Piotr Damasiewicz - trumpet
Maciej Obara - alto saxophone
Gerard Lebik - tenor saxophone
Adam Pindur - soprano saxophone
Paweł Niewiadomski - trombone
Dominik Wania - piano
Ksawery Wójciński - double bass
Jakub Cywiński - double bass
Samuel Hall - drums
Polska
ASTIGMATIC 011
By Adam Baruch
This is the second album by Polish
trumpeter/composer Piotr Damasiewicz and his Power Of The Horns Ensemble and
their first studio recording. It features a nonet version of the ensemble which
also includes saxophonists Maciej Obara, Adam Pindur and Gerard Lebik,
trombonist Paweł Niewiadomski, pianist Dominik Wania, bassists Ksawery
Wójciński and Jakub Cywiński and Australian born drummer Samuel Hall. The album
presents four (one in two parts) original compositions, all by Damasiewicz.
The debut album
"Alaman", recorded live in 2012 (i.e. six years earlier), was the
first release of the now legendary For Tune Records label, and created quite a stir
at the time. It was recorded by an eleven-piece version of the ensemble, which
included only five of the musicians present on this new recording and presented
just three expanded tracks, characterized by extensive improvisations. The raw
power of the horns and super-sized rhythm section combined with the youthful
excitement associated with the occasion managed to create some magic moments,
which the recording certainly reflected, but which did not prove to have a
long-lasting value. In retrospect the status of "…one of the most
captivating albums in the history of Polish jazz…" is certainly a hype
rather that an objective statement.
The new album is a complete
about face and presents perfectly well-behaved, modern mainstream Jazz, with smooth
performances but limited level of enthusiasm. Of course this is a perfectly
legitimate approach; considering the time that passed since the debut;
maturity, age and experience certainly have their influence. Yet Damasiewicz
seems to cling to the past by including on this album older material, like the
title tune which originates from 2014 and even one composition already
presented on the debut, which perhaps indicates a shortage of new material. But
regardless of the past connections, the music on this album is based on rather
basic melodic elements, repeated continuously with little variations, except
for the ensemble dynamics. The "wall of sound" approach of the debut
is now replaced by a more chamber like approach typical of Polish Jazz from the
1960s, and a retro sound and ambience.
Damasiewicz dedicates the
compositions on the album to the Godfathers of Polish Jazz: Krzysztof Komeda,
Tomasz Stańko and Tomasz Szukalski and to his teacher Piotr Wojtasik, all of whom
obviously influenced his musical path, which is well reflected within the music
on this album, and which, as already stated, often ventures into the climates
invented and developed by his Mentors and which characterize Polish Jazz or at
least its early days. The album's title seems to suggest that the music on this
album is the continuation of that magic "Polishness" that Polish Jazz
offers at its core; a daring statement by all means, which will be judged by
history alone.
The individual performances by
the leader and the ensemble members are, as expected, highly professional, but
if not for the excellent, as always, contributions by Wania, who in the period
separating these two recordings made one giant step after another, the music
would have became almost banal, a déjà vu of sorts. Considering the astonishing
level of the musicianship on the Polish Jazz scene, something more spectacular
would have been needed in this music to become "…sublime and unique…". The album's liner notes, from
which all the above quotes are taken, is fascinating, full of hints, allegories
and references - definitely worth reading!