement she made so far, even though the two previous albums were already remarkable by any standard. The most striking quality of this album is the quality of the compositions, which is nothing short of astounding. Although hey are all full of beautiful melodies, they also dare to explore much less conventional areas, sometimes even bordering on Free. The rhythmic patterns are often unusual and convoluted as well. As a result musically the album enters another dimension entirely, stepping beyond what is expected from "song oriented" music. Meck utilizes all her wonderful vocal abilities augmented by an extensive technical range, singing both lyrics and vocalese, spoken word and theatrical phrasing, each and every time perfectly appropriate to the given musical setting. Singing in Polish allows her to emphasize the dramatic qualities of her lyrics, which adds another layer to the songs´ overall effectiveness. She is beautifully supported by the five instrumentalists, who spice the proceedings with superb soloing and steady rhythmic flow, which is extremely important in this complex music. The young generation of Polish Jazz musicians is so full of wonderfully talented people that we take this level of quality for granted, but in fact this is true miracle. 2019 finally proved to be a remarkably fruitful year for Polish vocal Jazz albums after many decades of relative stagnation. This album is certainly one of most impressive of these albums, deserving as much love and attention as possible. I am happy so see that my high hopes and expectations from Sabina Meck, from the moment I first heard her, proved to be justified and it makes me extremely happy to see her consistently reaching for the stars. You make me proud my Dear!

Updated: 26/12/2019Posted: 26/12/2019

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