The youthful energy which emanates from every note on the CD perfectly corresponds with the surprising musical maturity of the leader, both on a compositional level and in its narrative drama and its individual phrases. (Jazz Forum)
First solo album of current Tomasz Stanko Trio. This is a tribute to music of Krzysztof Komeda - an extraordinary talented self-taught composer and pianist whose after his tragic, untimely death, became a legend and a cult hero of Polish jazz. All tracks on this CD were composed by Komeda. This CD includes extra track - live performance of Sleep Safe and Warm" from Roman Polanski's movie "Rosemary's Baby".
"Eight years ago we started; they were very young, 16. I had a gig with some rhythm section and they called to say they can't do this, so what can I do? They recommend this young guy, a drummer, and he recommended to me the bass player and the pianist and we have half hour beforehand to make program and they do it without any experience! They already had individuality; they were good from the beginning. I think it is the way with musicians-if there's promise you're going to hear it immediately." Tomasz Stanko Umbra
This young, talented artist undoubtedly brings a gust of his own originality in the Polish pianism. It's been a long time since someone was so consequent in overthrowing the existing pianistic, constructive patterns and sonoristic standards while still employing, let's face it, the quite traditional means: dense accordics, speeding motorics at times bordering on untamed sound aggression on the one hand and the noticeable dose of lyricism on the other.(Andrzej Winiszewski)
"Conversession" is an album of roots music, although the nationalities and ancestry of musicians are less important then their own artistic heritage. The spiritual legacy which every real artist poses (or at least should).
Woodwind legend Bennie Maupin, best known for his work with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Horace Silver, The Headhnters, and many others, follows his highly acclaimed 2006 CD Penumbra, with Early Reflections, a beautiful recording of Maupin s European quartet featuring Polish musicians including pianist Michal Tokaj, and guest vocalist Hania Rybka. Early Reflections features a brilliant new version of Maupin s classic composition, The Jewel in the Lotus.
Noboru Jones, a native Californian, is one of the most remarkable new voices rising from the underground Los Angeles contemporary scenes. This state of the art jazz recording featuring Lutte Berg (Sweden) guitars & Roberto Ottaviano (Italy) saxes and Noboru Jones percussion. A cross over of ECM-style jazz, improvised music and world music with a taste of new age on the top. Dream-like atmospheres in the typical contemporary digital sound. Amazing trio recorded live in Austria. The Middlesex
...probably the most important band in Polish Jazz of 1980s - the Quartet. Created by four equally talented musicians, it was the typical 'band without a leader.' The ensemble consisted of Slawomir Kulpowicz (piano), Tomasz Szukalski (saxophones), Pawel Jarzebski (bass) and Janusz Stefanski (drums). Although the promise of the Quartet, which formally existed for only two years (1978-1980), has never fully materialized, the band won a permanent place in the history of Polish jazz. It was probably the most ambitious and original attempt by any Polish jazz musicians, except Zbigniew Seifert, to re-interpreted the music of late John Coltrane and McCoy Tyner...
This already widely admired record is a creation of three free style masters: the famous trumpet player and composer Tomasz Stanko and two Norwegians - bassist Arild Andersen and drummer Jon Christensen. Six compositions by Stanko and three by Andersen form together a logical sequence, an entity in a larger sense. Wrote British reviewer in "THE WIRE": "Stanko developed his own, highly integrated, transparent style. The music on this record is really absorbing, the execution-impressive".
And everything began with a small golden statue of a faun-like Beelzebub, a small sculpture of the purest gold, so finely engraved, so chased, so done up to perfection that it seemed to be the work of some truly beelzebubic Donatello from out of this word or of some Occidentalized Chinaman who spent his whole life forging that one unique thing... from "Peyotl" by Witkacy
"When music has this quality (sounding new each time), be it composed or improvised, written recently or long ago, in a particular recognizable style or none at all, none of this is of any consequence. The players don't matter, instruments are of no importance, the techniques of playing, the tonality of the piece, the tempo, all are just window dressing. The music is bigger than all these when its purpose is fulfilled. Absolutely, cheers to Stanko for his remarkable achievement. "
This CD consists of all complete tracks to "Balladyna" theatre play by Juliusz Slowacki at the Theater Ludowy Krakow-Nowa Huta, Poland. Premiere - May 6th, 1994.
