Record Reviews

PIOTR DAMASIEWICZ / INTO THE ROOTS ~ SPIWLE L.A.S. 002 ~ POLAND ~ Free Jazz / Improvised Music Recorded: 2019 Released: 2020 This is an album by Polish Jazz trumpeter / composer Piotr DamasiewiczFind albums by this artist recorded in a trio format with bassist Zbigniew KozeraFind albums by this artist and drummer Pawel SzpuraFind albums by this artist. Bagpipe player Jan RytFind albums by this artist guests on one track. The album presents six original compositions, all by Damasiewicz. The music was recorded live in a remote village in Polish Beskid Mountains, but the sound is wonderfully clear and authentic. There is some confusion between the running order of the tunes on the album’s artwork, but this is a minor issue. Damasiewicz managed to establish a position for himself on the local scene as one of the leading Improvised Music / Free Jazz activists and recorded several important albums over time, which for me personally are quite a mixed bag. However, this album immediately proved to be my favorite Damasiewicz album so far. Perhaps the immediacy and intimacy of this recording are more appealing to me than his large ensemble works and other recordings, where he probably tried to say too much. The album’s title is definitely very appropriate as far as this music is concerned, as it really goes back to the roots. The question which roots is not really relevant, as this music goes back to perhaps the very deepest roots of music itself, with primitive, repetitive and enthralling rhythmic patterns, which were best preserved in African music and from there arrived into Jazz. Perhaps there are also Polish roots here, inspired by the mountains and Folklore traditions surrounding this recording. Damasiewicz manages to incorporate all these elements into highly effective and mesmerizing, hypnotizing music. His trumpet improvisations on top of the steady rhythmic patterns sound more honest, revealing and moving than ever before, at least for me. The music is somewhat reminiscent to the early attempts to create Jazz-World Fusion by the great pioneers of Jazz, obviously sound-wise closest to the recordings by Don CherryFind albums by this artist. By following that path Damasiewicz finds the best of himself in the minimalist trio setting, with his trumpet playing being the clear focus of the entire journey. Strangely, or perhaps not, this is also the most coherent and melodic album he recorded so far, perhaps unintentionally, but undoubtedly highly effective. Overall this is a wonderful album from start to finish, accessible to a much wider audience than earlier albums by Damasiewicz, and despite its seeming simplicity, his most effective contact with his listeners ever. Beautiful and challenging don’t have to be a contrasting, as this album clearly shows. This music makes you want to dance! Well done!

Updated: 15/12/2021Posted: 19/03/2021

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PIOTR DAMASIEWICZ / INTO THE ROOTS ~ SWITANIE L.A.S. 009 ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-World Fusion Recorded: 2023 Released: 2024 This is the 3rd album by Polish trumpeter / composer Piotr DamasiewiczFind albums by this artist and his Into The RootsFind albums by this artist ensemble, which was expanded from the usual trio format with bassist Zbigniew KozeraFind albums by this artist and drummer Pawel SzpuraFind albums by this artist into a tentet, which includes bagpipes player Marek RytFind albums by this artist, woodwinds player Michal ZakFind albums by this artist, violist Krzysztof RytFind albums by this artist, koto player Katarzyna KarpowiczFind albums by this artist, vocalist / violinist Karolina KazmierczakFind albums by this artist and two vocalists Alicja KrzeszowiakFind albums by this artist and Kamila KrzeszowiakFind albums by this artist. The album presents seven tracks, five co-credited to Damasiewicz, Kozera and Szpura and two also add credit to Karpowicz. Damasiewicz and his cohorts stick to the formula of the previous two albums, which creates a magical amalgam between the Folklore of the Polish Beskid Mountains and the Carpathians, expanded by other World Music elements on this album, and Jazz improvisation. The result is always enthralling and keeps the listener on edge for the entire duration. Damasiewicz trumpet virtuosity is present herein, albeit less prominently, adding the proverbial cherry on the cake, but personally I can never get enough of it, hoping he will record more Jazz oriented material again in the future. I understand the tendency to stay close to one’s familiar roots and fully enjoy this music as well of course. The album’s duration, slightly under forty minutes, seems somewhat short, but considering the amount of spiritual tension and condensed musical delivery, there is plenty of highly enjoyable content here, for everybody to cherish. Overall, this is another excellent production by Damasiewicz and his cohorts, which offers convincing, heartfelt musical journey through World Music influenced aura adorned by Jazz improvisations of the finest quality. Wholeheartedly recommended!

Updated: 30/12/2024Posted: 30/12/2024

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PIOTR DAMASIEWICZ / INTO THE ROOTS ~ WATRA L.A.S. 004 ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-World Fusion Recorded: 2020 Released: 2021 This is the second album by Polish Jazz trumpeter / composer / bandleader Piotr DamasiewiczFind albums by this artist and his Into The RootsFind albums by this artist trio, which also includes bassist Zbigniew KozeraFind albums by this artist and drummer Pawel SzpuraFind albums by this artist. The album, which was recorded live, includes also Folklore musicians from the Krzeszowiak and Ryt families, who live in the Beskid Mountains. The album presents eight tracks with the music mostly co-composed by the trio members, but also incorporating local Folklore songs. The atmosphere and the music are absolutely magical, almost meditational, with the slow tempo and gradual development, traversing between the original compositions and the Folkloristic motifs completely naturally and harmoniously. The strong bass pulsations, which are the unique trademark of this music, seem to be absolutely perfect for this environment, although they have more roots in North African Atlas Mountains than in the Carpathian Mountains, proving once again that music is universal. Damasiewicz is playing trumpet relatively sparingly on this album, improvising freely even less frequently, using harmonium and his voice, as well as the role of the spiritual shaman of these proceedings, which seem to be no less effective. It seems that after many years of trying to find himself in Improvised Music, he finally found himself one with Nature and Folklore and Spirituality on local soil. Overall, this music is way too Spiritual to be describe in words, and listening is the only way to enter its realm, which I of course wholeheartedly recommend. Seeing Damasiewicz being transformed form an Angry Giant into a Gentle Giant gives me a lot of pleasure. Personally I find this to be one of the most rewarding, unusual and aesthetically pleasing releases of 2021, even if it has only marginal ties to Jazz per se. I hope Piotr that you are as happy as you sound playing this music ;)

Updated: 15/12/2021Posted: 15/12/2021

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DOMINIK STRYCHARSKI CORE ~ ALERT AUDIO CAVE 2025/002 (Barcode: 5908298549940) ~ POLAND ~ Avant-Garde Jazz Recorded: 2022 Released: 2025 This is an album by Polish Jazz flautist / composer / bandleader Dominik StrycharskiFind albums by this artist and his CoreFind albums by this artist quintet, which also includes pianist Barbara DrazkovFind albums by this artist (a.k.a. Barbara DrazkowskaFind albums by this artist), trumpeter Wojciech JachnaFind albums by this artist, bassist Zbigniew KozeraFind albums by this artist and drummer Pawel SzpuraFind albums by this artist. Strycharski and Jachna employ electronics and Drazkowska plays a prepared piano. The album presents five tracks, all original compositions by the leader. The music is a brilliant amalgam of composed, but highly unusual, modernist music and controlled Improvised interludes, which combine acoustic and electronic sounds, odd pulsations, Avant-Garde contemporary approach and a plethora of other wonderful weirdness, which immediately bring fond memories of Zappaesque complete disregard of conventions, in short everything one might desire in order to hear some exciting, unusual, challenging music, brilliantly performed by these highly talented musicians. As expected, Jachna is the direct link to Jazz within this marvelous madness, and his trumpet soli are like bright stars on a night sky, showing the way to lost mariners. The rhythm section plays some inhumanly difficult rhythmic patterns, the piano is in charge of the almost melodic layers and Strycharski uses his flute / recorder skills sparingly, concentrating on electronic effects, but the little bits here and there are like cherries on top of the cake. The music as a whole completely eschews categorization, and as a result a proper description, so it should be of course heard and not read about, so my humble efforts are a mere attempt to encourage as many people as possible not to miss this album. Mind you, it might take some patience, open-mindedness and a true love of unconventional music to enjoy it in full, but I have faith in my readers to possess these qualities, ergo fully equipped for the voyage. I admit of being sometimes quite critical about Strycharski’s recordings, which simply means I don’t judge the books by their covers but listen carefully. This time I can’t utter anything but deep appreciation and admiration for his efforts as composer and leader, which are amicably and splendidly supported by his cohorts, producing a true work of musical Art. Overall, this is a brilliant piece of modern music, completely cross-genre in nature and masterly designed and executed by the entire quintet. This is Avant-Garde, which breaks barriers and rules, without being rude and careless, which is demanding, but pleasing, and which expands our musical horizons! My deepest thanks to all of you!

Updated: 14/03/2025Posted: 11/03/2025

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DOMINIK STRYCHARSKI CORE / ORKIESTRA DETA URSUS ~ SYMFONIA FABRYKI URSUS (SOUNDTRACK) AUDIO CAVE 2021/005 (Barcode: 5908298549247) ~ POLAND ~ Soundtracks Recorded: 2017 - 2021 Released: 2021 This is an album by Polish Jazz flautist / composer Dominik StrycharskiFind albums by this artist and his ensemble CoreFind albums by this artist, which includes pianist Barbara DrazkowskaFind albums by this artist, trumpeter Wojciech JachnaFind albums by this artist, bassist Zbigniew KozeraFind albums by this artist and drummer Pawel SzpuraFind albums by this artist. The Ursus Brass OrchestraFind albums by this artist also takes part in this recording. The album presents five original compositions, all by Strycharski. The music was used as a soundtrack to the award winning documentary film about the Ursus factory, which ceased to exists in 2011, and which was famous for producing Polish tractors for more than 100 years. The music, although performed by a Jazz quintet and a Brass Orchestra, includes hardly any Jazz elements per se and offers a dark, ambient, Cinematic Music, which is slow moving and minimal in its scope. It might be very appropriate as a soundtrack (I have not seen the documentary), but as a stand-alone piece of music it is much more difficult to swallow. The industrial character of the music, as well as its lack of development, may emphasize / illustrate the labor done by the ex-workers of Ursus, who are the focus of this documentary, but out of that context it is rather daunting. One of the tracks, which is performed just by the quintet, is the closest that this music gets to Jazz / Improvised Music, and features some great playing by Jachna, but again the twelve minutes long piece is completely static and monotonic, and even Jachna’s trumpet parts are unable to redeem it. Overall, this album proves that Cinematic Music is not always able to stand by itself, unrelated to the visual layer. Despite the fact that it is performed by highly esteemed Polish Jazz musicians, it simply does not work for me. My fault of course.

Updated: 01/07/2021Posted: 01/07/2021

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DOMINIK STRYCHARSKI CORE 6 ~ CZOCZKO FOR TUNE 0072 (Barcode: 5902768701708) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-World Fusion Recorded: 2014 Released: 2015 In the last couple of years the burgeoning Polish Jazz / Improvised Music scene re-discovered Polish Folklore and a long series of albums, which amalgamates these two genres into contemporary Jazz-World Fusion, have been recorded. As usual in such circumstances some of these albums are truly phenomenal and others are distinctly less so. On this album Polish flautist / recorder player Dominik StrycharskiFind albums by this artist presents a series of nine compositions inspired by Kashubian folk songs, arranged and transformed into the Jazz / Improvised Music environment. Three of these pieces are performed by a duo comprising of Strycharski and clarinetist Waclaw ZimpelFind albums by this artist and the remaining six pieces are performed by a sextet which features a double rhythm section: bassists Zbigniew KozeraFind albums by this artist and Ksawery WojcinskiFind albums by this artist and drummers Hubert ZemlerFind albums by this artist and Krzysztof SzmandaFind albums by this artist; all of them are top representatives of the Polish Improvised Music milieu. As much as I respect all these musicians, it is completely beyond me why they would invest time and energy into this project, which honestly is simply completely banal and meaningless in my opinion. None of the aims expected form the amalgamation of World Music and Jazz are achieved here; the folkloristic themes remain bare and simple and the Jazz additions plainly don´t stick to them. The double rhythm section is bombastic and overbearing, being mostly contra productive and the overall proceedings are simply pointless and boring. Polish Folklore and Jazz have a proven record of working together wonderfully, both in the early Polish Jazz history in the 1960s and 1970s and currently with brilliant projects, many of which were released by For TuneFind albums on this label Records. This one is sadly a miss. Of course this is only my personal view and others might disagree with me, as usual. The musicians will probably not like these words either, but hey this is what I hear…

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