Janusz Szuber - recitation
Julia Kotarba - cello
Łukasz Sabat - vocals, duduk, alto saxophone
Wojciech Inglot - piano, keys
W Centrum Źrenicy
PRIVATE EDITION
By Adam Baruch
This is an absolutely delightful album presenting the poetry by Polish poet Janusz Szuber, accompanied by three musicians: cellist Julia Kotarba, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Łukasz Sabat and keyboardist / saxophonist Wojciech Inglot = the last two known together as the Insza duo. Szuber selected eighteen poems form his wide-ranging poetic legacy, which he recites, and the three musicians composed the music, which they perform accompanying his recitation.
Although the music encompasses
a wide stylistic range, I warmly embrace this album as part of the Polish Jazz
& Poetry realm, as it has a distinctive Jazzy feel about it, if not
stylistically surely conceptually. This amalgamation of words and music turns
out to be especially effective primarily due to the fact that the music was
carefully constructed to fit to the intrinsic rhythm of the poems and their
natural "musicality", as well as the careful balance between the
recitation, which is distinctly forefront, and the music which respectfully
stays in the background, although being perfectly well audible. Of course, as
usual with Jazz & Poetry projects, the final result is way more than just
the sum of its ingredients.
The poetry of Szuber is a
multilayered and highly emotional affair. His usage of vocabulary, mostly based
on everyday, seemingly simple language, conceals deeply philosophical, often harsh
reflections about life's truths, and yet always points towards the light at the
end of the tunnel. The fact that he spent most of his lifetime in a wheelchair
did not manage to let him become dominated by bitterness, which is of course
commendable. Sadly the language layer of this project is limited to Polish
speaking public, although personally I love Jazz & Poetry recordings which
include languages completely unfamiliar to me – the power of this idiom often
transcend language barriers. I can only hope that this little
gem of an album gets to as many listeners as possible, as it truly deserves an
audience. Most warmly recommended!