Polish Jazz Enters a New Decade

kuba_wiecek_portret_forum.jpg, default, Kuba Więcek, photo: Mikołaj Starzyński / Forum, center

There are plenty of fine sounds on the Polish jazz scene today – the likes of Stańko, Namysłowski and Urbaniak finally have some worthy successors. Our new wave of jazz is clearly in evidence at numerous festivals and concerts, and audible on a range of interesting albums from dynamic new labels.

Below, I propose a cross-section of the most notable Polish artists as seen and heard from the perspective of recorded sessions. Ten ports of call and several dozen albums released in 2019, although the list is far from comprehensive.

Bastarda, 'Ars Moriendi', Lado ABC

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'Ars Moriendi', Bastarda, album cover, 2019, label: Lado ABC, and the Bastarda band, photo: courtesy of the artists

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Bastarda – Paweł Szamburski (clarinet), Tomasz Pokrzywiński (cello) and Michał Górczyński (contrabass clarinet) – hark back to ancient musical rituals, chorale vocals, and early polyphony (psalms, litanies, motets) while transporting them into a new dimension. As we all know, music has accompanied death since mediaeval times, from the moment of passing until the final rites around the grave. Bastarda’s take on the ars moriendi is a contemporary reflection on death; sparingly minimalist, but with flashes of passionate emotion when required.

Musicologists took an interest in their first album, Promitat Eterno, based on the works of Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz. One of them, Antonio Chemotti, even assisted the musicians in selecting sources for Ars Moriendi by suggesting certain early Renaissance pieces. As you can see, the road from mediaeval to jazz is quite a short one.

Maciej Obara Quartet, ‘Three Crowns’, ECM

Thumbnail — Maciej Obara Quartet, "Three Crowns", 2019, wyd. ECM Records. Portret Macieja Obary, fot. Albert Zawada/AG

We seem to be entering a breakthrough period in the career of Maciej Obara. In the space of just over two years, this Polish alto saxophonist has recorded two albums for the prestigious Munich label ECM, together with a European quartet whose members are now at the forefront of world jazz. This well-tailored band – Maciej Obara, Dominik Wania, Ole Morten Vagan and Gard Nilssen – have no weak points, only ever-stronger points.

Unloved, their debut on Manfred Eicher’s label, is based on Krzysztof Komeda’s theme from Janusz Nasfeter’s film Niekochana (Unloved), which gives the whole album a quasi-filmic atmosphere. Three Crowns refers to a summit in the Pieniny Mountains. This new record was inspired by the musical language of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, as well as by Maciej Obara’s personal experiences and by nature itself.

Crowning the collection is the longest composition, Mr. S, a homage to Tomasz Stańko. Obara explains:

That track is my reaction to the passing of Stańko. I consciously wrote it in his style. The rubato and expression all come from him.

Piotr Damasiewicz & Power of the Horns Ensemble, ‘Polska’, Astigmatic

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‘Polska’, Piotr Damasiewicz & Power of the Horns Ensemble, label: Astigmatic, 2019, photo: promotional materials

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At last, we have a contemporary big band! Its leader, a trumpeter from Wrocław, set off on a six-month, 4,000-kilometre pilgrimage on foot in 2019, giving improvised recitals in churches, chapels, and the open air, as well as recording a lot of interesting sounds that he plans to present for us soon.

Twelve years ago, Piotr Damasiewicz gathered young artists from the Wrocław scene to create improvised music, and the Power of the Horns Ensemble rapidly began playing a vital role on our independent scene. As the bandleader explained, initially it was all about liberating their energy in group-improvisation sessions. The foundations of the band’s sound have always lain in its mighty wind section: Maciej Obara (alto sax), Gerard Lebik (tenor sax), Adam Pindur (soprano sax), Paweł Niewiadomski (trombone) and Damasiewicz (trumpet).

Their music hints at influences from the 1960s’ Afro-American scene, groups like the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and the avant-gardist style of the London Improvisers Orchestra. This was clearly the case with Suite 29, composed by Damasiewicz, which premiered on International Jazz Day in 2015.

Their latest work is the titular Polska, expressed as a wellspring of tradition and a ‘trampoline’ to the future. You can hear Damasiewicz’s dedications to the masters: Krzysztof Komeda, Tomasz Stańko, Tomasz Szukalski and Piotr Wojtasik. The album covers the Baltic Sea, the Tatra Mountains, and even the Kleofas Coal Mine in Katowice – a kind of tribute to the Silesian work ethic.

William’s Things (Górczyński/Palmer/Wiracki), ‘A Soul Not All of Wood’, Multikulti Project

William’s Things was also the title of the first album by the trio of Michał Górczyński (contrabass clarinet), Sean Palmer (vocals) and Tomasz Wiracki (piano). Inspired by the poetry of William Blake, it is part of a cycle imagined by Górczyński, generally designated as ‘music for languages’. After Blake’s mystical England, now we have Thoreau’s power of nature. Henry David Thoreau was an American philosopher and poet, a transcendentalist advocate of the superiority and unattainability of the nature surrounding us. He affirmed that humanity could reach the truth by isolating itself from the material world and rejecting civilisation.

Just like H.D. Thoreau 150 years ago, the creators of A Soul Not All of Wood hid away in a forest, yielding to the spirits of nature, ‘playing along’ with her and interpreting her ‘intentions’. They conversed with the realm closest to humanity – our natural, primeval environment. As Górczyński explained:

The forest craves silence. That is its profound, spiritual need, broken only by the sounds of the wind, birdsong, buzzing insects, and running animals. When entering such a space, remember to impose a ban on yourself: I prohibit myself from making a sound!!! This album contains not sounds, but the pure consequences of being in a forest.

Michał Górczyński has created an astoundingly fresh form which remains entirely natural and brimming with spontaneity. He has written original compositions to accompany texts by Thoreau, harnessing the power of the words with his contrabass clarinet and each individual sound from the piano, resulting in a beautiful tale.

Dominik Bukowski Quartet, ‘Transatlantyk’, Soliton

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'Transatlantyk', Dominik Bukowski Quartet feat. Amir ElSaffar, album cover, 2019, photo: Adam Dereszkiewicz / promotional materials

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This meeting was the brainchild of vibraphonist Dominik Bukowski, a restless spirit from the Tri-City scene, whose musical quests and discoveries expand in ever-widening circles. Jazz Forum magazine’s 'Jazz Top' poll named him best vibraphonist of 2018. Previously, Bukowski’s quartet worked with Amir ElSaffar (a brilliant American trumpeter with Iraqi roots and a keen interest in Arabic traditions), which resulted in the memorable live album SuFia, Live in Club Żak, Jazz Jantar Festival 2016.

Bukowski dedicated Transatlantyk to those who have chosen or been forced to leave their own countries, thus making the hardest, most vital decision of their lives. Here we find snippets of the stories of people who left Poland during tough times. Different stories, different reasons for leaving, but still the same emotions. The remainder of Bukowski’s quartet is Emil Miszk on trumpet, Adam Żuchowski on double bass, and Patryk Dobosz on percussion.

EABS, ‘Slavic Spirits’, Astigmatic

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EABS, "Slavic Spirits" (okładka płyty), wyd. Astigmatic. Zespołu EABS, Jazz Forum Showcase, 2019, Szczecin, fot. Sebastian Wołosz

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EABS from Wrocław formed during several sessions involving musicians for whom jazz and hip hop were naturally inter-related. They came to fame three years ago with their album Repetitions (Letters to Krzysztof Komeda), which took an imaginative, brave approach to the repertoire of that father of Polish jazz. Back then, the group’s pianist and leader, Marek Pędziwiatr, was nominated for a Paszport Polityki award.

The marketing slogan for the album release was Repetitions (Letters to Krzysztof Komeda) – ‘an eastern European response to the jazz renaissance; a reconstruction of deconstruction’. Admittedly, Wrocław septet EABS certainly do have their fingers on the pulse. Everything they have been doing (for years now!) fits into the general new wave of jazz; the 21^st-century jazz renaissance. And they do it in a 100%-unique way. ‘We weren’t interested in the Komeda canon that’s been played a million times’, affirmed EABS pianist Marek Pędziwiatr. ‘We took a hip-hop approach to the material. Just like real diggers; record collectors who go to all the record fairs and feel proud every time they find something that nobody else has’.

Recently, they have focused on the Slavic emotionality that resonates in the music of many Polish jazzmen. But the tracks that make up Slavic Spirits are not just swing tinged with folk; they are more of a journey to the depths of the Polish soul, on an intellectual and spiritual level. Everything is based on large, planned forms constructed around a vigorous, beefed-up skeleton of driving rhythm – the EABS trademark.

RGG, ‘Memento’, Polish Jazz vol. 81, Polskie Nagrania/Warner Music Poland

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'Memento', RGG, Polish Jazz vol. 81, label: Polskie Nagrania / Warner Music Poland, photo: promotional materials

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RGG have been following their own path from the very outset. This trio is possibly unlike all others in the fact that it has no leader. In other words, three individuals: Krzysztof Gradziuk on percussion, Maciej Garbowski on double bass, and pianist Łukasz Ojdana. They are open to inspiration from a range of musical worlds, from Mieczysław Kosz, Karol Szymanowski and Górecki to Ornette Coleman and Stańko. A wide spectrum of references; the sacred and profane in pure instrumental form. The musical space they have been creating for years goes consistently beyond the well-worn boundaries of jazz.

Their latest album, Memento, was released as part of the legendary Polish Jazz series, documenting groundbreaking musical achievements from Poland. This is an excellent time for RGG to join them, hot on the heels of Ojdana, Garbowski and Gradziuk’s experience of collaborating with contemporary improvisationalists, such as Evan Parker, Trevor Watts, Verneri Pohjola and Samuel Blaser. ‘We often refer back to traditions’, says Maciej Garbowski, ‘but we hope we can broaden the scope of the Polish Jazz brand somewhat’.

RGG craft music according to their own rules and enjoy dispensing emotions, offering the listener a wealth of subtle references and details that deserve repeated listens, much like playing with outstanding, sensitive musicians. Members of RGG even coined the term ‘contemporary sonus’ specially to describe their live performances and meetings with other artists (as documented on albums from the Słuchaj! Foundation label).

The spirit of Tomasz Stańko also hovers above their material. RGG’s two-year collaboration with the late lamented trumpeter has left its mark, noticeably in Łukasz Ojdana’s piece Hombre con Sombrero. The pianist visited Tomasz Stańko at home many times, working together on material later released on their famous ECM album December Avenue.

Kuba Więcek Trio, ‘Multitasking’, Polish Jazz vol. 82, Polskie Nagrania/Warner Music Poland

They say you have an entire lifetime to write and record your debut album, but for your second album, only those rare moments in between concerts… Kuba Więcek’s album Another Raindrop was the first debut for 28 years on the Polish Jazz series, and it won him Poland's top music prize, the Fryderyk Award. Multitasking is the Polish saxophonist’s second album, which also makes effective use of electronics. Więcek is inspired by folk and hip hop, and successfully incorporates the konnakol technique (the Indian art of imitating tabla sounds). The overall final sound was handled by the world-class Japanese sound engineer Seigen Ono, who has mastered albums for Keith Jarrett and Ryuichi Sakamoto.

High Definition Quartet, ‘Dziady’, Anaklasis/PWM

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'Dziady' (album cover), High Definition Quartet, label: Anaklasis / PWM, 2019 & High Definition Quartet, photo: Sławek Przerwa

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This original concept by Piotr ‘Pianohooligan’ Orzechowski attempts to musically interpret Part II of Adam Mickiewicz’s drama Forefathers' Eve (Dziady), in which the characters’ political discourse gives way to inner experiences and dilemmas. Orzechowski invited several special guests to join his venture: William Basinski, Krzysztof Knittel, Robert Rich, Christian Fennesz, and Igor Boxx of the duo Skalpel.

The electronic pieces they composed are contrasted with acoustic passages played by High Definition Quartet. The result is a symbolic division into human and spiritual spheres, producing an interspecific suite; a captivating encounter between jazz and contemporary electronica. A fine collision of differing worlds which leaves room for both collective improvisation and laptop culminations, each expressing utterly different emotions.

‘Densities, Forces, Intensities’, LAWAAI, Howard Records No. 2 & ‘Plastic Poetry’, Wojtczak/Piotrowicz, Howard Records No. 3

Kamil Piotrowicz is on the march! One of the most gifted pianists of the younger generation has set up an independent label of his own. Howard Records made its debut in 2018, releasing material by Piotrowicz’s Product Placement sextet – in my opinion, one of the most interesting albums of improvised music to hit the Polish market recently. Autumn 2019 saw three Howard Records releases: LAWAAI’s Densities, Forces, Intensities, Irek Wojtczak and Kamil Piotrowicz’s Plastic Poetry, as well as the fascinating debut of a quintet led by guitarist Szymon Wójcik – RASP Lovers’ Romantic Alternative Schizophrenic Punk.

LAWAAI is a trio formed by the pianist, together with Danish percussionist Jeppe Hoi Justesen and Belgian double bass player Stan Callewaert. They met two years ago in Copenhagen, played two concerts, and immediately recorded their debut session, released on cassette in March 2018. Then followed performances in Belgium, Germany, Poland, and… now the vinyl record we’re listening to. It contains three improvised forms: Densities, Forces and Intensities – spatial ad lib performances with plenty of pauses and silence. Jeppe, Stan and Kamil listen to one another attentively, extracting the minutest nuances and details from their instruments, performing a type of vivisection on the living skeleton of the acoustic trio. As it transpires, this trio with the most common line-up possible has yet to exhaust the possibilities slumbering beneath its surface. ‘Laawai’ means noise in Dutch, and modern music derived from jazz needs more ‘noise’ and albums like this.

Plastic Poetry, meanwhile, is Kamil Piotrowicz’s meeting with Irek Wojtczak, a saxophonist, composer, arranger, and restless spirit from the Tri-City. He founded the superb Folk Five project to seek parallels between jazz and folk (one of the finest examples of the genre!). This improvised session was recorded in Bielsko-Biała in November 2018, during Wojtczak/Piotrowicz’s concert tour of southern Poland. It suggests an uninhibited conversation between soprano or tenor sax and piano. Intuitive dialogues, seemingly effortless and natural, yet at times astute, puzzling, and unforgettable. Plastic, an artificial chemical material, coupled with Poetry, synonymous with lyricism, that most highly prized of arts. Crucial, vital events often occur at the intersection of these two unrelated worlds, as on the album Plastic Poetry.

‘The End’, Tie Break, Agora

They say that Tie Break is a lot more than a band – it’s a state of mind and spirit. Their absolutely distinct music has always drawn on free jazz, funk, folk, and new wave. Breaking onto the Polish scene in the 1980s, they changed it for good, even though they existed underground and were absent from the communist media. Unable to travel abroad, they formed their own artistic community centred around the group.

Antoni ‘Ziut’ Gralak (trumpet), Janusz ‘Yanina’ Iwański (guitar), Mateusz Pospieszalski (saxophone), Marcin Pospieszalski (bass) and Frank Parker (percussion) summarise their musical world. The End is a farewell to their fans; a synthesis of their artistic achievements, dedicated to Wojtek Przybylski, the late master of the mixing console, who died in 2015. The piece is bursting with the vitality and poetry of two contemporary men of letters, Dariusz ‘Brzóska’ Brzóskiewicz and Jerzy Jacek Bieleński.

Originally written in Polish, Feb 2020; translated by Mark Bence, Apr 2020

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