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HoTS: Live In Trójka
by Mark Sullivan
Poland's HoTS (the name is an initialism of Harmony of The Spheres) returns with a live album. As on previous release Numbers (Multikulti Project, 2017), guitarist Mikołaj Poncyljusz is still giving his compositions mostly numerical titles, but the usual quintet is augmented by guest pianist Aga Derlak. “#30" opens the set with the quintet in bebop mode, before switching gears to focus on a reflective guitar/bass duet. When the tempo picks up again there is ample space for Bartosz Tkacz's ...
read moreTomasz Dabrowski: Ninjazz
by Don Phipps
Dark and foreboding, with a slight touch of heat, Polish trumpeter Tomasz Dąbrowski's album Ninjazz offers up a selection of work that reminds one of his mentor, the late great Tomasz Stanko, with a bit of Enrico Rava, Kenny Wheeler, and Mark Isham thrown in for good measure. Dabrowski is joined on this effort by a trio of steady and capable musicians, Hiroshi Minami on piano, Hiroki Chiba on bass, and Hiroshi Tsuboi on drums. Together they form ...
read moreSigmar Matthíasson: Arora
by Mike Jurkovic
Now working and studying in New York, Icelandic bassist/composer Sigmar Matthiasson crossed the cold Atlantic with the groundbreaking sounds of Jaco Pastorius, Led Zeppelin, Reggie Workman, Ron Carter, and Scott LaFaro in his head and dreams. It's no wonder that Matthíasson's lyrical and eminently likable debut recording exhibits such a classic American feel. From the plaintively circular piano signature that introduces “Nordurljos" ("Northern Lights") to the fusion breakdown taking “Aurora No. 2" and the album to its exciting ...
read moreTomasz Dabrowski: Ninjazz
by Mike Jurkovic
Ninjazz, just one of Polish trumpeter Tomasz Dabrowski's several recorded efforts of 2018, finds him leading his quartet Ad Hoc through a serious investigation of ten cerebral, tonal abstractions. Uninhibited by language, and sound explorers all, Dabrowski's all-Japanese cohorts, pianist Hiroshi Minami, double bassist and electronics Hiroki Chiba and time-defying drummer Hiroshi Tsuboi viscerally take Dabrowski's harmonic minimalism and, in equal parts Miles Davis circa 1968-70 and ECM-style chamber improv, create charcoal smudges of sound, each shadowed delicately ...
read moreTomasz Dabrowski Ad Hoc: Ninjazz
by Troy Dostert
Although he has built an impressive resume working with well-known avant-gardists like Evan Parker, Tyshawn Sorey, Kris Davis and Andrew Drury (with the latter two appearing on his 2014 release, Vermillion Tree ), Polish trumpeter Tomasz Dabrowski went in a different direction for his current project, Ninjazz. With the title a portmanteau of “Ninja" and “jazz," this release by Dabrowski's Ad Hoc quartet includes three leading Japanese musicians for a recording designed to be elusive, unpredictable, and crafty.
read moreTomasz Dabrowski Ad Hoc: Ninjazz
by Glenn Astarita
Award-winning Polish trumpeter/educator Tomasz Dąbrowski (Gilad Hekselman, Kurt Rosenwinkel, TOM TRIO) and current resident of Copenhagen, has an impressive résumé amid a penchant for exploring dissimilar jazz-based methods. Here, the artist and his Japanese cohorts build an opaque conduit between modern jazz and experimental tendencies via a democratic engagement, where each musician's voice is heard. Dąbrowski's bronze-toned phrasings are contrasted with muted wah-wah lines that instill a conversational tone as many passages are designed with odd-metered progressions. ...
read moreMatthew Shipp: Not Bound
by Don Phipps
On Not Bound, pianist extraordinaire Matthew Shipp and his top-drawer rhythm section of Michael Bisio on bass and Whit Dickey on drums is joined by multi-instrumentalist Steve Carter in an exceptional tour de force of spontaneous music within a compositional framework. Each of the five tracks offers unique and exciting lyricism. “Soul Secrets" begins with a cool piano and flute intro that leads to a rumble. Bisio is quite active on the bass, even under the unhurried opening ...
read moreIgor Osypov Quartet: Dream Delivery
by Dave Wayne
Igor Osypov's debut album, I (Unit Records, 2015), was quite promising in many ways. Yet, it was a snapshot of an artist still in the formative stages of the craft. Thus, the content of the Berlin-based plectrist's Dream Delivery came as a pleasant shock. Seemingly, within the past year, Osypov has taken prodigious strides towards staking out a unique personal sound. Wielding a semi-hollow body electric, Osypov defaults to a clean tone and a notably percussive attack while mixing in ...
read morePulsarus: Bee Itch
by Glenn Astarita
When discussing progressive jazz contexts, let us not forget our brothers and sisters in Poland who have been riding the cutting-edge schema for decades, evidenced by pianists Adam Makowicz, Marcin Wasilewski, trumpeter Tomasz Stańko and other notables of the global jazz and improvising network. However, the young For Tune record label highlights fledgling talent and seasoned vets who may not be household names in the West. Hence, Pulsarus is a prime of example of a band that ventures outside the ...
read more3D: Dąbrowski Davis Drury: Vermilion Tree
by Eyal Hareuveni
The international 3D trio was initiated by Polish, Denmark-based rising trumpeter Tomasz Dąbrowski during his 2012 visit to New York that already yielded a duo with drummer Tyshawn Sorey (Steps, For Tune, 2013). Canadian, New York-based pianist Kris Davis and American drummer (with Nordic roots) Andrew Drury join Dąbrowski in a set of eight concise, snapshot-like duo and trio improvisations that blur the distinction with written compositions. The five longer compositions penned by Dąbrowski (plus one by Drury), all emphasize ...
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