Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet: Live Spirit I

The album Live Spirit I is a compelling listen from the Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet. The music combines the very best of free improvisation with sparse, piercing compositions and ethereal ambience. While the bassist/leader and most of his group live in Poland, this is truly a world-class performance.

Wojtek Mazolewski's influence is already significant. His music has surpassed eight million streams on Spotify; he is a staple at jazz, indie and electronic dance festivals, and his albums have been recognized on prominent "best jazz album of the year" lists. His work also reflects what makes Polish jazz a distinctive subgenre: a fusion of jazz, folk, and classical idioms; an openness to experimentation; and a lyrical melancholy shaped by the country's history.

This WMQ album includes eight tracks compiled from the group's catalog and four new songs, all performed live. Choice selections include: "Live Spirit," "Kalaczakra," "Air" and "Polka."

"Live Spirit" opens with "forest" percussion (e.g., a kalimba) and steadily builds to include breathy saxophone fragments, piano clusters and then voice. It is deeply musical but without a concrete melody. The energy ebbs and flows, departing the way it first came.

On "Kalaczakra," a bass ostinato underpins Tymek Papior's explosive drum flurries, while trumpet (Paul Butscher) and saxophone (Piotr Checki) weave simultaneous improvisations. Eventually, the ensemble converges into a spare, minimalist head.

"Air" defines delicacy. Piano adornments from Marcel Baliński sound like drops of water landing in a puddle. The saxophone sustains long notes at a very quiet dynamic marking. The folky bass line lends a humble vibe.

"Polka" transforms a 4-minute studio groove from an early album into a 22-minute opus that explores multiple feels—driving, swinging, probing and meditating among them.

What is most striking is the range of moods the band achieves with a purely acoustic quintet, recorded live without overdubs or studio effects. Even more remarkable is the way the set functions as a cohesive suite, each track illuminating a different facet of the group's sonic prism.

Speaking of cohesiveness, the Quintet's members have changed in recent years, but good fortune has led them to build a strong chemistry. Mazolewski asserts that the current unit "quickly embraced my philosophy of playing and opened up to the potential that arose from this constellation. From the very first concerts, it felt as if we had known each other for years, yet everything was new."

The roar of applause after each number attests to the audience's deep connection with the performance. While Mazolewski declares that "music lives on stage," in this case the translation to a live recording is seamless.

As Mazolewski has said elsewhere, "WMQ's music is my response to an anxious world. I want our sound to offer people a sense of relief, an escape from everyday chaos, and a way to connect with something bigger—and better—within ourselves." With Live Spirit I, the Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet succeeds in spirit and body.