Record Reviews

JANCZARSKI & MCCRAVEN QUINTET ~ TRAVELLING EAST WEST FOR TUNE 0081 (Barcode: 5902768701876) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2015 Released: 2015 This is an album by the Polish / American quintet co-led by Polish saxophonist Borys JanczarskiFind albums by this artist and American drummer Stephen McCravenFind albums by this artist, with Polish pianist Joanna GajdaFind albums by this artist and bassist Adam KowalewskiFind albums by this artist and American trumpeter Rasul SiddikFind albums by this artist. Together they perform eight tunes, seven of which are originals (three by Janczarski, two by Gajda and one each by McCraven and Siddik) and one is a standard by Woody ShawFind albums by this artist. The music is standard mainstream Jazz, with nice compositions and eloquent execution, but sadly not remarkable in any way. Except for the singular Siddik´s tune, which has an interesting World Music motif, the rest of the material is well within the Bebop or even Swing tradition, which has been already exploited to death decades ago. The musicians are all professionals, but one can find hardly anything out of ordinary by any of them on this album. Siddik´s presence in these proceedings seems completely accidental, considering his past musical path. Of course many Jazz enthusiasts still like this kind of music, especially in America, where it still rules, but honestly it contributes nothing to the development of Jazz nowadays and recording such music, especially in Poland, as good as it might be, does not make much sense. Overall it is a pleasant, well played mainstream album, which surely will please many mainstream listeners, but is definitely not something I´d play again after enjoying it once.

Updated: 22/02/2016Posted: 22/02/2016

CD 1 Recommend To A Friend