Record Reviews

IMAGINATION QUARTET ~ IMAGINATION QUARTET ANACONDA 001 (Barcode: 5907651680122) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Rock Fusion Recorded: 2011 Released: 2011 This is the excellent eponymous debut album by the young Polish Jazz-Rock / Fusion group Imagination QuartetFind albums by this artist, which comprises of guitarist Michal SoltanFind albums by this artist, saxophonist Damian PinkowskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Dariusz SwitalskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Maciej DziedzicFind albums by this artist. The album includes eleven original compositions, seven by Soltan, two by Dziedzic, one co-composed by these two and one credited to the entire quartet. The group´s music is an interesting mixture of Fusion and Modern Jazz, which allows for a wider degree of freedom in the improvisation than the rigid constraints of straight-forward Fusion. As a result the album is full of surprisingly interesting moments and unexpected ventures. In spite of the fact that these are young and relatively inexperienced musicians, the level of performance and stylistic sophistication is quite surprising. That, combined with some first-rate compositions and the youthful vigor turns this album into a most pleasurable listening experience. As usual, most of the solo performances are by the two front-men (guitar and sax), but the members of the rhythm section get some splendid opportunities to shine as well. As far as debut albums go, this is definitely a very promising one, which will hopefully be followed by more mature statements on the future. Judging by the overall excellent level of this release, Imagination Quartet has all the necessary ingredients to make things happen. This album is recommended to all Fusion fans, which are open-minded enough to accept a different approach to the genre, which digs deeper than most contemporary releases on the scene. Definitely worth investigation!

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MICHAL SOLTAN ~ MALOGRANIE ART HORSE 002 (Barcode: 5902659800329) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Pop Fusion Recorded: 2017 Released: 2017 This is the debut solo album by Polish guitarist / vocalist / songwriter Michal SoltanFind albums by this artist, who is known to Polish Jazz / Fusion fans from his work with Imagination QuartetFind albums by this artist and the two albums they released earlier on. On this album Soltan is accompanied by many established Polish Jazz / Fusion musicians, the list of which is way too long to be detailed here, as well as a string quartet and guests from US. I should however give credit to the superb rhythm section, which keeps this music rolling: keyboardist Milosz OlenieckiFind albums by this artist (who also co-arranged the music with Soltan) bassist Lukasz MakowskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Marcin JahrFind albums by this artist (who plays on most of the tracks). The album presents ten original songs (one features wordless vocalese), all written and composed by Soltan, and one bonus track which goes back to the IQ days and presents the vocalese song in an instrumental version. The music is a delightful collection of beautiful songs, all carefully weaved and beautifully executed. Bordering somewhere between Jazz, Funk and ambitious Pop, the music is uncompromisingly sophisticated, rich and elegant. Combined with the intelligent texts, vocalese and instrumental solos (especially the unisono vocalese / guitar solos by Soltan himself) the album flows like a dream and seems to be over in a jiffy. The craft of songwriting, which often seems to be completely lost these days, comes alive in these songs like a dream. Soltan is not a spectacular vocalist (neither was Bob DylanFind albums by this artist or Marek GrechutaFind albums by this artist), but he does not has to be, since his songs call for expressive delivery, perfect diction and above all a heartfelt feeling of the music and the texts. Soltan has all the above in abundance and they all obviously work wanders, as this album is a true gem from start to finish. The instrumental arrangements are also perfect, all done sparingly and almost entirely acoustically, with short but superbly focused solos and careful consideration of what is right for each song. Although the instrumental parts are almost entirely Jazzy, they do not take control of the overall sound and feel of the music and remain as elegant ornamentation. The focus remains on the songs and the meaningful lyrics, which is exactly right here. Albums like this one are sadly very rare these days, and almost never manage to catch my attention for a span long enough to fall in love with the songs like in this case. Even if the songs have a tinge of sadness and melancholy, but also a great sense of humor, they are like the proverbial "honey on the heart"; unadulterated intellectual and emotional pleasure! Thank you Michal for the effort to share your world with us! Of course this album is an absolute must for all true music lovers, especially the hopeless romantics ;)

Updated: 02/12/2017Posted: 02/12/2017

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