Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet at the Jazz Cafe

Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet
Jazz Cafe
London
February 11, 2026

It was a wet Wednesday night in London, and the sign outside the Jazz Cafe reads, "Tonight: Fearless contemporary jazz—Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet." The scene recalls a sketch in the surrealist British comedy show The Mighty Boosh, where Howard accuses his colleague of fearing jazz: the lack of rules, the lack of boundaries. It's a hilarious piece, where Howard has to be snapped out of a jazz trance by being slapped across the face.

Something unruly is expected this evening—intense, spiritually leaning jazz—but also the possibility of surprise. There has been extensive listening to Mazolewski's album Solo (WMQ Records, 2025), the first solo output by the bassist and composer from Poland, along with time spent with his other recordings, including work with saxophonist Tamar Osborn as part of the Tryp Tych Trio. Tonight is to promote his quintet's release, Live Spirit I (WMQ Records, 2025), a concert from Warsaw combining new music and fan favorites.

The fans are out in force: a young Eastern European crowd with beer flowing. The Jazz Cafe is not a pleasant experience when it is packed, but tonight the numbers are good and one can easily get close to the front. Support artist Plumm provided a laid-back warm-up of her looped vocals with effects. Not very high energy, but that was to come.

The quintet came to the stage, Mazolewski resplendent in a white Stetson hat. The band was Oskar Torok on trumpet, Christopher Williams on saxophone, Stanisław Pańta on keyboards, Wojtek Zienliński on drums, along with their leader on upright bass. He went straight into some bowing and Gregorian-sounding chants, with Eastern-flavored soprano saxophone and vocalizing from the band—a way to cleanse the room before moving into "New Energy."

This had a refrain that could have been lifted straight from an Alice Coltrane album. The bass was so clear and powerful you could feel it through the floor. We, the crowd, are paid tribute in the following tune, "Beautiful People," with a blistering trumpet solo from Török. "Polka" was next, the band silent in places except for Pańta wigging out with synth modulations and oscillations. It was very different to the Live Spirit 1 recording, which features a grand piano.

You could feel the influence of Herbie Hancock and his '70s electronic work here, even Miles Davis' In a Silent Way (Columbia Records, 1969), as the music leaned into that trance-jazz state before a full-on drum solo from Zienliński under strobe lighting. The band was hot, each member at the top of their game—it was like being at a Black Jazz or Strata-East-era live concert.

It was pleasing to see very few phones in the air recording everything. The crowd are in the moment, swaying to the slower number "My Heart," which moved into a joyful trumpet section after picking up the pace. The next number brought Williams more prominently to the fore on saxophone, with abstract, angular sounds over a firing dancefloor rhythm from the drummer, drum 'n' bass style.

After an hour that passed far too quickly, the band left the stage, returning for an uplifting encore of "Sun" to banish the winter weather. But then the real surprise—and total highlight—a rendition of "Theme De Yoyo" by the Art Ensemble Of Chicago, featuring Plumm on vocals. An ecstatic end to the show.

A night clearly influenced by the greats of spiritual jazz, but with enough experimentation to feel modern and fresh. Stunning.

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