Record Reviews

RAFAL DUBICKI ~ SHADOW ON THE SPACE SOLTAN ART GROUP 018 (Barcode: 5903802188585) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2021 Released: 2021 This is the second album by young Polish Jazz trumpeter / composer Rafal DubickiFind albums by this artist recorded in a classic quartet setting with the same musicians who played on his debut: guitarist Michal SoltanFind albums by this artist, bassist Mateusz WozniakFind albums by this artist and drummer Adam LewandowskiFind albums by this artist. The album presents eleven original compositions, all by the leader. Same as on the debut, Dubicki offers a delightful collection of mainstream Jazz pieces, based on excellent melodic themes, which offer diverse moods, but all swing splendidly. The quartet plays the pieces with obvious joy and all four musicians do exactly what is needed to make them sound perfect. The leader has a clear trumpet sound, which resounds with confidence and is able to create a mystic ambience of romance and anticipation as well as a burning urgency. Soltan is a wonderful guitar player and his chords lay down the entire harmonic background for this music, amicably and elegantly supported by the rhythm section. Soltan’s solos tend to slide towards Fusion, as opposed to his accompaniments, which are purely Jazzy, thus adding another dimension to the music. As a result, the entire album floats somewhere between Jazz and Fusion and even Brass Rock, despite the fact that just a single trumpet is present. As said in my review of the debut, some Jazz critics will probably find this music to be “not enough Jazz oriented”, but who gives a damn. This music is improvised, it swings like hell and is pure joy to listen to, so who cares what the Jazz snobs think. Overall, this is a sold follow up to the debut, which surely will find many listeners who love what these musicians are doing. A word of warning as to the future, since pursuing the same direction for too long might prove to be less successful, but so far so good. I simply love this stuff to bits!

Updated: 31/12/2021Posted: 31/12/2021

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RAFAL DUBICKI ~ STORY ABOUT EMOTIONS SOLTAN ART GROUP 001 (Barcode: 5907648374409) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2019 Released: 2019 This is the debut album by young Polish Jazz trumpeter / composer Rafal DubickiFind albums by this artist, recorded in a quartet setting with guitarist Michal SoltanFind albums by this artist, bassist Mateusz WozniakFind albums by this artist and veteran drummer Adam LewandowskiFind albums by this artist. The album presents nine original compositions, all by Dubicki. This album is also the first release on a new record label founded by Soltan, called Soltan Art GroupFind albums on this label – best wishes with the new enterprise! The music is all strongly melody based mainstream Jazz, moving between ballads and Latin rhythms, definitely on the lighter side of the Jazz spectrum, which could be labeled as "late night Jazz". The music swings and is spotlessly executed by the quartet members. Dubicki has a crystal clear, somewhat "old fashioned" trumpet tone, which is sadly very rarely used today, and which brings on nostalgic memories of the Swing Era. But his soaring soli are impressive and heartwarming. Soltan is an excellent and diverse guitar player and his soli are among the highlights of the album. Wozniak sticks to the basics and offers a solid bottom layer to the music, keeping things balanced and plays just one perfectly structured bass solo and Lewandowski, as usual, is totally in charge of the rhythm department. Although this album will probably be dismissed by the Polish Jazz "critics", who will be lamenting about its straightforwardness and popular approach, albums like this are a completely valid part of the Polish Jazz scene, as long as they are as professionally put together as this one. Not everybody gets orgasmic listening to Avant-Garde doodling, and enjoying pleasant Jazz is definitely not a social crime. Overall this is a nice Jazz album offering solid compositions and performances, which will make many listeners perfectly happy, and which will hopefully launch Dubicki´s musical career in the foreseeable feature.

Updated: 31/12/2021Posted: 15/09/2019

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IMAGINATION QUARTET ~ IMAGINATION QUARTET ANACONDA 001 (Barcode: 5907651680122) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Rock Fusion Recorded: 2011 Released: 2011 This is the excellent eponymous debut album by the young Polish Jazz-Rock / Fusion group Imagination QuartetFind albums by this artist, which comprises of guitarist Michal SoltanFind albums by this artist, saxophonist Damian PinkowskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Dariusz SwitalskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Maciej DziedzicFind albums by this artist. The album includes eleven original compositions, seven by Soltan, two by Dziedzic, one co-composed by these two and one credited to the entire quartet. The group´s music is an interesting mixture of Fusion and Modern Jazz, which allows for a wider degree of freedom in the improvisation than the rigid constraints of straight-forward Fusion. As a result the album is full of surprisingly interesting moments and unexpected ventures. In spite of the fact that these are young and relatively inexperienced musicians, the level of performance and stylistic sophistication is quite surprising. That, combined with some first-rate compositions and the youthful vigor turns this album into a most pleasurable listening experience. As usual, most of the solo performances are by the two front-men (guitar and sax), but the members of the rhythm section get some splendid opportunities to shine as well. As far as debut albums go, this is definitely a very promising one, which will hopefully be followed by more mature statements on the future. Judging by the overall excellent level of this release, Imagination Quartet has all the necessary ingredients to make things happen. This album is recommended to all Fusion fans, which are open-minded enough to accept a different approach to the genre, which digs deeper than most contemporary releases on the scene. Definitely worth investigation!

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MICHAL SOLTAN ~ MALOGRANIE ART HORSE 002 (Barcode: 5902659800329) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-Pop Fusion Recorded: 2017 Released: 2017 This is the debut solo album by Polish guitarist / vocalist / songwriter Michal SoltanFind albums by this artist, who is known to Polish Jazz / Fusion fans from his work with Imagination QuartetFind albums by this artist and the two albums they released earlier on. On this album Soltan is accompanied by many established Polish Jazz / Fusion musicians, the list of which is way too long to be detailed here, as well as a string quartet and guests from US. I should however give credit to the superb rhythm section, which keeps this music rolling: keyboardist Milosz OlenieckiFind albums by this artist (who also co-arranged the music with Soltan) bassist Lukasz MakowskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Marcin JahrFind albums by this artist (who plays on most of the tracks). The album presents ten original songs (one features wordless vocalese), all written and composed by Soltan, and one bonus track which goes back to the IQ days and presents the vocalese song in an instrumental version. The music is a delightful collection of beautiful songs, all carefully weaved and beautifully executed. Bordering somewhere between Jazz, Funk and ambitious Pop, the music is uncompromisingly sophisticated, rich and elegant. Combined with the intelligent texts, vocalese and instrumental solos (especially the unisono vocalese / guitar solos by Soltan himself) the album flows like a dream and seems to be over in a jiffy. The craft of songwriting, which often seems to be completely lost these days, comes alive in these songs like a dream. Soltan is not a spectacular vocalist (neither was Bob DylanFind albums by this artist or Marek GrechutaFind albums by this artist), but he does not has to be, since his songs call for expressive delivery, perfect diction and above all a heartfelt feeling of the music and the texts. Soltan has all the above in abundance and they all obviously work wanders, as this album is a true gem from start to finish. The instrumental arrangements are also perfect, all done sparingly and almost entirely acoustically, with short but superbly focused solos and careful consideration of what is right for each song. Although the instrumental parts are almost entirely Jazzy, they do not take control of the overall sound and feel of the music and remain as elegant ornamentation. The focus remains on the songs and the meaningful lyrics, which is exactly right here. Albums like this one are sadly very rare these days, and almost never manage to catch my attention for a span long enough to fall in love with the songs like in this case. Even if the songs have a tinge of sadness and melancholy, but also a great sense of humor, they are like the proverbial "honey on the heart"; unadulterated intellectual and emotional pleasure! Thank you Michal for the effort to share your world with us! Of course this album is an absolute must for all true music lovers, especially the hopeless romantics ;)

Updated: 02/12/2017Posted: 02/12/2017

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