Payoff – Gorzkie Żale (2016)

Payoff

Bartłomiej Wielgosz - tenor saxophone
Dawid Wieczorek - guitar
Michał Dzioboń - drums

Gorzkie Żale

AUDIO CAVE 003



By Adam Baruch

This is the second album by the Polish Improvised Music trio Payoff, which consists of saxophonist Bartłomiej Wielgosz, guitarist Dawid Wieczorek and drummer Michał Dzioboń. The album presents nine pieces, which are not credited on the album's cover and therefore are assumed as being co-composed by the trio members. The music is spiritually related to the Polish Catholic Church devotion called Lenten Lamentations, comprising of many hymns, which was developed in the 18th Century and is not celebrated outside of Poland.

The music, although improvised, contains strong melodic elements, which make it accessible to a much wider circle of listeners than the strictly Improvised Music albums. Additionally the usage of electric guitar and sound effects places the music somewhere in between Improvised Jazz and Improvised Rock, again expanding the potential audience.

The recording uses a lot of echo and delay, creating an effect simulating a live recording made in a wide space, possibly a church, which adds to the spirituality of this music. The overall effect moves between deep contemplation during the quiet passages and eruptions of despair during the more intense moments. The album manages to create a lasting tension and expectation from start to finish, which is one of its best qualities. The level of performance by all three members of the trio is impressive and includes elements of originality and an obvious sense of aesthetic beauty.

The level of interplay is also quite remarkable and the trio sounds like an organic amalgam of its members, achieving together a much stronger effect than the individual contributions, all this being another reason to give the album your ears. Although this kind of music is often too complex for the average listener, this album has plenty of merits which make it worth listening to. The music is absorbing, constantly developing and often fascinating, which overall promises a very interesting sonic experience. Definitely worth investigating!

Trasa koncertowa Payoff - Gorzkie Żale

Krakowskie trio Payoff promuje swoje najnowsze wydawnictwo płytowe „Gorzkie Żale” podczas trasy koncertowej po Polsce. Podczas koncertów będzie można usłyszeć zespół w składzie: Dawid K. Wieczorek (gitara elektryczna), Bartłomiej Wielgosz (saksofon), Michał Dzioboń (perkusja) w autorskiej interpretacji tematów zaczerpniętych z tradycyjnego, XVIII-wiecznego nabożeństwa wielkopostnego. Album „Gorzkie Żale” ukazał się nakładem krakowskiego wydawnictwa Audio Cave w marcu 2016 roku.

Płyta wpisuje się w nurt mistycznego podejścia do muzyki, tak charakterystycznego chociażby dla Johna Coltrane’a. „W muzyce Payoff w przepiękny i fascynujący sposób splatają się ze sobą dwie tradycje, dając słuchaczom zupełnie nowe doświadczenie bogate w gry znaczeń, inspiracji i odniesień” – napisał w notce do płyty Rafał Zbrzeski.

TRASA:

26.02 – Kraków, Klub Re

12.03 – Lublin, Zielony Talerzyk

13.03 – Bieruń, Regionalne Centrum Kulturalno „Remiza”

17.03 – Warszawa, Mózg Powszechny

18.03 – Bydgoszcz, Mózg

20.03 – Rzeszów, Jazz Room

Dzioboń/Wieczorek/Wielgosz – Payoff (2014)

Dzioboń/Wieczorek/Wielgosz

Dawid K. Wieczorek - guitar
Bartłomiej Wielgosz - saxophone
Michał Dzioboń - drums

Payoff

PRIVATE EDITION




By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by Polish Improvising Music trio, which comprises of drummer Michał Dzioboń, guitarist Dawid K. Wieczorek and saxophonist Bartłomiej Wielgosz. The music, recorded during an improvised session, was then split into ten tracks, and those were later given titles.

Contrary to most Improvised Music meetings, this trio's music is relatively mild, non-aggressive and even melodic to some extent. Although the guitar often plays with distortion and electronic feedback, it is balanced by the acoustic saxophone and down to earth percussive approach. Overall it is after all just an artistic experience shared by three musicians, captured and frozen in time by the recording.

There is definitely a dialogue (or trialogue) going on and the musicians have played together earlier on and listen to each other attentively. They employ a wide range of sound effects, especially the electronically aided guitar, but also the unusual usage of drums, which are quite effective and make this music quite interesting for the listener.

On the other hand, however, freely Improvised Music is by definition relevant almost exclusively only while it is performed live, and recordings of such material are simply drained of the emotional as well as artistic essence in most cases. I find it hard to believe that anybody would listen to such music on record more than once, except for extreme devotees. Overall this is an interesting endeavor, sadly limited to a miniscule specialized audience. Artistically of course it is completely relevant and engaging.