8,232 Reviews
2,343 Visits Today
16,048,797 Visits So Far
This site uses
HTML5 & CSS3
We support
Mozilla Firefox
 

Record Reviews

Search

2 Reviews Found. Use search to find more reviews or follow the links in the review text.

MARTA KROL ~ THE FIRST LOOK
ŚTM 05 (Barcode: 5908248979056) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz

Recorded: 2011 Released: 2013

This is the debut solo album by Polish vocalist Marta KrolFind albums by this artist, a beautiful Silesian Princess whose looks turn men into stone on sight ;) On the album she presents ten Jazz and Pop standards, dressed up in excellent new arrangements, by keyboardist / arranger Tomasz KalwakFind albums by this artist, who also plays some additional keyboards on the album. She is accompanied by a wonderful quartet of Polish Jazz musicians: saxophonist Dawid GlowczewskiFind albums by this artist, pianist Pawel TomaszewskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Andrzej SwiesFind albums by this artist and drummer Pawel DobrowolskiFind albums by this artist.

Krol has a delightfully warm voice, which she uses most effectively and with a natural charm and sex-appeal. Her musical education is immediately apparent, as she stays in tune at all times, even during the tricky passages and obviously keeps well in-synch with her band. The accompaniment is excellent, with many interesting solo spots by Glowczewski, beautiful piano and Fender Rhodes parts by Tomaszewski and solid and sympathetic support from the rhythm section with virtuosic, but kept in low profile bass parts by Swies, who is consistently perfect every time he appears on record and earns a well deserved position among the best contemporary Polish bassists.

However, in spite of the Jazzy arrangements and instrumental passages, this album is only marginally Jazzy per se. Krol lacks the Jazz sensitivities and fundamental improvisational approach, singing mostly "straight forward". That does not mean she is doing anything wrong, but if the purpose of this album was to present her as a Jazz singer, it fails to do so. Nevertheless it is a very pleasant and well done piece of music, which deserves all praise, especially in view of the fact that it is her debut effort.

Of course there is the usual problem of Polish vocalists stubbornly trying to sing in English, which is an insurmountable barrier, which simply keeps reappearing on almost all vocal albums recorded in the country. It´s not that Krol´s pronunciation and accent are terribly wrong; in fact they are not too bad at all, but her struggle to sound "right" takes away her attention from the music, as always.

My advice to the lovely young lady would be perhaps to try and find out her unique own style, which would amalgamate Soul, Pop, Blues and just a dash of Jazz, and which would serve her vocal talents to the max. And of course perhaps a bit more risk-taking and ambitious material, original if possible and preferably in Polish – with such a formula she is destined to reach places. But than again, who am I, an old fart, to give advice to lovely young ladies singing the Blues?

Overall this is an impressive debut, which holds many promises for those with patience to wait for the lady´s future endeavors. I certainly intend to do so.
Updated: 23/03/2024Posted: CD 1 Digipak Recommend To A Friend

JOACHIM SEVENITZ ~ Z TYSIACA I JEDNEJ NOCY WIGILIJNYCH
NOT ON LABEL (Barcode: 798190106458) ~ POLAND ~ Xmas Jazz

Recorded: 2019 Released: 2019

This is an album conceived of produced by Polish (resident in Germany) bassist / arranger Joachim SevenitzFind albums by this artist, which presents ten well known Christmas Carols arranged in the spirit of the Jazz idiom and involving some top Polish Jazz players like keyboardist Pawel TomaszewskiFind albums by this artist, vocalist Marta KrolFind albums by this artist and drummer Pawel DobrowolskiFind albums by this artist. A string quartet accompanies the quartet and seven guests play / sing on selected tracks.

I usually avoid Christmas Jazz albums like the plague (especially these days), as they usually are the epitome of kitsch, but this album is an exception to the rule. It is both wonderfully arranged and performed, with each of the songs being cleverly referenced to a different musical setting.

The instrumental performances are excellent, as expected. Tomaszewski´s enchanting parts, both on the acoustic piano and the keyboards, are simply perfect, and he remains by far one of my favorite Polish keyboard wizards. Sevenitz and Dobrowolski take care of the rhythm section duties with grace and the vocals express the moods nicely. The string quartet parts fit well within the general musical messages and moods and the guests add the proverbial cherries on top.

Overall this is a pleasant listening experience, elegant and clever, which turns the somewhat worn-out concept of Christmas albums into a worthy piece of music that can be enjoyed also in the spring ;) Definitely worth investigating!
Updated: 01/04/2020Posted: 01/04/2020CD 1 Digipak Recommend To A Friend

This site was designed and developed by Adam Baruch. All content (texts, photographs, graphics, sound files, etc.) on this web site © 2001-2025 Adam Baruch / Jazzis Ltd.