Tomasz Stanko’s smouldering Slavic soul music and grainy-toned trumpet finds a new context on “Dark Eyes”. Like his hero Miles Davis, the Polish jazz master also has an impressive record as talent scout and mentor, and his latest ensemble pools young players from the North of Europe.
ALL ORDERS WILL PROCESS AND SHIP DIRECTLY FORM POLAND
Tomasz Stanko
Dark Eyes
ECM 2115 (2009)
Tracks:
- So Nice
- Terminal 7
- The Dark Eyes Of Martha Hirsch
- Grand Central
- Amsterdam Avenue
- Samba Nova
- Dirge For Europe
- May Sun
- Last Song
- Etiuda Baletowa No. 3
Listen to the audio samples:
ECMPlayer
Line up:
Tomasz Stanko - trumpet
Alexi Tuomarila - piano
Jakob Bro - guitar
Anders Christensen - bass
Olavi Louhivuori - drums
Recorded:
April 2009
About:
Tomasz Stanko’s smouldering Slavic soul music and grainy-toned trumpet finds a
new context on “Dark Eyes”. Like his hero Miles Davis, the Polish jazz master
also has an impressive record as talent scout and mentor, and his latest
ensemble pools young players from the North of Europe. Tomasz has had strong
connections to Finland in particular since the early 1970s when he was part of
Edward Vesala’s creative circle. Now he welcomes two prodigiously gifted Finns
into his group, pianist Alexi Tuomarila and drummer Olavi Louhivuori, both
expressive and imaginative players. On “Dark Eyes”, Jakob Bro, the young
guitarist heard on ECM on Paul Motian’s “Garden of Eden” is cast most often in
the role of subtle colourist, while fellow Dane Anders Christensen, on electric
bass throughout, provides the band’s throbbing pulse. The programme features new
Stanko compositions, including “The Dark Eyes of Martha Hirsch”, inspired by an
Oskar Kokoschka canvas, plus a new version of “Last Song” from Tomasz ECM debut
“Balladyna”, as well as “Dirge for Europe” and “Etiuda baletowa nr. 3” from the
pen of Krzysztof Komeda.
***
Tomasz Stanko’s smouldering improvisations and grainy-toned trumpet find a
new context on “Dark Eyes”. Like Miles Davis (a major influence) before him, the
Polish jazz master also has an impressive record as talent scout and mentor, and
his latest ensemble pools young players from the North of Europe. Tomasz has had
strong connections to Finland in particular since the early 1970s when he was
part of Edward Vesala’s creative circle. Now he welcomes two prodigiously gifted
Finns into his group, pianist Alexi Tuomarila and drummer Olavi Louhivuori, both
expressive and imaginative players. On “Dark Eyes”, Jakob Bro, the young
guitarist heard on ECM on Paul Motian’s “Garden of Eden” is cast most often in
the role of subtle colourist, while fellow Dane Anders Christensen, on electric
bass throughout, provides the band’s throbbing pulse.
If the band is ‘Nordic’, Stanko’s inspirations are more broadly cosmopolitan.
These days, he splits his time between homes in Warsaw and New York, and two of
the titles on “Dark Eyes” – “Grand Central” and “Amsterdam Avenue” - are
directly inspired by New York locales. A third, the album’s title track, takes
its cue from an encounter with an Oskar Kokoschka canvas at the Neue Galerie on
Fifth Avenue. Stanko was struck by the expressionist intensity of Kokoschka’s
painting “Martha Hirsch (Dreaming Woman)” and the haunted, hollowed-eyed gaze of
its subject, subsequently “translating”, as he says, the emotional impact of the
work, its “dimension of feeling”, into sound. “Everything you experience gets
into the music, but I’ve always been touched as much by art as by anything else
in life. Fiction, poetry, film, the theatre. The visual arts especially. The way
a painter uses paint, or the way he approaches form – distorting it to
abstraction, or painting naturalistically or poetically... these aspects can be
paralleled in my musical language, in the way I shape a melody line. ”
Two pieces here – “Terminal 7” and “May Sun” – are compositions written
originally to accompany drama by Swedish playwright Lars Norén in Warsaw
performances: “In the studio, also in dialogue with Manfred (Eicher), we changed
the direction of these tunes –getting more out of their atmospheric qualities”.
“Samba Nova” is a memory of the quintet’s trip to Brazil last year. “I like the
deeply mournful quality in some Brazilian music as well as the happy and
celebratory things – this piece touches on both elements.”
With “Dirge for Europe” and “Etiuda baletowa nr. 3”, Stanko revisits music of
his first employer, composer-pianist Krzysztof Komeda. Interestingly, however,
these are not pieces that Tomasz played in his years on the road with Komeda.
“‘Dirge for Europe’ - I think I played that only once with Komeda, at the (1967)
jazz-and-poetry recording session. And the ballet study I never played at all.
That was from 1962, a year before I joined his band. It was Alexi (Tuomarila)
who focused on that piece and really wanted to play it. I always like to return
to Komeda, though. His music is very close to my heart, to my feelings.”
Over several ECM sessions Tomasz has returned, too, to music first put down on
his debut for the label, 1975’s “Balladyna”. This time it is the piece “Last
Song” that is reinterpreted and, in the best jazz tradition, made new.
***
When Tomasz Stanko won the European Jazz Prize in 2002, the jury declared:
“Stanko has developed a unique sound and personal music that is instantly
recognizable and unmistakably his own... A world-class player, a stylist, a
charismatic performer and original composer, his music now assuming simplicity
of form and mellowness that comes with years of work, exploration and
experience. Tomasz Stanko – a true master and leader of European jazz.” In the
1990s, his work reached a new level of public recognition through recordings
such as “Litania”, his tribute to Komeda and “From the Green Hill” – which won
the German Critics Prize as Album Of The Year in 2000. With “Soul of Things”
Stanko hit a new level of international popularity, touring the world with his
young Polish quartet. In 2005 Stanko’s “Suspended Night” won the Australian Bell
Award as Best Jazz Album of the Year. “Lontano” similarly met with a very warm
worldwide press response. The “Soul of Things”/”Suspended Night”/”Lontano”
trilogy also put Stanko’s teammates, on the world jazz map, and they have gone
on to significant success as an autonomous unit, the Marcin Wasilewski Trio.
After a decade of working almost exclusively with the quartet, Tomasz is once
fielding several projects, of which the first priority is the “Dark Eyes” band.
Pianist Alexi Tuomarila studied classical music at the Espoo Music Institute in
Finland, and jazz at the Brussels Royal Conservatory. A competition winner since
1999 when he won both best ensemble and best soloist prizes at the international
Jazz Hoeilaart competition in Belgium, he has also received first prizes from
the Monaco and Tremplin competitions and recorded several well-received albums
for Warner Finland. Of the new Stanko band, he was the first to work with
Tomasz: “Alexi’s trio, also with Olavi Louhivuori on drums was playing on the
bill in Oslo when I was there with Bobo Stenson, already some years ago. I liked
Alexi’s melodic inventiveness and made a mental note for the future. And when I
had some work in Warsaw which Marcin (Wasilewski) couldn’t do, I invited him.”
Danish guitarist Jakob Bro is one of the most highly regarded of the younger
jazz players. Lee Konitz, Bill Frisell, Paul Motian and Ben Street all guested
on his most recent album, while Joe Lovano and Tom Harrell joined him for recent
Copenhagen performances. In Stanko’s band he offers focused and subtle sound-colouration
as well as filigree soloing. It was Bro who introduced Anders Christensen to
Tomasz. Christensen, who plays electric bass throughout “Dark Eyes” has also
worked with Paul Motian, and recorded with George Garzone and Steve Kuhn, and
toured the world with rock band the Ravonettes.
Drummer Olavi Louhivuori played with Anthony Braxton, Marilyn Crispell, Susanne
Abbuehl, Kenny Wheeler and many other international improvisers. A thoroughly
musical percussionist, alert to tonal as well as rhythmic implications,
Louhivuori played violin, piano and cello before moving to drums.
(all info courtesy of ECM)
