Record Reviews

GADT / OSBORNE / ZAKROCKI / OLAK ~ SPONTANEOUS CHAMBER MUSIC VOL.3 FSR 2020/17 (Barcode: 5905279364752) ~ POLAND ~ Free Jazz / Improvised Music Recorded: 2018 Released: 2020 This is the third album in the "Spontaneous Chamber Music" series, created by the Polish improvising duo comprising of violinist Patryk ZakrockiFind albums by this artist and guitarist Marcin OlakFind albums by this artist, this time expanded to a quartet with participation of Polish vocalist Anna GadtFind albums by this artist and Luxembourgian cellist Annemie OsborneFind albums by this artist. The album presents fourteen relatively short spontaneous performances, recorded in a studio, which are assumingly credited to the participating musicians. Although continuing the ideas and modus operandi behind the two previous albums, the music presented here is even more "chamber" than before, in the "intimate" meaning of the chamber idiom. The presence of the two female musicians must have deeply influenced the proceedings, which is hardly surprising after all. Gadt treats her voice as an instrument, which she uses skillfully both to improvise in tandem with the others and to create a background tonal layer behind the others while they improvise. Her brilliant ideas and technical abilities easily place her on top of the list of Polish female improvising vocalists. Considering the fact that she in parallel to her performing career also teaches vocals, the next generation of Polish Jazz vocalist is certainly in good hands. She is the first Polish vocalist to take Polish Jazz / Improvised Music vocals a significant step forward for the first time in decades. Her cooperation with Olak can be heard on the wonderful album "GombrowiczFind albums with this title" they recorded as a duo and Osborne appeared as guest on the recording of her beautiful solo album "Mysterium LunaeFind albums with this title". Although Gadt´s contributions on this album are the most striking, all four musicians contributed wonderfully to its creation. Olak plays some superb guitar lines, Zakrocki adds atmospheric viola choruses and Osborne weaves complex cello structures, all of which combined with Gadt´s vocals create some of the finest improvising music I came across lately, which is perhaps also accessible to relatively wider audiences than such music usually is able to attract, due to the highly melodic approach used by the musicians. Overall this is a splendid album, which proves that Improvised Music can by way more than just an expression of musical freedom and cooperation but also an opportunity to innovate and produce music that is able to reach audience beyond the close circle of sympathizers, which sadly is the case in most Improvised Music recordings. For enthusiasts if Avant-Garde vocals this album is an absolute must.

Updated: 10/10/2020Posted: 10/10/2020

CD 1 Mini-Sleeve Recommend To A Friend

ANNA GADT / MARCIN OLAK ~ GOMBROWICZ HEVHETIA 0196 (Barcode: 8588005258746) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz & Poetry Recorded: 2019 Released: 2020 This is a wonderful debut album by the Polish Avant-Garde Jazz duo comprising of vocalist Anna GadtFind albums by this artist and guitarist Marcin OlakFind albums by this artist, which offers their interpretations of the writings by Polish author Witold GombrowiczFind albums by this artist, one of the most idiosyncratic and controversial literary figures in Polish Cultural heritage. Although based on prose fragments, this album firmly belongs to the Jazz & Poetry idiom, both conceptually and aesthetically. The album presents twelve tracks of improvised voice / guitar pieces, which include recitation, singing and vocalese, each of them based on a different fragment taken from texts by Gombrowicz Listeners familiar with the Polish Avant-Garde / Improvised Music scene are probably familiar with Marcin Olak´s recordings on the FSRFind albums on this label label, which are all worth checking out. Gadt is of course one of the brightest stars on the Polish Jazz vocal scene, with a substantial recording legacy, but most importantly characterized by her chameleonic quality of constant transformation of her vocal style, which over the years developed from mainstream to highly personal Improvising Music environment, which is still evolving. She is also a respected and devoted teacher of the vocal Art and her students are beginning to shape the next generation of the Polish Jazz vocal scene. During my recent visit in Warsaw I had the opportunity to attend the debut performance of this music in a small club, which offered an intimate opportunity to celebrate the release of this album. I watched the audience to see how effectively this highly demanding music will be able to penetrate the walls of indifference and cerebral demand this music requires, but to my surprise the audience was absolutely mesmerized by what was happening on the small stage. Obviously this music is stronger and more communicative than what one might expect, in spite of its farfetched aim towards intellectual brain functionality, acting on the purely emotional, raw instinct level as well, in retrospect somewhat similar to Gombrowicz´s writing. Connoisseur of the human voice Art will be of course delighted by Gadt´s performances on this album, which include probably many of the things "you always wanted to do with your voice but were afraid to try" list. She is simply fearless and completely uninhibited in the way she uses her voice, which often expands the known boundaries of vocal expression. Although using texts in Polish language, this kind of vocal expression transcends any language barriers completely, making them meaningless. In some cases Gadt´s vocal construction are so distinctive, that she seems to construct a completely new vocal "language" of her own design. It is pretty rare when an album labeled as Avant-Garde is truly Avant-Gardist in its nature, since the label is used way too lightly these days. Anything that is unusual / unconventional often gets labeled as Avant-Garde, whereas in fact despite being different, it does not offer anything that is done for the first time and is a pillar of fire showing the way to whoever is following. This album, however, is genuinely Avant-Gardist in every bit of its existence and its ingredients as much as a whole – a rare and beautiful thing indeed – and an absolute treasure! Thank you Anna and Marcin!

Updated: 22/02/2020Posted: 22/02/2020

CD 1 Digipak Recommend To A Friend

MARCIN OLAK ~ BESSARABIAN JOURNEY FSR 2016/02 (Barcode: 5905279364073) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-World Fusion Recorded: 2016 Released: 2016 This is a live recording by a quartet led by guitarist Marcin OlakFind albums by this artist, which also includes violist Patryk ZakrockiFind albums by this artist, bassist Maciej SzczycinskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Krzysztof SzmandaFind albums by this artist. They perform nine pieces, seven of which are traditional Jewish tunes originating from the region of Bessarabia (Moldova today) and arranged by Olak, one is co-composed by Zakrocki and Olak and the final one is composed by Olak. The project was initiated by Miron ZajfertFind albums by this artist, the creator / director of the wonderful New Jewish Music Festival in Warsaw. Bessarabia, which existed as a Governorate for over a hundred years, was home to many Jews, who amalgamated their ancient traditions with Ottoman / Turkish, Romanian / Balkan and Russian / Slavic cultural influences, creating a unique East European Jewish sub-culture, which had its musical facets also combining a wide range of musical influences. This attempt to mix the music originating in Bessarabia with Jazz sadly does not grab me at all. The resulting music loses most of its original spontaneity and the guitar, which simply does not belong organically to that music at all, treats it completely wrong. Bessarabia is definitely not Spain! With the element of improvisation and a lack of steady meters applied here the original music is simply completely lost. But most importantly Bessarabian music is characterized by very specific rhythmic approach, which is mostly based on odd meters, something most musicians not born into those specific realms have a great difficulty to handle. As a result applying simplistic Rock or Jazz rhythms to that music simply does not work well. As much as I appreciate any attempt to create ambitious projects, cross-cultural meetings and new discoveries, this project, as far as I am concerned, simply does not cut it. At some moments listening to the CD was simply unbearable and I even considered stopping it, which happens to me very rarely. Even the hidden track did not manage to save the day. Of course it´s only me and if anybody enjoys this music, my opinion is completely immaterial.

Updated: 27/10/2016Posted: 13/06/2016

CD 1 Mini-Sleeve Recommend To A Friend

RYSZARD WOJCIUL UNITED ORCHESTRA ~ ZORZA PRZESLICZNA WYNIKA FILMOTEKA NARODOWA (Barcode: 5908259554495) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-World Fusion Recorded: 2022 Released: 2023 This is an album by Polish Jazz saxophonist / clarinetist / keyboardist / bandleader / producer Ryszard WojciulFind albums by this artist, recorded by a large ensemble of some of the best Polish musicians from various stylistic associations. The list is way too long to be included here, but includes vocalists Grazyna AuguscikFind albums by this artist and Dorota MiskiewiczFind albums by this artist, multi-instrumentalist Maria PomianowskaFind albums by this artist, hurdy-gurdy player Joachim MencelFind albums by this artist, guitarist Marcin OlakFind albums by this artist, bassist Maciej SzczycinskiFind albums by this artist, drummer Krzysztof SzmandaFind albums by this artist and many others. The album presents twenty-three tracks, twelve of which are short solo vocal cantos providing the continuity to the entire musical concept of this album, and eleven are Polish Folklore Easter songs, which served as inspiration to the new, much extended songs Wojciul and his team create, preserving the traditional lyrics but taking quite a lot of liberty with the instrumental and vocal arrangements. In his liner notes Wojciul explains that despite the beautiful and extremely rich Polish Folklore Easter songs tradition it remains mostly unknown, which prompted him to produce this wonderful album, and which I of course second wholeheartedly. Wojciul manages to transform the highly sacral / religious character of the original material into completely universal / modern musical environment, which is accessible to a much wider audience and succeeds to open up the little know beauty of these songs to general audience. His arrangements, general concept, choice of material and the participating musicians is absolutely perfect, creating an uplifting, highly spiritual and moving musical experience, which is breathtakingly beautiful. Overall, this is a very unique and highly sophisticated musical undertaking, creating a bridge across styles, cultures, genres and emotional frames, producing a superb piece of music, which has a universal aesthetic value, beyond its original source. This is a truly inspired piece of music and the producer and the entire team can be proud of their achievement, which is absolutely heartfelt and artistically inspired. Hats off!

Updated: 05/04/2023Posted: 04/04/2023

CD 1 Digipak Recommend To A Friend

ZAKROCKI / OLAK / FERNANDEZ ~ SPONTANEOUS CHAMBER MUSIC VOL.2 FSR 2018/03 (Barcode: 5905279364158) ~ POLAND ~ Free Jazz / Improvised Music Recorded: 2017 Released: 2018 This is the second album by the Polish Improvised Music duo comprising of violinist Patryk ZakrockiFind albums by this artist and guitarist Marcin OlakFind albums by this artist, expanded to a trio with the participation of the Spanish pianist Agusti FernandezFind albums by this artist. The album presents sixteen, mostly quite short, completely improvised pieces, which are not specifically credited on the album´s cover art and therefore are assumed to be collective compositions. The music is a continuation of the ideas first explored on the previous album, which are an attempt to create what the title precisely describes – Chamber Improvised Music – chamber meaning minimalistic, limited by the scope of instruments and intimate. As such, this music is not very similar to the typical Avant-Garde / Improvised Music outings, which are usually extremely intense and extrovert, with the participants mostly interested in saying as much as possible within the time limitations. This music is much more relaxed, reflexive and modest, based on the intense togetherness and listening to each other by the participating musicians. Fernandez displays a remarkable self control on this album, playing delicately and sparingly, in complete contrast to other recordings he takes part in, where he is usually quite dominant and outright aggressive. His contributions on this album are all tasteful and wonderfully cooperative. Zakrocki and Olak seem to have a symbiotic relationship, which is reflected in their telepathic conversations as a duo. Their non-conformist approach to improvisation is fresh and inspiring. Overall this is a very interesting and rich album, full of exciting moments and relaxed interludes, keeping the listener on his toes for the entire duration. This music is unique and shows a completely different Avant-Garde concept, which allows for calmness and contemplation to replace anger and aggression, which often turns Avant-Garde music into and unlistenable cacophony. This album is highly recommended for Improvised Music connoisseurs, who are a tiny, but highly loyal crowd.

Updated: 02/09/2020Posted: 25/06/2018

CD 1 Mini-Sleeve Recommend To A Friend

ZAKROCKI / OLAK / WIELECKI ~ SPONTANEOUS CHAMBER MUSIC FSR 2016/05 (Barcode: 5905279364059) ~ POLAND ~ Free Jazz / Improvised Music Recorded: 2015 Released: 2016 This is the debut album by Polish Improvised Music trio comprising of violinist Patryk ZakrockiFind albums by this artist, guitarist Marcin OlakFind albums by this artist and percussionist Mikolaj WieleckiFind albums by this artist. Together they perform eight pieces, all of which are spontaneously improvised and the album is an exact presentation of the music as it was created during the recording session. The title seems to describe the music pretty accurately, as the intimate mostly acoustic ambience and the melodic proximity certainly belongs to what is considered as Chamber Music. Of course in this case the music is entirely improvised, as opposed to the Classical Chamber idiom, but music is moving ahead and definitions and borders of our musical terminology are changing on the fly. The pieces are also Chamber in their very nature, due to the fact that they have a relatively short duration and are based on intimate relationships between the three performers, who are "changing positions", i.e. constantly changing the focus of the music from one instrument to another. The level of interplay and telepathic communication between the musicians is truly astounding and this is immediately reflected in the music itself, which remains calm and non-aggressive / non-competitive at all times. Improvised Music does exist really only at the very moment it is creation and in the vast majority of cases completely loses its meaning and purpose the moment its over, which of course means that recording Improvised Music is an oxymoron of sorts. In some very rare cases however, Improvised Music is able to create a lasting, coherent, meaningful piece of music, which still makes sense after being recorded and then consequently played back. This is definitely one of such magical moments. It is important to know, however, that contrary to the brand Improvised Music is often trying to "sell" to the listener, there is nothing really revolutionary or innovative in this music, to be honest, regardless of how good it is. Improvised Music exists both in the Classical Music and Jazz idioms for many decades and experimentation and border crossing much bolder than the music recorded here have been achieved many times before. In fact in many respects this music is pretty conservative in most respects and for that reason it is more accessible to a much wider audience than most Improvised Music recordings. Overall this is a beautiful musical moment captured for posterity on this album, which many open-minded listeners should be able to enjoy. I encourage the people who usually avoid Improvising Music to try this one and perhaps discover an entire universe of music they have been missing earlier.

Updated: 27/10/2016Posted: 01/10/2016

CD 1 Digipak Recommend To A Friend