Record Reviews

ANTYKWINTET ~ ANTYKWINTET (SWINGING TRICITY VOL.3) SOLITON 231 (Barcode: 5901571092317) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 1978 - 1980 Released: 2012 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 AntykwintetFind albums by this artist 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 KulakowskiFind albums by this artist and flautist Antoni SliwaFind albums by this artist (who´s siblings played with two other ensembles documented by this series: BasztaFind albums by this artist and Rama 111Find albums by this artist). The initial quartet also included bassist Lech WielebaFind albums by this artist and drummer Jozef EliaszFind albums by this artist. That quartet also included percussionist Piotr SapiejaFind albums by this artist as a guest musician. Later on the quartet was expanded to a quintet with the addition of trumpeter Mariusz StopnickiFind albums by this artist and Eliasz was replaced by Marian SzarmachFind albums by this artist. The music includes seven compositions, six of which are originals by Kulakowski and one is by American guitarist Barney KesselFind albums by this artist, 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 JacobsonFind albums by this artist for creating this series and keeping it going!

CD 1 Remastered Recommend To A Friend

BASZTA ~ BASZTA (SWINGING TRICITY VOL.1) SOLITON 074 (Barcode: 5901549899740) ~ POLAND ~ Brass Rock Recorded: 1976 - 1978 Released: 2011 This is the first 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 BasztaFind albums by this artist ensemble, a Jazz-Rock Fusion / Funk outfit, which was very popular locally as it held the position of the house band at the local student club. The group was founded in 1976 and existed for about five years until the late 1970s, and unfortunately never managed to record even one album, which sadly was the fate of many Polish Jazz artists during the Socialist regime. However they did record for the Tricity Polish Radio station in Gdansk, where about half of the material included on this album comes from, the other half being live recordings from the student club, which was their residence. Baszta was one of few Polish Jazz ensembles playing Brass Rock, i.e. horns oriented Jazz-Rock Fusion, similar to Blood, Sweat & TearsFind albums by this artist, ChaseFind albums by this artist and many other ensembles representing this particular sub-genre. It was founded by trumpeter Edward KolczynskiFind albums by this artist and over the years featured the following musicians present on this album: guitarist Leszek DranickiFind albums by this artist, saxophonists Jerzy GlowczewskiFind albums by this artist and Zbigniew KedzierskiFind albums by this artist, trombonists Adam OchockiFind albums by this artist and Stanislaw SucheckiFind albums by this artist, keyboardist Lech WosFind albums by this artist, bassist Aleksander SliwaFind albums by this artist, drummer Jan RuckiFind albums by this artist and percussionist Piotr SapiejaFind albums by this artist. The group performed both their original compositions, mostly by Kolczynski and some by Wos, which were first-rate, as well as their arrangements of Jazz, Rock and Pop standards, which were quite witty and intelligent. The radio recordings have excellent sonic quality, but the live recordings are somewhat low-hi, but still definitely worth listening to. The overall level of performances is superb, except for a few vocal tracks (among the live tracks), which is less appealing. 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 JacobsonFind albums by this artist for creating this series and keeping it going!

Updated: 17/04/2020Posted:

CD 1 Remastered Recommend To A Friend

LESZEK DRANICKI ~ LESZEK DRANICKI (SWINGING TRICITY VOL.5) NOT ON LABEL ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Rock Fusion Recorded: 1986 - 1989 Released: 2013 This is the fifth 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 vocalist / guitarist Leszek DranickiFind albums by this artist, who was a member of the Jazz-Rock Fusion ensemble BasztaFind albums by this artist, which is also documented in this series, and later played in several other groups (including the legendary KrzakFind albums by this artist) and recorded as a leader. This album is an expanded reissue of his debut solo album "With A Little Help…Find albums with this title", originally released by Polskie NagraniaFind albums on this label / MuzaFind albums on this label, with six bonus tracks recorded later at radio sessions. The music consists all of Jazz, Blues and Pop standards, which Dranicki sings (in English) and plays guitar on. Although some of the arrangements are pretty nice, the overall effect is far from spectacular. As usual the attempt to sing in English simply falls apart and spoils the pleasure of the instrumental work, which is better by far. Dranicki is a good guitar player with a Bluesy feel and splendid technical efficiency. The two bonus tracks recorded with bassist Andrzej CudzichFind albums by this artist and drummer Eryk KulmFind albums by this artist are the most impressive and the last two solo tracks are the weakest. The problem with this album is that is completely lacks any originality and shows how some of the musicians behind the Iron Curtain wanted to copy what was happening elsewhere, rather than create some new facets in their musical explorations. Of course this material is still worthy, especially as part of an archival series. 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 JacobsonFind albums by this artist for creating this series and keeping it going!

CD 1 Digipak Remastered Bonus Tracks Recommend To A Friend