Record Reviews

BEMIBEM ~ BEMOWE FRAZY (POLISH JAZZ VOL.96 DELUXE) MUZA 1096 (Barcode: 5907783420962) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Rock Fusion Recorded: 1974 Released: 2007 This is the only album by the Polish Jazz-Rock ensemble BemiBemFind albums by this artist, which was formed by the siblings Ewa BemFind albums by this artist and Aleksander BemFind albums by this artist, both vocalists and percussionists. The group was formed after the ensemble BemibekFind albums by this artist fell apart and the Bems remained as leaders of the new one. Aleksander composed nine of the eleven songs included here, which are all very melodic and quite sophisticated. The music is a mixture of Pop, Rock and Jazz, featuring excellent vocal harmonies accompanied by a great band and guest musicians like guitarist Marek BlizinskiFind albums by this artist, pianist Jan JarczykFind albums by this artist and others. The vocal parts are somewhat similar to the style pioneered by the great Polish vocal ensemble NOVIFind albums by this artist. In retrospect this album is an overlooked gem, almost forgotten, but still sounding great after all these years. Although only marginally Jazz as such, it has a lot of Jazzy influences, which are clearly evident in the arrangement, instrumental backing and overall attitude. Ewa Bem would of course carry on becoming the First Lady of the Polish Jazz in the next decade, with this album being a nice reminder of the times when we were all much younger and innocent. It was an immense fun to listen to this album again after all those years and it remains to be a source of great musical fun. A must!

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JAN JARCZYK / JOHN STETCH ~ SMOKED PIANOS GAD 002 (Barcode: 5901549197013) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2007 Released: 2011 Polish pianist / composer Jan JarczykFind albums by this artist, who lives in the US & Canada since the late 1970s, is fondly remembered as member of the original Zbigniew SeifertFind albums by this artist quartet, where he played alongside Seifert in the late 1960s / early 1970s, contributing some of his compositions to the quartet´s repertoire. The wonderful early recordings by the Seifert quartet ("NoraFind albums with this title") were released on the same GADFind albums on this label label, which also released this album. Jarczyk continued his Jazz career in the US & Canada as educator, first at the Berklee Collage of Music in Boston and later at McGill University in Montreal. He also continued to perform and release Jazz albums. Jarczyk met Canadian (of Ukrainian origin) pianist / composer John StetchFind albums by this artist twenty years prior to this recording, when Stetch was one of his students. He invited Stetch to play with him a series of concerts in a piano duet setting. These concerts, which were organized to celebrate Jarczyk´s 60th birthday, were recorded and this album now brings these recordings to a wider audience. Of the seven duets included here three were composed by Jarczyk, one by Stetch, one co-composed by the two players and two are standards. The material presents a versatile setting, from ballads to up-tempo compositions, which allows the players to stretch out and exchange licks along the way. The deep empathy, understanding and mutual respect between the two musicians is obvious and plays a major role in the overall music-making / love-making ambience. Although both players are clearly highly talent performers, the duo is stronger that the sum of its individual parts. Stylistically the music moves between straight-forward melodic modern Jazz to mostly improvised stretches, so there are no dull moments here. For piano lovers, this is heavenly stuff, well worth having and of course returning to. Warmly recommended!

Updated: 08/03/2020Posted:

CD 1 Remastered Recommend To A Friend

NOVI ~ POLISH RADIO JAZZ ARCHIVES VOL.24 POLSKIE RADIO 1670 (Barcode: 5907812246709) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 1968 - 1971 Released: 2016 This is the twenty-fourth installment in the series of releases initiated by the Polish Radio, which presents archive Jazz recordings from the radio vaults. Radio recordings are always a fabulous source of remarkable material, and as far as Polish Jazz history is concerned, the Polish Radio, which was a state monopoly for 45 years, recorded over time a plethora of invaluable material, which apart from the albums released by the Polskie Nagrania record company (also a state monopoly), is the only available additional source of Polish Jazz recordings. For many years Polish Radio recorded concerts presented during Poland´s most important Jazz venues, including the annual Jazz Jamboree Festival and many other festivals as well. The thirteen tracks collected here were recorded during three separate occasions by the sensational Polish Jazz vocal quartet NOVIFind albums by this artist Singers: a Polish Radio Studio session from 1968 (four tracks), a live performance at the 1969 Jazz Jamboree Festival (five tracks) and finally a live performance at the 1971 Jazz Jamboree Festival (four tracks). NOVI, formed in 1964 by Bernard KawkaFind albums by this artist, included also Ewa WanatFind albums by this artist, Janusz MychFind albums by this artist and Waldemar ParzynskiFind albums by this artist. During the studio session they were accompanied by an orchestra of unknown lineup, during the 1969 concert they were accompanied by a trio comprising of organist Krzysztof SadowskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Janusz KozlowskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Andrzej DabrowskiFind albums by this artist and finally during the 1971 concert they were accompanied by a Big Band which included trumpeters Stanislaw MizeradzkiFind albums by this artist and Bogdan SkawinaFind albums by this artist, trombonist Stanislaw CieslakFind albums by this artist, saxophonists Tomasz SzukalskiFind albums by this artist, Janusz MuniakFind albums by this artist and Zbigniew NamyslowskiFind albums by this artist, guitarist Marek BlizinskiFind albums by this artist, pianist Jan JarczykFind albums by this artist, bassist Tadeusz GogoszFind albums by this artist and drummer Kazimierz JonkiszFind albums by this artist. The material is mostly original with five compositions by Kawka, two by Parzynski and one by Mych. Three tracks are standards, one was composed by Namyslowski and one is an arrangement of a Classical piece by Frederic ChopinFind albums by this artist, which the quartet performs a cappella. Inspired by such vocal groups like the French Les Double SixFind albums by this artist and The Swingle SingersFind albums by this artist, also originally formed in France, NOVI took the vocal group artistry a notch further, presenting a wide and ambitious repertoire ranging from arrangements of Classical Music via complex Jazz compositions, mostly original, featuring advanced vocal shenanigans and finally arrangements of Pop material. They used lyrics in some of their material but were absolutely at their best when singing wordless vocalese, which they brought to perfection. This particular album had the potential of being one of the most interesting releases in this series, since live material by NOVI is almost completely absent from their recorded legacy, but sadly it suffers from some problems, which make it much less attractive that it should have been. Firstly the tracks recorded during the three separate sessions have been sequenced here quite randomly, rather than being presented grouped together by session. Secondly the recording quality is sadly very problematic on most of these tracks and even the careful restoring and remastering was not able to make them sound better. Of course the human voice is the most difficult recording challenge and considering the limitations present at the time the quality should be judged leniently, but in this case the sound quality seriously hinders the listening experience. Thirdly, as usual for this series, there is no background information about the artists, historic background, etc. which recordings of such importance truly deserve. Nevertheless all things considered, this is still a very important document of the Polish Jazz legacy and considering the importance of this material this album immediately becomes another must have for all Polish Jazz fans and collectors of Polish Jazz recordings.

Updated: 17/07/2016Posted: 17/07/2016

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S.P.P.T. CHALTURNIK ~ CHALTURNIK (POLISH JAZZ VOL.95 DELUXE) MUZA 1095 (Barcode: 5907783420955) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 1974 Released: 2007 This wonderful album is the debut recording by the S.P.P.T. ChalturnikFind albums by this artist ensemble, invented, founded and led by saxophonist / composer / bandleader Jan Ptaszyn WroblewskiFind albums by this artist. As the title suggest, the idea behind this ensemble is all about humor in Jazz, a relatively rare attitude in modern Jazz but something quite common in traditional Jazz. The ensemble consisted of the crème de la crème of the Polish Jazz scene: saxophonists Zbigniew NamyslowskiFind albums by this artist, Janusz MuniakFind albums by this artist and Tomasz SzukalskiFind albums by this artist, tuba player Zdzislaw PiernikFind albums by this artist, pianist Jan JarczykFind albums by this artist (replaced by Tomasz OchalskiFind albums by this artist on two tracks), bassist Bronislaw SuchanekFind albums by this artist and drummer Jerzy BezuchaFind albums by this artist, with the leader playing saxophone and a "mouth synthesizer" (i.e. a comb) and contributing four of his original compositions. The rest of the music comes from various sources, including even one theme by Tomasz StankoFind albums by this artist (obviously a tongue in cheek towards modern Jazz). Although the humorous approach to the music is easily detected, the perfect performances and the wonderful arrangements turn this album a true gem. These great musicians prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that sometimes it pays to take a slightly relaxed approach to music. Great stuff!

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S.P.P.T. CHALTURNIK / POLISH RADIO JAZZ STUDIO ORCHESTRA ~ S.P.P.T. CHALTURNIK / POLISH RADIO JAZZ STUDIO ORCHESTRA POLJAZZ / ANEX 312 (Barcode: 5907513047674) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 1973 - 1975 Released: 2009 The material presented on this album originates from two separate LPs released by the PoljazzFind albums on this label label, each contributing one side of the original LP. The logic behind it is that the original Poljazz releases often included two sides of completely unrelated material, artificially combined for a variety of reasons, mostly economic. These two sides of two separate LPs are connected by the central personality behind the music, the Polish Jazz saxophonist / composer / arranger / bandleader Jan Ptaszyn WroblewskiFind albums by this artist. Wroblewski was the founder and leader of the band S.P.P.T. ChalturnikFind albums by this artist, which was formed in order to present Jazz with a humorous and tongue in cheek attitude, featuring well known standards as well as original material by the leader. The band included the absolute crème de la crème of the Polish Jazz scene: saxophonists Janusz MuniakFind albums by this artist, Zbigniew NamyslowskiFind albums by this artist and Tomasz SzukalskiFind albums by this artist, keyboardist Wojciech KarolakFind albums by this artist, bassist Bronislaw SuchanekFind albums by this artist and drummer Czeslaw BartkowskiFind albums by this artist. The wonderful arrangements and whimsy performances are all brilliant, especially in view of the fact that they show that Jazz doesn´t have to be treated always so seriously. Wroblewski was also the director of the Polish Radio Jazz Studio OrchestraFind albums by this artist during the years 1968-1978, which was one of the most important incubators and places of refuge for the young Polish Jazz musicians under the Socialist regime, providing them with a steady income. The orchestra performs a very ambitious piece of music composed by the young pianist Jan JarczykFind albums by this artist called "A Double Concerto For Five Soloists And Orchestra", which features as soloists top Polish Jazz players of the time: violinist Zbigniew SeifertFind albums by this artist, saxophonist Tomasz Szukalski and Janusz Muniak and trumpeter Tomasz StankoFind albums by this artist. Legendary American drummer Stu MartinFind albums by this artist also participates in the recording. The music is a very interesting example of early Orchestral Jazz works, which combine contemporary Classical techniques with Free Jazz improvisation. Side Note: The PoljazzFind albums on this label label, which originally released this album, was active for 20 years (between 1972 and 1991) and was owned by the Polish Jazz Society. Considering the fact that the music industry in the Socialist State was centralized and totally controlled, with just one State owned music company producing all the albums, the possibilities to record and release Jazz albums were extremely limited. Poljazz was conceived and founded in order to allow for many more Jazz (and other) albums to be released independently from the State owned Polskie NagraniaFind albums on this label / MuzaFind albums on this label and as such revolutionized the music industry at the time, being the only such enterprise in Eastern Europe. The Polish label AnexFind albums on this label reissued many of the original Poljazz albums on CD, bringing this fabulous music back to life.

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ZBIGNIEW SEIFERT ~ NORA GAD 001 (Barcode: 5901549197006) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 1969 - 1970 Released: 2010 This wonderful album collects all the existing recordings by the early Jazz quartet led by Polish violinist / saxophonist / composer Zbigniew SeifertFind albums by this artist, a world class virtuoso who was unfortunately taken away from this world by the ever-so-cruel cancer at the ridiculous age of 32. Seifert discovered Jazz while being a student at a music high school, where he studied classical music. Immediately stricken by Jazz, he started to live a double life, continuing his degree studies as a classical violinist and in parallel playing and later leading his own Jazz quartet. Seifert almost immediately moved into modern Jazz, even ultra-modern at the time, as his immediate model would be the late period John ColtraneFind albums by this artist. Seifert´s hypersensitive and well trained ears were able to follow Coltrane´s convoluted music note by note, thus enabling him to absorb his style. In order to emphasize the separation between his classical violin training Seifert played the alto saxophone exclusively at the early stages of his career, returning to the violin only much later, a move which gained him his international recognition and success, cut short soon after by his untimely death. By the end of the 1960s Seifert was a permanent member in the Tomasz StankoFind albums by this artist quintet, Poland´s pioneering Free Jazz outfit at the time, as well as leading his own quartet with pianist Jan JarczykFind albums by this artist, bassist Jan GonciarczykFind albums by this artist and drummer Janusz StefanskiFind albums by this artist (who was also a member of the Stanko quintet). The quartet never recorded an album for the "Polish Jazz" series, but three of their performances were recorded by the Polish Radio and are presented on this album: The 1969 concert at the Jazz nad Odra Festival and the 1969 and 1970 concerts at the Jazz Jamboree Festival – all together eight tracks, only two of which (taken from the 1969 JJ) were previously released on record in a various artists compilation entitled "New Faces In Polish JazzFind albums with this title" (Polish Jazz Vol. 20). Seifert composed five of the tunes, Jarczyk one and the other two are standards. The music is just sensational, mostly almost Free, with long and well developed solos by Seifert and Jarczyk, with superb backing by the rhythm section. That kind of music would fit perfectly well anywhere in the world at that time, but taking into account the fact it comes from Poland, a country deep beyond the Iron Curtain with minimal exposure to the latest trends and under a Socialist regime, which does not tolerate artistic deviance, it is an absolute miracle. The historic importance of these recordings is invaluable, especially since the quartet wasn´t able to secure a proper studio recording in a reality when the only record company on the market was state owned and run by party officials. Thank God for the Polish Radio archives and the initiative to compile and release this album. Although "too little too late" applies here, so does "better this than nothing". I´ll add that in order to fully appreciate this music in proper historic perspective and its meaning in the history of Polish (and Eastern European) Jazz, I´d recommend reading the recently published Zbigniew Seifert excellent biography entitled "Man of the Light", by Aneta NorekFind albums by this artist – alas this privilege is limited to people who can read Polish (unless the book gets translated into English, which it truly deserves). In the meantime savor this fantastic music, as it lost nothing of its intensity over time. A must to all Polish Jazz lovers!

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ZBIGNIEW SEIFERT ~ POLISH RADIO JAZZ ARCHIVES VOL.32 POLSKIE RADIO 2145 (Barcode: 5907812248697) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 1970 - 1978 Released: 2018 This is the thirty-second installment in the series of releases initiated by the Polish Radio, which presents archive Jazz recordings from the radio vaults. Radio recordings are always a fabulous source of remarkable material, and as far as Polish Jazz history is concerned, the Polish Radio, which was a state monopoly for 45 years, recorded over time a plethora of invaluable material, which apart from the albums released by the Polskie Nagrania record company (also a state monopoly), is the only available additional source of Polish Jazz recordings. For many years Polish Radio recorded concerts presented during Poland´s most important Jazz venues, including the annual Jazz Jamboree Festival and many other festivals as well. The seven tracks presented here were recorded by one of the most iconic Polish Jazz figures: saxophonist / violinist / composer Zbigniew SeifertFind albums by this artist, who sadly died at a ridiculously young age succumbing to cancer. Influenced by the music of John ColtraneFind albums by this artist, Seifert revolutionized the Polish Jazz violin school and achieved international recognition. All the tracks are original compositions by Seifert. The first five tracks were recorded live on November 14, 1978 at the "Pod Jaszczurami" Jazz club in Krakow, just three months before Seifert´s death. They were recorded by a quintet, which also included guitarist Jaroslaw SmietanaFind albums by this artist (also not with us anymore, another victim of cancer), keyboardist Janusz GrzywaczFind albums by this artist, bassist Zbigniew WegehauptFind albums by this artist (my dear and sadly also departed friend) and drummer Mieczyslaw GorkaFind albums by this artist. Grzywacz and Gorka were at the time members of the legendary Polish Jazz-Rock ensemble LaboratoriumFind albums by this artist while Smietana and Wegehaupt were at the time members of another no less legendary ensemble Extra BallFind albums by this artist. The music, although composed by Seifert, gets here a Fusion oriented treatment, as a result of the fact that all members of the quintet except for Seifert were involved with Fusion at the time. Sadly these five tracks are only a selection from the entire recording session captured by Polish Radio Krakow, which has been previously partially released as a double LP entitled "KilimanjaroFind albums with this title" by the Polish Jazz Society label PoljazzFind albums on this label (available also separately as "Kilimanjaro Vol.1Find albums with this title" and "Kilimanjaro Vol.2Find albums with this title") and later on as a double CD bootleg album in its entirety. Why wasn´t the entire material finally released properly and legally on this album is a mystery and sadly a grave opportunity loss to put things in order once and for all and honestly a mess! The sixth track originates from a recording Seifert made with the Polish Radio Jazz Studio OrchestraFind albums by this artist directed by Jan Ptaszyn WroblewskiFind albums by this artist in 1972. It presents him as a soloist backed up by an excellent Jazz orchestra, performing one of his early compositions, which is also previously unreleased. The seventh and last track goes even further back and was recorded in 1970 during the thirteenth edition of the Jazz Jamboree Festival. On this track Seifert plays saxophone and is accompanied by pianist Jan JarczykFind albums by this artist, bassist Jan GonciarczykFind albums by this artist and drummer Janusz StefanskiFind albums by this artist. This track was already released in 2010 by the great Polish reissue label GADFind albums on this label Records on the album "NoraFind albums with this title", dedicated to Seifert´s early recordings, and the inclusion of this track here is redundant and somewhat questionable. The beautifully restored sound quality is excellent and the warm ambience of the analog recording is a true joy. As usual with this series, which is very reasonably priced, I miss the presence of "in depth" liner notes / booklet, which should convey the circumstances at which this music was recorded and its importance to the development of Jazz in Poland. Nevertheless this is an absolutely essential piece of Jazz history which every Jazz fan will surely consider an absolute must.

Updated: 01/10/2018Posted: 28/09/2018

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SHOW BAND ~ PUNKT STYKU GAD 013 (Barcode: 5901549197143) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Rock Fusion Recorded: 1974 Released: 2014 The Show BandFind albums by this artist trio was one of many Polish ensembles, which never managed to record an album during their lifespan as a band, although performed extensively in Poland and abroad. Formed by bassist Anatol WojdynaFind albums by this artist it also included Hammond organ player Maciej GluszkiewiczFind albums by this artist (ex-KlanFind albums by this artist) and drummer Jan MazurekFind albums by this artist (ex-BreakoutFind albums by this artist), the trio played music that stylistically floated between Jazz-Rock Fusion and Funk, and managed to work out a specific sound and feel, which sounded more like American instrumental Funk bands (Booker T. & The MG`sFind albums by this artist immediately come to mind) than Eastern European ensembles at the time. Luckily for us, the band was approached by the Warsaw Documentary Filmmakers Group (WDF) to records a series of tracks, which would be later used as background music for the Polish Film Chronicle documentary series. The trio eagerly accepted the offer and recorded in early 1974 ten tracks, eight of which were original compositions by Wojdyna and two were compositions by Zbigniew NamyslowskiFind albums by this artist. For the recording the trio was expanded by two guest musicians: pianist Jan JarczykFind albums by this artist and percussionist Aleksander BemFind albums by this artist. The recorded music survived the tides of time and sounds superbly after being remastered to modern standards. Forty years later this music lost nothing of its charm and zest and is definitely worth being remembered and listened to. Although pretty straightforward it offers quality melodic contents and great performances. It is also a great opportunity to pay tribute to the sadly departed Jarczyk, who plays some truly excellent stuff here. For lovers of Polish Funk this is an absolute must! Again thanks to GADFind albums on this label Records for finding this lost gem and bringing it back to life as part of the label´s modus operandi, which consistently preserves Polish musical heritage.

CD 1 Remastered Recommend To A Friend