Record Reviews

JAKUB DYBZYNSKI EQUILATERAL TRIO ~ INTUITIVE INVERSIONS HEVHETIA 0135 (Barcode: 8588005257923) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2015 Released: 2016 This is the debut album by Polish Jazz clarinetist / composer Jakub DybzynskiFind albums by this artist recorded with his trio called Equilateral TrioFind albums by this artist, which also includes bassist Mariusz PrasniewskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Karol DomanskiFind albums by this artist. All trio members are graduates of Music Academies in Denmark, where many young Polish Jazz musicians study and often also stay in the last decade, and where this album was recorded. Together they perform eight original compositions, all by Dybzynski. The music is quite diverse and moves between melodic modern Jazz and open compositions which are closer to Free Jazz. Some compositions have a steady swinging rhythmic drive others are much less restrained rhythmically, in short an interesting mixture of melodies, rhythms and musical freedom, which works out very well. Dybzynski is a skilled player, but for the moment lacks the finesse displayed by the veteran Polish Jazz clarinetists. He is however certainly on the right track and will surely gain the necessary experience in the years to come. His compositional skills are already quite mature, and the material on this album is definitely very promising. The rhythm section is really excellent and handles the complex rhythmic patterns with ease and elegance, carrying the music steadily even during the free form passages. They are perfect accompanists to the delicate clarinet sound, delivering an overall powerful message to the listener. The open, free form compositions are the most impressive parts on this album, and hopefully will be more prominent in the future recordings by the trio. But even on the steady swinging tunes the trio plays interestingly enough to keep the listener fully engrossed in the music. The clarinet is sadly not as popular in Jazz as it deserves to be, and hearing young musicians pursuing the great clarinet Jazz tradition is very encouraging. This is definitely an impressive debut and hopefully will be followed up by no less impressive recordings in the feature. Well done!

Updated: 18/11/2016Posted: 18/11/2016

CD 1 Digipak Recommend To A Friend

SPHERE ~ SYNESTHESIA HEVHETIA 0085 (Barcode: 8588005257268) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2013 Released: 2014 This is the debut album by Polish trio SphereFind albums by this artist, which comprises of vocalist / composer Ania RybackaFind albums by this artist, guitarist / composer Marek KadzielaFind albums by this artist and clarinetist / composer Jakub DybzynskiFind albums by this artist. The album presents eleven relatively short original compositions, seven of which were composed by Rybacka, one by Kadziela and three by Dybzynski. Stylistically Sphere crosses genres and styles freely from one composition to another and often even within one composition, moving from clear melodic statements to Jazzy improvisations and even a serene form of Improvised Music bordering on Avant-Garde. The unusual lineup produces a unique and quite unusual sound environment, in which the human voice is treated as an instrument, playing along with the two instruments. The trio often uses a technique where two of the three members play / sing more or less unisono and the third instrument / voice plays "against" the duo, as if on a separate plane. This allows for a multitude of different combinations, which save the album from being repetitive or monotonous. Rybacka sings wordless vocalese on all the tunes, except for the last piece on the album, which uses a poem by Polish poetesses Wislawa SzymborskaFind albums by this artist (translated into English) as spoken lyrics. She also multi-tracks her voice to create a chorus effect and uses electronics to synthesize many different vocal effects. The guitar, although electrically amplified and the clarinet stick to natural acoustic sound. The resulting harmony and sound of the trio is quite eerie at times, but does not cross the border into cacophony. The most important factor of this album is the endeavor to search for new forms of expression, in an intimate environment and without stylistic limitations. These three young musicians are all well established Artists by now and Sphere is just one of several different projects they are all involved with. They obviously share the vision of creating new musical vistas and expanding the horizons, which by itself is commendable. This is not easy music by any means, even if it is mostly intimate and low-key. It requires from the listener a certain level of attention and dedication, as well as open-mindedness, involved with both intellectual and emotional process of absorption. But since ambitious music is never easy, the effort required to listen to this music is refunded in full eventually. Definitely a worthy effort which should make the band members proud and a high quality debut album by all means!

Updated: 12/04/2019Posted:

CD 1 Digipak Recommend To A Friend