Doc's Jazz Music Reviews

It is a wonderful experience to encounter musicians who really love making music. I get this sense from this trio – there are others like Earl Klugh – that I feel the emotion from their music. This does not always happen for me – I might hear some music that is technically perfect yet something is missing, I do not connect with it. I really enjoy the music put out by this group.

I first discovered this group on “January” and I would play the disc over and over again – frequently while writing. It is a powerful piece of music from a young group who have been playing together for a long time. Every song on this album is exceptional but my favorite is Vignette. The trio of Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz and Michal Miskiewicz is in my opinion are one of the most outstanding acoustic jazz trios around today.

They served as the backing group for noted jazz trumpeter Tomaz Stanko and when you listen to recordings by Stanko such as “Soul of Things”, “Suspended Night”, and “Lontano” it is hard not to get lost in the music surrounding Stanko’s distinctive trumpet playing.

The Trio started out as high school students at the Koszalin High School of Music and they have been together ever since getting better and better as they go along.

Here is some more info from their bio on their website:

“Their first trio was formed the following year. In 1993 drummer Miskiewicz joined them, and the group’s line-up has been stable ever since. As the Simple Acoustic Trio they won awards in their homeland and issued five albums on local labels. Their first international release, for ECM, entitled just “Trio” was recorded in 2004 and released the following year, immediately winning the Quarterly Prize of the German Record Critics. In the US, too, critics were taking notice. “Their years together have resulted in an ensemble with an utterly symbiotic creative flow,” wrote Don Heckman in the Los Angeles Times.

The release of “January” - recorded in New York with producer Manfred Eicher early in 2007 - also signals a change of name. Henceforth the group is, simply, the MarcinWasilewski Trio. The group continues to be run as a collective of equals, but its members have come to accept the convention that piano trios are traditionally identified by their pianists. Besides, Marcin is the band’s principal songwriter: he contributes four pieces to the present disc, including the title track and the beautiful opener, “The First Touch”. Wasilewski also, at the urging of the producer, addresses pieces written by Gary Peacock and by Carla Bley - pieces identified with two major pianists, respectively Keith Jarrett and Paul Bley. Wasilewski does not flinch from the challenge but, with his trio partners, makes of this music something of his own.

“Vignette” is a composition by Gary Peacock first heard on the album “Tales of Another”, the 1978 ECM recording which marked the coming together of the band later known as Jarrett’s “Standards” Trio. The Wasilewski Trio takes it at a statelier pace, and mines it for deeper emotions. A powerful performance, especially in the light of Marcin’s indebtedness to Jarrett as a player. Acknowledging the influence, he moves beyond it.

Carla Bley’s composition “King Korn” meanwhile is a piece of early 60s vintage that surfaced on Paul Bley’s 1963 classic ”Footloose” recording with the great trio line-up including Steve Swallow and Pete La Roca. The Polish trio fly at it with invigorating energy and wonderful group interaction (the recording quality illuminating detail with a clarity impossible back in the days when Paul Bley was recording for Savoy), with especially exciting dialogues between Michal Miskiewicz and Wasilewski.

“Balladyna”, a Tomasz Stanko tune, was title track of the Polish trumpeter’s ECM debut disc (with a rhythm section of Dave Holland and Edward Vesala), back in 1975, the year Wasilewski was born. The trio’s dark, swirling rubato performance has the stark drama and predatory lyricism associated Stanko; they’ve played the piece often in concert with the composer.

On their 2004 ECM disc, the trio offered a luminous version of Björk’s “Hyperballad”. This season’s pop cover is Prince’s “Diamonds and Pearls”, the ballad from 1991 which gains a deal of mystery in this stripped-down interpretation in which bassist Kurkiewicz shares the melody with Wasilewski.

The cinematic arts are never far away in Polish jazz; ever since 1958, when Komeda first collaborated with Polanski, the genres have influenced each other. Wasilewski’s “The Young and Cinema” references an identically-titled festival of new Polish films held in Koszalin. The trio also covers Ennio Morricone’s title theme for Giuseppe Tornatore’s 1988 film “Cinema Paradiso”, itself a celebration of film.

The album closes with a trio improvisation, a free ballad made in the moment and specific to its time and place, “New York 2007”. As already demonstrated on Stanko’s “Lontano”, these are players extremely adept at creating songs in real time.

Marcin Wasilewski and Slawomir Kurkiewicz also appeared on Manu Katché's popular “Neighbourhood” and “Playground” albums.”

Enjoy!

People Make the World Go Round is a song popularized by the R&B singing group the Stylistics back in the 70’s. Since that time numerous Jazz artist and groups have taken the song and added their distinctive styling’s to it. Here is a video showcase featuring some of these variations.

Here is the original done by The Stylistics

Now check out these jazz variations

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