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

ASIA CZAJKOWSKA / L.A. TRIO ~ MY JAZZY VALENTINE NOT ON LABEL ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2024 Released: 2024 This is the 3rd album by Polish Jazz vocalist Asia CzajkowskaFind albums by this artist, this time recorded with a classic piano trio consisting of pianist Bogdan HolowniaFind albums by this artist, bassist Pawel PantaFind albums by this artist and drummer Jozef EliaszFind albums by this artist. The album presents ten tracks, a mixture of international Jazz standards and Polish songs. What does it take to be a Jazz singer? Well, this is the million-dollar question, which many have tried to answer before, mostly unsuccessfully. If you ask me, the answer is very really very simple – all you need to do is listen and you immediately know the answer, since you feel it deeply in your guts. Yes, it is all about feeling and when all the elements fall into place, like vocal abilities, interpretation, intelligence, etc. you stop analyzing it, you simply FEEL it, because it is all about feeling after all. So in vocal jazz it is perhaps not “if it ain’t got that swing…” but rather if it ain’t got that feeling, and Asia definitely has more than plenty of it! And when the voice is splendidly supported by a classic piano trio, everything just melts the listener’s heart. Side Note The above are my liner notes included on this album's artwork. I am honored when asked by the Artists to write liner notes for their albums, always hoping that my words reflect the true spirit of the music. This is also a symbol of our mutual respect and friendship developed over the years. The same is also true when Record Labels ask me to write liner notes for their releases, mostly in the case of reissues of archival albums, which is a symbol of their appreciation of my knowledge and historical perspective and my recognition of their dedication to the preservation of the history of recorded music and the effort to keep human Culture and Aesthetics alive.

Updated: 07/12/2024Posted: 07/12/2024

CD 1 Digipak Recommend To A Friend