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  | GDYNIA IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA ~ PLASTIKOWY JEDNOROZEC
NOT ON LABEL ~ POLAND ~ Avant-Garde Jazz
Recorded: 2018 Released: 2021
This is the debut album by Gdynia Improvisers OrchestraFind albums by this artist, a gathering of seventeen instrumentalists and vocalists, conducted by Marcin BozekFind albums by this artist, recorded live at the orchestra’s debut appearance. The orchestra’s members originate from various musical genres and their meeting enables them to create music together without stylistic / genre limitations. The album presents nine tracks, which remain uncredited and are assumably largely improvised.
The music, despite the “improvised” moniker it appears under, is in fact much tamer and organized than expected, often entering into melodic Blues sections or straightforward swinging Jazz, which must have been previously agreed upon and rehearsed. It appears that the orchestra was divided into several sections, each playing on one of the tracks, as nowhere on the album one is able to hear the full power of the seventeen musicians creating an improvising mayhem one might have expected.
There are plenty of interesting individual instrumental contributions by the participating musicians, but personally I found the vocals most exciting, as long as no lyrics were used, especially those with a heavy Polish accent singing in English. The vocalese parts and scat exchanges worked much better.
Summa summarum the album offers a selectin of unrelated and unconnected pieces, which, at least for me, lack any conceptual coherence, especially in a concert setting, but are individually entertaining, albeit certainly not challenging. I admit to having a great fun listening to the album, but at the same time felt somewhat “cheated”, like someone who was invited for a gourmet meal and got a plate of pierogi (Polish filled dumplings), delicious enough but definitely not made by a chef.
Overall, this is a pleasant, but hardly very exciting or innovative album, which delivers an experiment rather than a complete concept, but kudos for the effort and searching, which is often more important than finding. I hope they knock me out of my socks next time!
| | Updated: 02/12/2021Posted: 02/12/2021 | CD 1 Digipak Recommend To A Friend |
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