Tomasz Stanko Quintet

Groundbreaking release from  Stanko Quintet .   Undisputedly, one of the most important recordings in history of European jazz (and beyond).  Dedicated to Stanko's mentor Krzysztof Komeda who died tragically in 1969.  According to Stanko, Komeda's music had the deepest impact on his art.

 

 

1.  The ambusher (Czatownik)	05'40
2.  Infinitely small (Nieskończenie mały)	04'05
3.  Cry	08'40
4.  Music for K	16'20
5.  Theme / The ambusher (Temat / Czatownik)	0'45
Music composed by: Tomasz Stanko
Personnel: Tomasz Stańko -trumpet Zbigniew Seifert - alto saxophone Janusz Muniak - tenor saxophone Bronislaw Suchanek - bass Janusz Stefanski - drums, percussion
Recorded: January 1970
About: The beginning did not give the slightest indication of anything extraordinary: in 1962 a young musician named Tomasz Stanko founded a jazz group called "Jazz Darlings" and wrote his first compositions. Now, this album lets us see how far he has gone, how much he has achieved. His complex and mobile artistic personality oscillates between his capabilities as an instrumentalist and his natural inclination to compose. The choice is not easy and probably impossible to make at present, so the instrumentalist - composer is in constant inner conflict with himself. He says that intensive creative work inevitably decreases instrumental technical mastery, and jazz musicians are today expected to demonstrate top level of performance. It should be noted here that the young (born in 1942 in Rzeszow) musician has for several years has been considered the best Polish trumpeter and, besides Andrzej Trzaskowski, is mentioned among the leading composers. Besides playing with his own group, which was described by Joachim Berendt as Europe's first free-jazz combo, Stanko has worked and recorded with many outstanding musicians, e.g. A. Trzaskowski, Z. Namyslowski, D. Cherry, A. Mangelsdorff, W. Nahorny. Still, as he is quick to admit, it is Krzysztof Komeda's music that has had the deepest impact on his art. The compositions presented on this record are the result of a search for new form, in Stanko's case organised only in certain key points and based on the cooperation of the whole group. The traditional sequence of variations does not appear in their music. Now let's take a look at the tracks: 1.THE AMBUSHER: an obsessive ostinato determines the character of this tune. Two themes - one dynamic and tense, and one ostinato  2. INFINITELY SMALL: a moody piece with eight beat. In the first part solo trumpet is superimposed on two-note chords of the other horns, while in the second melody played in unison has ad libitum background. 3. CRY: dynamic and varied. The ending is an transformation of the beginning. 4. MUSIC FOR K: the main track of the disk, devoted to the memory of Krzysztof Komeda. It contains two quasi-themes connected by a bridge. This three-part work is completed by transformation of the first theme - an obvious reference to Komeda's "Closed form". All musicians are featured in solos. 5. THEME (THE AMBUSHER): a logical completion of the album. The personnel has not changed since 1963. It includes: Zbigniew Seifert (as), born in 1946, one of Poland's to sax players. Holds conservatory diploma in violin, does work with own quartet. Janusz Muniak (ts), born in 1941, studied violin, is soloist of the Polish Radio Jazz Studio. Bronislaw Suchanek (b), born in 1949, a new quickly developing talent of Polish jazz. Janusz Stefanski (dr), born in 1946, talented drummer and expert on avant-garde music. Cooperates with the Polish Radio Jazz Studio. © Roman Kowal (original line notes from the album's back cover).   Back in 1970, when this disc was recorded, Tomasz Stanko, by now an internationally established and admired jazz personality, was already known as one of the very few convincing free-jazzmen. In his bold endeavours he was lucky to enjoy some understanding and sensitive partners. Earlier, in the sixties Stanko's experiences were both as a sideman and a leader. He cooperated with such greats as Krzysztof Komeda, Wlodzimierz Nahorny, Zbigniew Namyslowski, Andrzej Trzaskowski, Don Cherry and Albert Mangelsdorff, but his favourite partners were Janusz Muniak, Janusz Stefanski, Zbig Seifert and - a bit later - Bronislaw Suchanek. Tomasz Stanko Quintet flourished without personal changes for five years (1969-1973), scoring a big success during 1970 Jazz Jamboree. Around that time, a year after untimely death of Krzysztof Komeda (1939-1969), the quintet recorded four pieces by Stanko, naming the LP after the main composition :Music for K", thus paying homage to the memory of deceased friend and expressing his emotional attitude toward his premature death. However, Stanko didn't attempt to relate here to Komeda's sound or style and remains very much himself presenting his peculiar, personal way of shaping music, remote, on the surface only, from the structural clarity. His predilection toward spontaneous development of music, based on very few indispensable determinants, surprisingly dovetails here with the emotional content of such deeply felt numbers like "Cry" and "Music for K". It seems obvious that Stanko's free stems rather from Coltrane's last work and his shades of expression are rich and many. "The Ambusher" is charged with mystery and suppressed feelings/ It is bracketed by the nervous, aggressive bop phrase, that serves also later as a closing sequence at the end of this disc. Stanko's soloing (there are even lyrical passages in the "Infinitely Small"), as well as the solos by Muniak and Seifert and their twin, simultaneous blazes are ingeniously supported by Suchanek and Stefanski. Their playing supplies impetus ans mystery, abandon and motion, making various moods meaningful. In the middle between them and Stanko's trumpet both saxophones prowl, similar in sound and attack. Their dissonant, double-concord pulsation appear twice in "Cry"-kind of obsessive, frozen riff under the fiery trumpet lamentations. Zbigniew Seifert (1946-1979) who was soon to switch back to the violin, his previous instrument from the conservatory years, plays here alto side by side with more experienced partners, Muniak and Stanko. Note their joint sequence in "Cry", just before the saxophone wailing calms down leading to a dirge - chorale which concludes this number.   The last and more extended piece "Music for K" is very diversified in moods and tempi. The brooding , painful passages intertwine with a wailing trumpet exhortations. Then Suchanek plays a clear sounding solo, pregnant with wonderful ideas, after, interrupted by calmer chant-like passages. Stefanski's drums supporting trumpet cone gradually to the fore, to tell us of things inevitable. Once again, from the piercing cries a song of resentment takes off to the sky and ends abruptly, and then from the bottom of silence an uproar of a four notes, repeated and growing in volume motif starts and stops on the note B. Silence again. The sound of bass bring back the initial phrase from "The Ambusher" to end this music definitely. text courtesy of © PowerBros   Polskie Nagrania XL and SX 0607(LP) $50.00 (LP) This record was originally released by Polskie Nagrania on vinyl LP as a vol. 22 of  "Polish Jazz" series.

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