Record Reviews

GADT / OSBORNE / ZAKROCKI / OLAK ~ SPONTANEOUS CHAMBER MUSIC VOL.3 FSR 2020/17 (Barcode: 5905279364752) ~ POLAND ~ Free Jazz / Improvised Music Recorded: 2018 Released: 2020 This is the third album in the "Spontaneous Chamber Music" series, created by the Polish improvising duo comprising of violinist Patryk ZakrockiFind albums by this artist and guitarist Marcin OlakFind albums by this artist, this time expanded to a quartet with participation of Polish vocalist Anna GadtFind albums by this artist and Luxembourgian cellist Annemie OsborneFind albums by this artist. The album presents fourteen relatively short spontaneous performances, recorded in a studio, which are assumingly credited to the participating musicians. Although continuing the ideas and modus operandi behind the two previous albums, the music presented here is even more "chamber" than before, in the "intimate" meaning of the chamber idiom. The presence of the two female musicians must have deeply influenced the proceedings, which is hardly surprising after all. Gadt treats her voice as an instrument, which she uses skillfully both to improvise in tandem with the others and to create a background tonal layer behind the others while they improvise. Her brilliant ideas and technical abilities easily place her on top of the list of Polish female improvising vocalists. Considering the fact that she in parallel to her performing career also teaches vocals, the next generation of Polish Jazz vocalist is certainly in good hands. She is the first Polish vocalist to take Polish Jazz / Improvised Music vocals a significant step forward for the first time in decades. Her cooperation with Olak can be heard on the wonderful album "GombrowiczFind albums with this title" they recorded as a duo and Osborne appeared as guest on the recording of her beautiful solo album "Mysterium LunaeFind albums with this title". Although Gadt´s contributions on this album are the most striking, all four musicians contributed wonderfully to its creation. Olak plays some superb guitar lines, Zakrocki adds atmospheric viola choruses and Osborne weaves complex cello structures, all of which combined with Gadt´s vocals create some of the finest improvising music I came across lately, which is perhaps also accessible to relatively wider audiences than such music usually is able to attract, due to the highly melodic approach used by the musicians. Overall this is a splendid album, which proves that Improvised Music can by way more than just an expression of musical freedom and cooperation but also an opportunity to innovate and produce music that is able to reach audience beyond the close circle of sympathizers, which sadly is the case in most Improvised Music recordings. For enthusiasts if Avant-Garde vocals this album is an absolute must.

Updated: 10/10/2020Posted: 10/10/2020

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ANNA GADT ~ MYSTERIUM LUNAE HEVHETIA 0170 (Barcode: 8588005258326) ~ POLAND ~ Avant-Garde Jazz Recorded: 2017 - 2018 Released: 2018 This is the fifth album by Polish vocalist / composer Anna GadtFind albums by this artist and her second cooperation with the fabulous Polish piano trio RGGFind albums by this artist, which comprises of pianist Lukasz OjdanaFind albums by this artist, bassist Maciej GarbowskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Krzysztof GradziukFind albums by this artist. Cellist Annemie OsborneFind albums by this artist from Luxembourg is the guest artist. The album presents seventeen pieces some of which incorporate four poems written by the Polish / Jewish poet Boleslaw LesmianFind albums by this artist, but most feature only wordless vocalese. Nine of the pieces were composed by Gadt, one each by Ojdana and Garbowski and the remaining six are improvisations. The album was recorded at the excellent Studio Tokarnia and engineered by Jan SmoczynskiFind albums by this artist, with the usual superb sound quality. From the very onset of the album it is obvious that this is her most ambitious effort so far, mostly improvised and full of complex melodic themes, which last sometimes only for a brief moment before being transformed into another improvised passage. With wordless vocalese dominating the proceedings, this is perhaps the boldest step in Polish vocal Jazz since decades, bridging the void stretching over forty years into the past, when Urszula DudziakFind albums by this artist created her revolutionary vocal experiments in the early 1970s. Gadt is exceedingly fortunate to develop the collaboration with RGG, who are one of the most open minded and technically proficient Polish ensembles able to match her vision, which as a result goes way beyond accompaniment and becomes a fully integrated musical creation. The piano trio also moves consistently over time towards more open formats and Improvised Music, and proves to be a most amicable companion to Gadt, which is fully demonstrated herein. It is also very satisfying to see Gadt embarking upon the ambitious and highly aesthetic Jazz & Poetry idiom, especially in view of the fact that a century old poems are able to become a part of today´s Avant Garde, alive and kicking, timeless and penetrating. Words and sounds combined are able to build highly complex and intricate intellectual structures, which can be, when properly executed like in this case, more potent than simply the sum of their ingredients. Overall this is a brilliant piece of contemporary music, fascinating, exciting and challenging, which is a sublime proof of the fact that music knows no limits and there is always a way to step beyond the horizon. My sincere thanks to the musicians involved, not only for the intellectual pleasure their music bestows upon the listener, but primarily for keeping the ray of hope alight in a word full of mediocre darkness. Hats off Milady and Gents!

Updated: 17/12/2018Posted: 20/03/2018

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