Antykwintet – Antykwintet (Swinging Tricity Vol.3) (2012)

Leszek Kulakowski - piano
Antoni Sliwa - flute
Lech Wieleba - bass
Jozef Eliasz - drums
Marian Szarmach - drums
Mariusz Stopinski - trumpet
Piotr Sapieja - oercussion

SOLITON 231



By Adam Baruch

This is the third installment in the excellent archival series documenting Polish Jazz created in the country's Tricity on the Baltic Sea, one of the important centers where Polish Jazz thrives and over the years produced numerous first-rate musicians and superb bands. The series presents material, which in most cases never previously appeared in any form and therefore is of immense historic importance.

This chapter presents the Antykwintet ensemble, which was a relatively short lived quartet / quintet founded in 1978 and active for about four years, but unfortunately never managed to record even one album under their name, which sadly was the fate of many Polish Jazz artists during the Socialist regime. However they did participate three times (1978, 1979 & 1980) in the Jazz Nad Odra festival in Wroclaw, where all of the material on this album comes from.

Antykwintet was founded by pianist / composer Leszek Kulakowski and flautist Antoni Sliwa (who's siblings played with two other ensembles documented by this series: Baszta and Rama 111). The initial quartet also included bassist Lech Wieleba and drummer Jozef Eliasz. That quartet also included percussionist Piotr Sapieja as a guest musician. Later on the quartet was expanded to a quintet with the addition of trumpeter Mariusz Stopnicki and Eliasz was replaced by Marian Szarmach.

The music includes seven compositions, six of which are originals by Kulakowski and one is by American guitarist Barney Kessel, all recorded live as mentioned earlier. The sound quality is not great, but remastered it is certainly good enough to be enjoyed. The live setting allows for expanded treatments of the compositions, four of which are over ten minutes and one over seventeen minutes long. This means there are ample opportunities to hear long solos, mostly by the pianists (on both acoustic and electric piano) and the flautists. Since the flute is sadly rarely used as the front solo instrument in Jazz, this album should be greatly interesting to flute aficionados. The quintet with the trumpet / flute front line is also very unusual, almost unique in fact, which is another interesting aspect of this album.

The music is modern mainstream, not revolutionary but certainly interesting and quite innovative at the time. The live setting again allows for a lot of freedom, especially during the extended solos, which, assuming the ensemble would have continued together might have developed into more imaginative pastures, but alas we'll never know. In any case this is certainly worth revisiting some thirty plus years later.

This is another great piece of Polish Jazz history, which should definitely be told and preserved as part of the country's Cultural Heritage. Kudos to Marcin Jacobson for creating this series and keeping it going!

Samech – Quachatta (2012)

Anna Ostachowska - viola
Magdalena Pluta - cello
Marek Lewandowski - double bass
Robert Sztorc - percussion

TZADIK 8169






By Adam Baruch

This is a debut album by the Polish Jazz-World Fusion quartet Samech, which consists basically of a string trio: Anna Ostachowska who plays voila, Magdalena Pluta who plays cello and Marek Lewandowski, who plays double bass with percussionist Robert Sztorc (who in his distant past was a member of the Prog outfit T.A.O.). The quartet plays acoustic music, which to some extent is based on Jewish and Klezmer music elements, but takes the music much further into Medieval European music, Turkish swirling rhythms, Sephardic, rather than Ashkenazi musical tradition and the Iberian Peninsula Moorish heritage.

The album consists of ten wonderful pieces, seven of which are written by Ostachowska or co-written / co-arranged with Agata Krauz, one is by Krauz herself, one is co-written by Pluta and Lewandowski and the remaining one is by the Davka ensemble (another great Jewish Music ensemble, from US, which also records for the Tzadik label). The incredible sound of the viola and cello combined with the bass pulsations and mostly Oriental percussion is simply stunning and completely unique, which immediately places Samech in a class of its own.

The performances are all very exciting and manage to keep the listener on his toes through the entire duration of the album. The overall sound is well balanced with all four instruments clearly audible, which is such a relief opposite the much cluttered sound one come across so often in contemporary recordings. This is a perfect example of innovation rather than imitation, which of course is highly commendable.

The album should delight many quite diverse audiences, as it speaks to World Music, Classical and Jazz connoisseurs alike and is of course highly recommended. Hopefully the ensemble will follow the superb debut effort with additional future achievements. Well done indeed!

Kroke – Feelharmony (2012)

Kroke (Band)
Anna Maria Jopek - vocals
Krzysztof Herdzin - piano / arrangements
Sinfonietta Cracovia

EMI 5099901770827





By Adam Baruch

In autumn of 2011 I had the pleasure of being present at the opening concert of the Singer's Warsaw Festival, which featured Poland's most prominent World Music ensemble Kroke and their guest, superstar vocalist Anna Maria Jopek. Jopek, who in recent years discovered World Music herself, as evident on her latest recordings, was nevertheless quite a surprising partner for Kroke, and considering she only landed in Warsaw a few hours before the concert and managed only a brief rehearsal with them, things were quite tense. But when the lights went out and the music started, it was obvious that magic was in the air that night and for the next two hours the audience was completely mesmerized. Obviously the very same magic prompted Kroke to include Jopek on this, their next studio album.

Kroke, which consists of viola player Tomasz Kukurba, accordionist Jerzy Bawol and bassist Tomasz Lato, started in the early 1990s as a Klezmer band, one of numerous such bands established in Poland as a result of the Renaissance of the Jewish Culture in the country. They started to perform at Krakow's old Jewish district Kazimierz, which became a fashionable tourist attraction, and in time their reputation grew. They were lucky to gain international attention and soon became the resident ethnic stars. In time they left Klezmer music almost entirely and embraced World Music originating in many different cultural spheres and added noticeable Jazz influence to their music.

For this album Kroke joined forces with, in addition to the a.m. Anna Maria Jopek, also the excellent drummer Slawomir Berny and pianist / composer / arranger Krzysztof Herdzin, who co-produced the album, composed and arranged some orchestral intros to the band's music and conducted the Sinfonietta Cracovia, which performed the orchestral parts. The album presents twelve pieces, eleven of which are original compositions by the band's members and one is by the pioneer of modern Klezmer music Harry Kandel. As the title suggests, the band intended to "take a step" into a more "symphonic" sound for their music, utilizing the orchestra.

Unfortunately, intentions aside, the album fails to achieve the same level of excitement and spontaneous inspiration, which characterized the live concert I witnessed. Although Jopek delivers some superb vocal parts, they constitute only a small contribution to the entire project. The orchestral arrangements sound quite out of place in this case, turning the free spirit of World Music into a housebroken animal, which is a pity. Some things simply don't go well together. Overall there is plenty of great music here and even if the album sounds very commercial at times, it was created by excellent musicians, who meant well.

Krzysztof Herdzin – Dancing Flowers (2005)

Krzysztof Herdzin - keyboards
Marek Napiorkowski - guitar
Zbigniew Wegehaupt - bass
Cezary Konrad - drums
and others

FUSION 001





By Adam Baruch

This album by Polish keyboardist / composer / arranger Krzysztof Herdzin presents yet another aspect of his seemingly universal musical personality. It is basically a Funk album, which consists of seven instrumentals and three songs, all composed by Herdzin. The arrangements, especially those involving the horn section, have some proximity to Jazz, but overall it is a Pop album with some Jazz-Rock Fusion elements.

The music is performed by an excellent team, which includes guitarist Marek Napiorkowski, bassists Zbigniew Wegehaupt (in a rare appearance on bass guitar), Filip Sojka and Miroslaw Wisniewski and drummers Cezary Konrad, Grzegorz Grzyb and Michal Dabrowka and horn players like saxophonists Michal Kulenty, Marek Podkowa and Mariusz Melczarek and several others. The vocals are handled by three young Pop vocalists, two female and one male, all of them quite unimpressive

The music is based on the American Funk model, which was developed in the 1970s / 1980s by a plentitude of mostly African American musicians, especially the archetypical Earth, Wind & Fire, but also by many partly Jazz oriented artists like George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Grover Washington, Jr. and even Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock during some periods of their extensive careers. Herdzin presents his version of Funk, which is based more on the melodic content than the rhythmic progression and is therefore somewhat softened, or simply more European. Herdzin often states that anything he does is by no means inferior to whatever the Americans are doing, and to tell the truth he is often correct when saying so, but on the other hand as it was once so adequately put: "White Man Can't Jump" and Funk is after all about "jumping" more than anything else. When asked if he ever played Funk, Herdzin can most certainly answer positively, following this recording.

Overall this is a well done, pleasant album (except for the vocal tracks), which is ideal for driving on sunny days (pretty rare in Poland) with the volume up and a pretty blonde beside you. Enjoy!

Krzysztof Herdzin – Fantasy On Themes From IV String Quartet By Grazyna Bacewicz / Fairytale Stories (2009)

Krzysztof Herdzin - piano
Michal Kulenty - saxophone
Robert Kubiszyn - bass
Cezary Konrad - drums
Royal String Quartet
Pawel Gusnar - saxophone

POLSKIE RADIO 1269



By Adam Baruch

It seems that some Jazz musicians / composers, especially those with Classical Music education and training, are caught in a duality conflict between these two streams of artistic expression. After all the European musical tradition cultivated Classical music for centuries as a lofty and superior cultural form, leaving other kinds of music, like Folklore, Pop and later also Jazz to the masses. Since the late 20^th Century Jazz managed to achieve some recognition from the Classical music elite, but is hardly commonly accepted on equal terms.

Polish pianist / composer / arranger Krzysztof Herdzin belongs to that particular group, which is probably the reason why he tries to bridge his Jazz activities with Classical music, as demonstrated on this album, which presents two Jazz-Classical Fusion pieces composed by him. The first piece is a three parts fantasy based on the themes used in the 4^th String Quartet by Polish 20^th Century violinist / composer Grazyna Bacewicz, who was an exceptionally gifted composer concentrating on music involving the violin, but wrote also full orchestral pieces. The fantasy is performed by a Jazz quartet, which includes Herdzin's regular rhythm section: bassist Robert Kubiszyn and drummer Cezary Konrad and saxophonist Michal Kulenty. The Jazz quartet is accompanied by the Royal String Quartet. The second piece is an eight part cycle of miniatures performed in a duet setting with saxophonist Pawel Gusnar.

The problem with most such attempts is to combine Classical music with Jazz is usually twofold: to integrate the two into an organic amalgam and to maintain a balance between the conflicting nature of the two. Often those attempts fail on both counts or at least at one of them, becoming either Jazz & Strings or Classical music played by the saxophone. In this case is seems that Herdzin's Jazz affiliation takes over, leaving the Classical component slightly in the background. Although the integration between the Jazz and string quartets is very smooth, the resulting music demonstrates a Jazzy "swing", which Classical music usually lacks. Whatever the music misses in adventurousness and novelty is well compensated by great melodies and slick arrangements. Nevertheless this is overall a very satisfactory effort, which surely deserves a wider audience than it initially achieved. Personally I prefer the intimate duets, which work better for me, but the whole record should prove interesting to most true music lovers.

The performances are, as usual with Herdzin's albums, spotless and inspired. All the musicians involved are highly talented and professional. Herdzin, as usual, manages to present one more facet of his bottomless box of tricks, which never ceases to amaze.

Krzysztof Herdzin – Looking For Balance (2011)

Krzysztof Herdzin - piano
Gregoire Maret - harmonica
Piotr Baron - saxophone
Marek Napiorkowski - guitra
Robert Kubiszyn - bass
Cezary Konrad - drums
with
Sinfonia Viva Orchestra

UNIVERSAL 602527877860

By Adam Baruch

Polish pianist / composer / arranger Krzysztof Herdzin is without a doubt not only the most versatile musician in his country, but also extremely prolific and obviously accordingly talented. He likes to work with as many different musical settings as possible, from a piano trio to large scale orchestral extravaganzas, seemingly with equal ease and success. This is one of such "out there" projects, which features Herdzin's original music played by a Jazz ensemble and accompanied by a full scale string and woodwinds orchestra.

The ensemble comprises of Herdzin's regular trio, with bassist Robert Kubiszyn and drummer Cezary Konrad, and three guests: guitarist Marek Napiorkowski, saxophonist Piotr Baron and Swiss harmonica player Gregoire Maret (of Pat Metheny Group fame), who is the featured soloist. The Sinfonia Viva Orchestra is responsible for the orchestral parts.

The music belongs broadly to the Jazz & Strings format, which of course was tried many times before. The Jazz ensemble plays a set of very melodic, relaxed and lyrical compositions, taking solos in turn, with Maret being the principle soloist. The harmonica is relatively rarely used as a solo instrument in the Jazz framework and with the exception of a few known cases (most notably the Belgian Toots Thielemans) is usually associated with less challenging music. Of course in the hands (and mouth) of a very talented player it can sound quite virtuosic, as is the case here, but it adds another dimension of "sweetness" to the proceedings, which borders with overdoing it. Personally Baron's contributions on this album are the most interesting, albeit being decisively too limited.

The orchestral arrangements are elegant and kept in good taste, playing only the second fiddle (pun intended) in the proceedings. Although excellently played and masterfully arranged, they seem to be merely ornamentation, contributing little to the actual musical content other than setting an atmospheric background. There is definitely a fine balance and cooperation between the ensemble and the orchestra, but full musical integration is not achieved here, perhaps purposely. Herdzin of course proves that he can easily handle the orchestral arrangements any way he pleases.

Overall this is a very nice album, which many listeners will find pleasing and enjoyable. For hardcore Jazz fans this might be a bit too sweet to swallow (especially those with diabetes like myself), but nevertheless it is professionally executed classy music, accessible to a wide audience, which definitely has its merits.

Krzysztof Herdzin – Jestes Swiatlem (2013)

Krzysztof Herdzin - keyboards & other instruments
Robert Kubiszyn - bass
Cezary Konrad - drums
with
Marek Napiorkowski - guitar
Anna Maria Jopek - vocals
Dorota Miskiewicz - vocals
Grzegorz Turnau - vocals

UNIVERSAL 602537293872

By Adam Baruch

The Jazz & Poetry sub-genre is one of the pillars of Polish Jazz in particular, but also Polish Music in general, as it appears on the scene in many variations and crosses genre boundaries between Pop, Rock and Jazz since many decades. The abundance of great poets and poetesses as much as composers and performers, the intrinsic Polish lyricism and melancholy and the intellectual elitism of Polish Art evidently produce a fruitful ground for such meetings between words and music, which happen in the Polish Culture more often then anywhere else in the world.

This album by celebrated Polish Jazz pianist / composer / arranger Krzysztof Herdzin is his contribution to the Jazz & Poetry legacy. It presents eight original compositions and one arrangement of a song by the Polish 19^th Century Romantic composer Karol Kurpinski to the words of a late 18^th / early 19^th Century poet Franciszek Karpinski, the father of Polish Sentimentalism. Of the eight compositions by Herdzin, one (the title track closing the album) is an instrumental and the others have lyrics by contemporary Polish poets: Konstanty Ildefons Galczynski (one of my favorite Polish poets) and Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer.

Herdzin assembled a dreamy team to record this music, which features him on keyboards and a plethora of other instruments, bassist Robert Kubiszyn and drummer Cezary Konrad. Guitarist Marek Napiorkowski guests on five tracks. The vocal tracks are sung by the legendary Anna Maria Jopek, Dorota Miskiewicz and Grzegorz Turnau. Herdzin himself sings on one track and adds background vocals on two more.

In spite of the truly excellent instrumental accompaniment and no less excellent vocals, the focus of this album is the original music, which spotlights Herdzin's talent as a composer. Diverse and often even contrasting in the many tempi and cross-genre excursions, from deep lyricism to exotic World Music themes, this music remains constantly beautifully melodic and round. It fits the various poems used as the lyrics perfectly, which is always a great challenge for any composer. Even though Herdzin is still a relatively young musician, his enormous experience and his many talents come to full fruition herein.

The instrumental work is pretty exciting as well, with Herdzin changing instruments more often that he changes his socks, playing all of them quite well, Kubiszyn playing some very nasty fretless bass parts that make the hair on your neck curl, Konrad keeps the entire ensemble rolling like only he can, and Napiorkowski adds some superbly tasty ornamentation. All three (or four in fact) vocalists are without reproach, with Jopek being (for me) divine as always, but the others not falling behind by any means. Turnau, who specializes in the Jazz & Poetry niche, sings most of the vocals, always with sensitivity and exquisite diction.

So here we have it, another great album by Maestro Herdzin, whose inexhaustible energies know no limits. Jazz & Poetry buffs will of course love this to bits, but for any cultural music connoisseur this is a piece of music worthy admiration and a source of many pleasurable moments.

Polish-Jazz blog provides media patronage for new album by Maciej Fortuna Trio !!!

Maciej Fortuna Trio

Maciej Fortuna – trumpet
Piotr Lemańczyk – double bass
Krzysztof Gradziuk – drums

Marta Podulka - vocals (track 07)

At Home (2013)

The new, already third album of Maciej Fortuna Trio is a very personal release which came into being in the home recording studio in December 2012. For the members of the band it is a fruit of months of working on the stage, a summary of the chequered past year, during which they played 89 concerts together. New compositions interwine with open forms. This is the first album in which Maciej Fortuna’s unique musical language outlines fully. The end result of this release would not feature its exceptional shape if it had not been for the equivalent input of each member of the Trio. The new recording is a bridge between the previous achievements of the complement and their new programme being under preparation for several months.

Tracks:

01. For Alice - Maciej Fortuna
02. Travel To Anhram - Maciej Fortuna
03. No Man's Land - Maciej Fortuna
04. Rivendell - Maciej Fortuna
05. Night - Maciej Fortuna
06. Prelude - Maciej Fortuna
07. Story in 4 Parts: I - Maciej Fortuna Trio
08. Story in 4 Parts: II - Maciej Fortuna Trio
09. Story in 4 Parts: III - Maciej Fortuna Trio
10. Story in 4 Parts: IV - Maciej Fortuna Trio
11. For Alice - Maciej Fortuna

Jarek Wist / Krzysztof Herdzin Big Band – Swinging With Sinatra (2013)

Jarek Wist - vocals
Krzysztof Herdzin - arranger, conductor

DUX 0090








By Adam Baruch

This is a live recording of a concert dedicated, as the title suggests, to the songs which were part of the classic repertoire of Frank Sinatra. The songs are performed by young Polish vocalist Jarek Wist, who is accompanied by a Big Band led and conducted by distinguished veteran pianist / composer / arranger Krzysztof Herdzin. The album includes fourteen tracks, twelve of which are standards from the Sinatra repertoire and two are original compositions by Herdzin, one used as an intro and the other as a showcase to present the members of the Big Band at mid-time.

Sinatra, who was often dismissed by narrow-minded Jazz buffs as a crooner and mere entertainer, was in fact one of the greatest American Jazz singers and had more swing in his toes alone than most others, certainly more than his critics. His very individual and unique treatments of the great American Songbook are the absolute Holy Grail of American Jazz vocals and remain untouched by time, incomparable, undefeated and uncontested. Especially notable are his superb recordings with Big Bands, like the Count Basie Orchestra and several others, arranged and conducted by such luminaries as Nelson Riddle, Neal Hefti or Quincy Jones. All these recordings are quintessential, pure and unadulterated Jazz classics. It is simply impossible to listen to this album without comparing it, for example, to the classic "Sinatra At The Sands", recorded with the Count Basie Orchestra conducted by Quincy Jones.

Unfortunately the comparison doesn't leave much space to remain positive about this album, which is a great pity, since the intentions were probably quite honorable and the participants are all excellent musicians. I can understand Herdzin willing to step into the shoes of the great Big Band arrangers of the past and indeed his part as the arranger is probably the best ingredient of the entire package. However even these arrangements sound rather pale and lack the zest and the kick which characterize the original Sinatra recordings. I have no idea if the Big Band had ample opportunity to rehearse and considering the economic realities of a Big Band, they most probably did not, which is immediately apparent. As already stated, the participating musicians, who include pianist Piotr Wrombel, guitarist Marek Napiorkowski, bassist Robert Kubiszyn and drummer Pawel Dobrowolski and thirteen additional brass and reed players, are all able and talented musicians, but obviously have limited opportunities to show their skills within the Big Band collective when accompanying a lead singer.

Wist is a rather ordinary singer, completely lacking the theatrical and humorous sides of Sinatra's stage persona. His interpretations of these classic standards are simply dull and often imperfect technically. And of course there is the dreaded Polish accent and pronunciation, which is perhaps acceptable on the local market but completely unbearable to an English speaker. It's a pity the producers of this album did not consider the additional step of getting the lyrics translated into Polish; this might have saved the day, al least to some extent. Even the audience's applause present at the hall where this music was recorded sounds hesitant and weary and the sound quality of the recording suffers from uneven volume, poor separation and overall muddy resonance.

In retrospect this was a lost case before it even begun. Tackling the enormity of Sinatra's talent, heritage and status is not a very wise decision and such things are usually best left alone. The old saying: "a smart man knows how to get out of trouble but the wise man knows how to avoid trouble in the first place" is very appropriate here. During the concert Herdzin complains about the difficulty of his multi-talented persona (he not only arranged the songs, composed two pieces and conducted the band, but also plays the piano on one track and sings on another). Perhaps there is a lesson here for him, since after all he is an extremely talented person. On the other hand those who don't do don't make mistakes, and he surely does a lot.

Sylwester Ostrowski Quartet - Don't Explain (2013)

Sylwester Ostrowski Quartet

Sylwester Ostrowski - tenor sax
Reggie Moore - piano
Wayne Dockery - double bass
Newman T. Baker - drums

Sylwester Ostrowski Quartet (2013)



By Maciej Nowotny

I love Polish jazz, I suppose few can doubt this. But if Polish jazz were like this record, I would hate it! With all my heart! I would stop listening to it and bury all my records deep in the cellar. No! Better I would burn them all so there would be no chance that some other person stumble into such a deadly trap.

But why am I so exasperated? Many of my colleagues are not, indeed to my complete astonishment, they compliment this counterfeit as something true and original. But it isn't! I can say what I already repeated so many times: jazz is a kind of music, more, kind of life approach, totally OPPOSITE to copying, imitating, duplicating. And that's what this whole album is ALL about! Not only all songs are thousand times played standards but they are also reproduced by American musicians (Reggie Moore on piano, Wayne Dockery on double bass and Newman T. Baker on drums) in completely emotionless way. Dream fulfilled of jazz as desired by Marsalis clan! But from my point of view what a incredible waste of talent of so many gifted musicians!

But it is not all! On top of all this is a leader of this ensamble saxophonist Sylwester Ostrowski. Let me ask my noble colleagues jazz journalists and critics: are you deaf? Don't you hear this guy simple cannot play his instrument? He is never in tempo with other players, his tone in uncontrolled, his phrase shapeless. True, I admire his enthusiasm towards jazz but, please, we must not mix amateurs with professionals! If we rally care about music we love so much! If we want it to remain, as Polish Jazz, a synonym of the highest quality of art, of something special in this country culture landscape! Please, just stop it!