Jazz Articles about Tomasz Stańko

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Tomasz Stanko: Lontano and Levitation

by Elliott Simon
October 8, 2006

Tomasz Stańko Quartet Lontano ECM Records 2006 Mark O'Leary/Tomasz Stańko/Billy Hart Levitation Leo Records 2005

For more than four decades, Tomasz Stanko's trumpet has been a voice of freedom within Polish jazz, combining a supple improvisational landscape with both European and American influences. Stanko's symbiotic relationship with his current quartet of ...

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Tomasz Stanko Quartet: Lontano

by Edward Zucker
September 10, 2006

Perfect chemistry should not be disturbed, and Tomasz Stanko and ECM reprise their winning combination on Lontano. This is the third ECM release with Stanko and his regular trio of pianist Marcin Wasilewski, bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz. As with the previous two releases, this disc features variations of a tune, in this case the title tune. The band visits “Lontano" three times. In each subsequent interpretation they deconstruct and explore it with agile sensitivity.

While ...

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Tomasz Stanko Quartet: Lontano

by Budd Kopman
September 4, 2006

Can a recording be appreciated or understood without knowing the full history of the performer?

The answer is, of course, yes and no. In this case, yes, the music on Lontano creates a coherent sound world, has an artistic point of view and many levels, and thus is well worth repeated listens. But no, you'll be missing the full impact of the music made by these musicians if you haven't heard the last two albums by this band, Soul Of ...

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Tomasz Stanko Quartet: Lontano

by Chris May
September 3, 2006

The Beatles got it wrong. When you're 64, Lennon & McCartney predicted, you'll be ready for the knackers yard. But the lovable moptops were only in their twenties then, like Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, and each had already changed the shape of things, the Beatles with “She Loves You" (1963), Stanko on Astigmatic (1965). It was a young man's world.

But at the near-venerable age of 64, Stanko has recorded a major modern masterpiece: a perfect exploration of the hinterland ...

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Tomasz Stanko Quartet: Lontano

by John Kelman
August 22, 2006

Other bands have been around for longer than Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stańko's current quartet, but few have exhibited such palpable growth in so little time. While Suspended Night (ECM, 2004) showed considerable development from the quartet's first release, Soul of Things (ECM, 2002), Lontano represents a major shift towards free playing that these albums only hinted at. More than half of Lontano consists of three extended improvisations. These truly spontaneous compositions demonstrate the extent to which this quartet ...

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Manu Katche': Neighbourhood

by AAJ Italy Staff
January 30, 2006

Il primo disco a nome del batterista Manu Katche', noto in ambito pop per le sue collaborazioni con Peter Gabriel, Sting e Youssou n'Dour ed in quello jazz per i lavori con Jan Garbarek, arriva dopo molti anni di carriera, sotto l'egida della ECM e con le modalita' care a Manfred Eicher, che gli affianca, oltre il suo storico mentore Garbarek, altri alfieri dell'etichetta tedesca, vale a dire Tomasz Stanko e due dei componenti dell'attuale gruppo del trombettista polacco, il ...

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Tomasz Stanko: Wolnosc w Sierpniu (Freedom in August)

by John Kelman
November 29, 2005

Trumpeter Tomasz Stańko has found increasing international exposure in recent years due to a string of fine ECM recordings, including Leosia (1997), Litania (1997) and Suspended Night (2004). But while his reappearance on the international scene is relatively recent, he has a perhaps not-so-surprisingly considerable discography released only in his native Poland, which ranges from Bosonossa (GOWI, 1993)--with his nascent quartet featuring Bobo Stenson, Anders Jormin, and Tony Oxley--to works for theatre and film. Regardless of context, Stańko's distinctive raspy ...