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Tomasz Dąbrowski FREE4ARTS: When I Come Across
by Mark Sullivan
Polish trumpeter Tomasz Dąbrowski (who lives in Denmark) leads an empathetic Nordic quartet with FREE4ARTS, in their sophomore outing. As the group name implies, they play freely, favoring the rubato approach found in so many ECM recordings. Opening track “HPB" begins with new member guitarist Simon Krebs (replacing pianist Jacob Anderskov) and baritone saxophonist Sven Dam Meinild setting the stage for Dąbrowski's lyrical trumpet entry. There is no bass in the group, but here the baritone takes that ...
Continue ReadingOcean Fanfare: First Nature
by Mark Corroto
If you were to play a game of 'name that artist' while listening to the recording First Nature, roughly half of the contestants would identify the band as the Dave Douglas Quartet, not because Tomasz Dąbrowski has a derivative sound, but more as a compliment to his range and imagination. The Polish trumpeter, now a Scandinavian resident, penned half the compositions heard on this recording, and alto saxophonist Sven Dam Meinild the remainder. Dąbrowski's Danish quartet is rounded out by ...
Continue ReadingOcean Fanfare: First Nature
by Troy Dostert
It can be difficult to keep up with trumpeter Tomasz Dabrowski. His incessant musical explorations have kept him in the forefront of European jazz since 2012, when he debuted his Tom Trio (ILK Music), the first of several different projects he has formed. Most recently he released Ninjazz (For Tune, 2018), a well-conceived outing featuring three like-minded Japanese musicians, which was both inventive and accessible. Here he returns to a group he started in 2013, Ocean Fanfare, which released Imagine ...
Continue ReadingTomasz 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 ...
Continue ReadingTomasz 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 ...
Continue ReadingTomasz 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.
Continue ReadingTomasz 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. ...
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