Record Reviews

OLGIERD DOKALSKI ~ MIRZA TARAK NOT ON LABEL ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-World Fusion Recorded: 2015 Released: 2016 This is the debut album as a leader by Polish Jazz / Improvised Music trumpeter / composer Olgierd DokalskiFind albums by this artist, recorded with an ensemble which also includes vocalist Antonina NowackaFind albums by this artist, flautist Daria WolickaFind albums by this artist, saxophonist Maciej RodakowskiFind albums by this artist and percussionist Gamid IbadullayevFind albums by this artist. The album presents ten original compositions, mostly composed by Dokalski but also co-composed or composed by the ensemble members. The album´s liner notes tell a story of a Polish Tatar Jakub Buczacki, who lived at the end of 18th Century and the beginning of the 19th Century, and who is apparently one of Dokalski´s ancestors. The album therefore explores Jakub´s life story, his wanderings and his discovery of Muslim religion. The music is accordingly soaked with "Eastern" flavors, both melodically and rhythmically, but not necessary related to the Tatar tradition. It is difficult to define this music stylistically, as it blends Improvisation and Folkloristic motifs in an inconsistent manner. The tonality of the instruments and especially the vocals sound completely weird to European ears and even listeners familiar with Eastern music will find it quite difficult to feel comfortable in this setting. Although parts of the music are meditative, it´s quite impossible to relax even for a moment being constantly subjected to atonal whining or trumpet doodling. Basically it seems that this music simply misses the point by a mile, trying to be Oriental but performed by musicians who do not know oriental music at all, or trying to be Improvised by failing to make sense or fascinate. I admit that I had to give up at some point and took it out of the CD player, before it actually ended, which happens extremely rarely. My sanity was at stake. Of course it´s only me, others might find this "music" interesting…

Updated: 28/09/2016Posted: 28/09/2016

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RDZA ~ YASS IMPROVISATION MZM 9 ~ POLAND ~ Free Jazz / Improvised Music Recorded: 2019 Released: 2019 This is the debut album by Polish Improvised Music duo RdzaFind albums by this artist, which comprises of bassist Jaroslaw MajewskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Jacek BuhlFind albums by this artist. For the recording session, which produced this album, they invited a group of musicians with whom they cooperated previously on various occasions: vocalists Antonina NowackaFind albums by this artist and Mamadou BaFind albums by this artist (alias Goo), clarinetist Piotr MelechFind albums by this artist, saxophonists Ray DickatyFind albums by this artist, Jan MalkowskiFind albums by this artist and Jedrzej LagodzinskiFind albums by this artist, flautist Maksymilian GwincinskiFind albums by this artist, pianist Jakub KrolikowskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Slawek JanickiFind albums by this artist and drummer Dominik MokrzewskiFind albums by this artist – altogether a fourteen musicians strong Improvising Music orchestra. The album presents seven pieces, all credited to the entire crew of participating musicians. The music, although representing the Avant-Garde spontaneously Improvised Music genre, is quite unique, mostly due to the fact that it was created by a large ensemble in contrast to the usual rather intimate Improvised Music settings. The incredible power of such a large ensemble, the diversity of musical ideas and the wide range of instruments (including vocalese) is extremely effective and happens so rarely, that this album is an immediate focus of interest. Of course one has to remember that such experiments have already been tried successfully both across the pond and in European Jazz in the late 1960s, but are sadly very rare these days. This album is a wonderful example of Avant-Garde / Improvised Music recording that manages to retain the magic of the live performance and change into a musical capsule, which can be listened to repeatedly, discovering new layers with each new listening session. There are many superb individual performances here, although usually very brief, and above all wonderful ensemble cooperation, which absolutely rules here. Overall this is definitely one of the best if not the best Improvised Music album on the Polish scene in 2019. I´d like to point out to my Polish colleagues who write about music, what music with BIG balls is all about, regardless of the horn power involved – if an example is necessary. An absolute must to Free / Improvised Music orchestral music connoisseurs!

Updated: 14/08/2020Posted: 20/01/2020

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