Gniewomir Tomczyk/Project - Pieces Of My Journey (2020)

Gniewomir Tomczyk/Project

MIN t - vocals
Maciej Kądziela - saxophone
Zdzisław Kalinowski - keyboards
Gniewomir Tomczyk - drums

and others

Pieces Of My Journey

SOLITON 1038

By Adam Baruch

This is the third album by Polish Jazz drummer/composer Gniewomir Tomczyk, recorded with a core quartet including vocalist MIN t (a.k.a. Martyna Kubicz), saxophonist Maciej Kądziela and keyboardist Zdzisław Kalinowski. A long list of guests appears on selected tracks. The album presents nine original compositions, eight composed or co-composed by Tomczyk and one by Kądziela. There are also six bonus tracks which are either remixes or radio edits of the album’s tracks.

The music shows clearly the path Tomczyk has been following since the start of his career, moving gradually away from the traditional concept of Jazz into contemporary Pop. Although his music still carries some marginal Jazz accents, the emphasis is on production, contemporary sound and highly melodic contents.

Although not exactly my cup of poison, the music is professionally put together and Tomczyk knows exactly what he is doing. Make no mistake, he is quite an accomplished Jazz drummer is he wants to be, but obviously his current desire is to produce elegant and quite sophisticated Pop music, which is every iota as good as the best accomplishments in this area over the pond and anywhere else around the globe, without being disgusting and plainly primitive, as most Pop productions are these days. Large parts of this music are instrumental and there are some nice solo parts by Kądziela and the guest artists, with makes the music shift between Jazz-Pop Fusion and Smooth Jazz, with a bit of Avant-Garde touch for good measure, which awaits the listener just when he is blissfully floating towards the horizon.

As already said earlier, this is not "strictly" Jazz, but at least it does not pretend to be so. It operates within clearly defined cross-genre borders, offering its own rules and production values, which are highly effective. I really enjoy this music, here it is, I admit it! It has its time and its place and does not replace my love for Jazz or Classic Rock or anything else, but I do appreciate the effort and talent put into it and completely non-snobbishly enjoy it. And as usual I don’t give a damn what others think. Well done!

Premiera singla Gniewomira Tomczyka "Light Up!"

20 kwietnia miała miejsce premiera cyfrowa nowego singla oraz teledysku do utworu "Light Up!" projektu Gniewomira Tomczyka. Singiel jest zapowiedzią płyty "Pieces Of My Journey", która ukaże się jeszcze w tym roku. Wydawcą i dystrybutorem jest wytwórnia Soliton. Reżyserem klipu jest Max Pavlenko.

"Życie muzyka to ciągłe balansowanie między dwoma stanami umysłu. Z jednej strony - zapalasz się, płoniesz, zdzierasz wszelkie zasłony, aby pokazać szczerość, emocje i prawdę na scenie. Blask reflektorów daje ucieczkę, odskocznię od nużącej codzienności. Z drugiej - występując przed publicznością zakładasz maskę, chowając część swoich zwykłych, ludzkich spraw tuż przed sceną, zaraz za kurtyną…" - tak o utworze "Light Up!" mówi Gniewomir Tomczyk.

Gniewomir Tomczyk - perkusista jazzowy, perkusista hybrydowy, pedagog. Absolwent Akademii Muzycznej im. I. J. Paderewskiego w Poznaniu, w klasie perkusji jazzowej prowadzonej przez prof. Krzysztofa Przybyłowicza. Finalista konkursu w ramach festiwalu Bielska Zadymka Jazzowa (2019 r.), Krokus Jazz Festiwal (2019 r.) czy laureat I Nagrody na Ogólnopolskim Festiwalu Rytmu Drum Battle (2008 r.). Założyciel oraz lider zespołu Gniewomir Tomczyk Project. Wraz z projektem wydał dwie solowe płyty, "Quality Jazz Live" i "Event Horizon" oraz trzy single wraz z teledyskami: "Light Up!", "Generation of Numbers" oraz "Mechanical Cats". Współpracuje na stałe m.in. z zespołem elektronicznym Xxanaxx, producentką MINt czy wokalistką Patrycją Zarychtą. Organizator oraz producent cyklu koncertów jazzowych, autorskich, improwizowanych "Jazz Session" w warszawskim klubie muzycznym Bardzo Bardzo.

Gniewomir Tomczyk/Project Live – Quality Jazz Live (2018)

Gniewomir Tomczyk/Project Live

Gniewomir Tomczyk - drums, samples, fx
MIN t - vocal, rap, synth bass
Maciej Kądziela - saxophone
Zdzisław Kalinowski - keyboards, synth bass
Anna Furkałowska - cello
Robert Seniuta - violin, fx


Quality Jazz Live

SJ 034

By Adam Baruch

This is the second album by Polish drummer/composer Gniewomir Tomczyk, this time recorded live and presenting some of the compositions included on the debut album recorded with keyboardist Andrzej Mikulski and new original compositions by Tomczyk intended to appear on the next studio album. The album consists of seven tracks recorded live and five additional bonus tracks recorded in various locations either live or in studio. Tomczyk is accompanied by an impressive group of young Polish musicians, which includes keyboardist Zdzisław Kalinowski, cellist Anna Furkałowska, violinist Robert Seniuta, saxophonist Maciej Kądziela and others, with several people providing the rap and vocal parts.

The music is a sophisticated amalgam of Jazz roots with contemporary Pop/electronic/Avant Rock/Rap excursions, melody based but allowing plenty of space for improvisation and individual statements by the participating musicians, which works quite well and definitely explores new horizons as far as Jazz music is concerned, bringing it much closer to contemporary popular music trends, without loosing any of the intellectual and artistic quality.

The album is a very refreshing listening experience and although it is a compilation of available recordings rather than a coherent and well planed album, it still works out well and offers plenty of diverse and at times even fascinating music. For the young generation of Jazz musicians and listeners, such cross genre excursions sound completely natural. For the Jazz purist my advice is to take the stick out of their rectum and let go – this is fun music and is to be treated as such. Personally I am already waiting to hear the next album by Tomczyk, which promises to be an exciting journey.

Gniewomir Tomczyk – Event Horizon (2017)

Gniewomir Tomczyk

Andrzej Mikulski - keyboards, bass
Gniewomir Tomczyk - drums, samples
Piotr Schmidt - trumpet
Kuba Więcek - alto saxophone
Maciej Kociński - soprano saxophone
Marek Kądziela - guitar
Krzysia Górniak - guitar
Aga Derlak - flute
Zdzisław Kalinowski - keyboards
Mateusz Smoczyński - strings
and others

Event Horizon

SJ 017

By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by Polish duo Event Horizon, which comprises of drummer Gniewomir Tomczyk and keyboardist/bassist Andrzej Mikulski. A plethora of guest musicians, some form the echelons of the young Polish Jazz circles and others from different areas, add their contributions, including Piotr Schmidt, Aga Derlak, Krzysia Górniak, Mateusz Smoczyński, Kuba Więcek, Marek Kądziela and many others. The album presents ten original compositions (one repeated twice), recorded over a period of several years, five of which were co-composed and arranged by Tomczyk and Mikulski, others composed either individually by one of the duo members or co-composed with others, improvised or being arrangements of Classical themes, in short a very diverse collection of ideas. Three of the pieces feature texts/lyrics in English.

The music is strongly melody based and rooted in Jazz, but emphasizes production and sound at least as much as improvisation, creating wonderful contemporary vistas, which feel completely cross-genre and can be liked by a very wide spectrum of listeners, predominantly belonging to the younger generation. The music is intelligent and wonderfully coherent, offering a superb selection of melodies and harmonies, which often are absent in the so called "serious Jazz" recordings. Although this music can be categorized as Smooth Jazz for lack of a better definition, based on the "cool" and seemingly "smooth" approach, it is full of excellent musicianship and masterly music production.

Overall this is a classic example of "don't judge a book by its cover" (here both metaphorically and directly, as the album's cover art is rather bleak, completely uncharacteristic of its contents). What might be considered as a youthful experiment turns out to be a solid piece of excellent music, which stands its own ground, regardless what the Jazz purists might say. In many respects this album represents what the new generation of Jazz players feels about Jazz, respecting the tradition but reaching out to electronics, new sounds and original approach, which attempts to discover new ground, which after all is the most important aspect of music making. This is definitely one of the most interesting releases so far in 2017, as far as I am concerned. Well done Wonder Kids!

Krzysia Górniak – Moments (2016)

Krzysia Górniak

Krzysia Górniak - guitar
Zdzisław Kalinowski - keyboards
Łukasz Makowski - bass
Grzegorz Grzyb - drums
Gniewomir Tomczyk - drums

Moments




POLSKIE RADIO 1851

By Adam Baruch

This is the seventh album by Polish Jazz guitarist/composer Krzysia Górniak, recorded in a quartet format with keyboardist Zdzisław Kalinowski, bassist Łukasz Makowski and drummers Grzegorz Grzyb or Gniewomir Tomczyk. The album presents nine compositions, five of which are originals by Gorniak, one is co-composed by her, two are by the Greek bassist/composer Evangelos Tzimkas, who played on Górniak's debut album, and the final one is by Makowski.

The music is all melodic mainstream Jazz, on the easy side of the spectrum, with excellent compositions which present a wide spectrum of emotions and moods. The sound of the guitar dominates the proceedings, playing clear single notes and harmonic chord structures, which basically need only limited support from the rhythm section and the keyboards. Górniak clearly developed a mature sound and style over the years and this album is coherent and professional to the max. Some nice World Music influences are also incorporated into the music on some of the tunes.

All the musicians involved play excellently from start to finish and are given an opportunity to show their chops in solo parts, but Górniak is obviously the leader in charge and dictates the terms. Her guitar sound is sleek and demonstrates her absolute charge of the instrument. She is definitely different from all other guitar players on the Polish scene, and her unique approach to the instrument puts her in a class of her own.

It seems that this album is somewhat more Fusion oriented than I expected, which is not that much evident in the guitar playing but more so in the parts played by the band behind. Luckily there is still enough of the Jazz feel on this album, to make it work within the Jazz framework. Górniak's solos are kept carefully in check and don't enter the typical race with the notes, which makes many Fusion albums hard to bear.

Overall this is a wonderful guitar album, which should make guitar lovers wet their lips with delight, and which is also very accessible to a wide range of listeners, without making any compromises as far as the quality of compositions and performances are concerned. Combined with the superb sound quality the album offers, this is an album music lovers should not miss!