Tomasz Stanko New York QT

When Tomasz Stanko first started working with a trio of Polish teenagers in 1994 - Marcin Wasilewski, piano; Slawomir Kurkiewicz, bass; Michal Miskiewicz, drums - on film projects and live gigs inside his native land, he might have glimpsed, but surely never fully conceived of, the sound that the quartet's relationship would offer a decade later. Suspended Night, on ECM, follows the hugely successful Soul of Things on the same label. It is only the second international offering from this group, but the flowering and maturation of this creative relationship are nothing if not utterly stunning. This ensemble has developed its own bravely compelling yet tonally accessible voice in articulating Stanko's unique compositional language; it is one that opens up the jazz tradition from the inside in startling and wonderful new directions…

Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko is most probably country's best known jazz musician for some decades and prestigious ECM label in-house artist. Better known (especially outside of his homeland) from his ECM-sound recordings, in his early ears Stanko played quite different music. Started his career still at late 60s, Tomasz played with in Polish legend Komeda band, starting his career as leader in early 70s. "Purple Sun" is Stanko quintet third album recorded live in empty hall of Music School in Munich,Germany. All-Polish quartet is completed with German bassist Hans Hartmann here. Album contains four originals (twolong and two shorter pieces). Confusingly enough, "Purple Sun" is often classified in music media (partially Polish) as early example of Polish avant-garde jazz which it isn't. In reality bass-drums-trumpet-sax quartet with violinist Zbigniew Seifert on board plays high energy fusion strongly influenced by Davis' "Silent Way"…

This magnificent album by Polish trumpeter/composer Tomasz Stanko includes the rest of the music recorded at the same session, which produced the superb "Music 81" album. As with all great and prophetic Jazz Masters, Stanko's music was evolving constantly and by the time this session was recorded in 1982, he was ready to leave behind the avant-garde/Free Jazz/experimental music, which dominated his first period (late 1960s to late 1970s) and gradually move forward towards new things, which would include mostly Jazz-Rock Fusion and Jazz-Electronic experiments, which of course were all as advanced and adventurous as anything else he made earlier. That second period, which lasted roughly the whole decade of the 1980s, is well documented by the albums released during that time, each and every one of them indisputably a masterpiece in retrospect…

C.O.C.X. That word not necessary conjures up images of relaxation, stress-relief or healthy living with no drugs nor booze - especially when you consider the date when this album was recorded (1983), which is probably somewhere around 'the darkest' period in Stanko's body of work. But - surprise surprise - the main promise of C.O.C.X. is just that - relaxation and stress-relief. Stanko's romantically rocking trumpet, Apostolis' guitar solos on their way from Greece to Jamaica, J.A Torress' Latin congas, Rek's swinging bass - all those integrands create an experience which tend to be everybody's favorite, even among the folks who are not especially keen on post-electric Miles grooves. For those times when you just want to be noncommittal about you music selection, that would be a perfect record to choose, especially in company of well chilled bottle of Pino Grigio or New Zeeland's Sauvignon Blanc.

TWET - a music album recorded by Polish jazz trumpeter Tomasz Stańko and accompanying musicians. LP TWET (a title probably formed from the first letters of the names of the performers) is an album belonging to the free jazz trend. The American bassist, Peter Warren, played with three musicians who collaborated constantly: Tomasz Stanka, Tomasz Szukalski and Finnish drummer Edward Vesala. All songs are joint compositions of the participants of the recording session. The recordings were made on April 2, 1974 in the PWSM hall in Warsaw. The album was included in the Polish Jazz series (vol. 39).

This is probably the most significant recording by Polish trumpeter virtuoso / composer Tomasz Stanko, surely at least among his Polish recordings before his later ECM period. Following Mile Davis, Stanko switched to Jazz-Rock Fusion (albeit a decade later) and his 1980s output with his Freelectronic ensemble is radically different from the Free Jazz he played in the 1970s. This double album consists of one studio recording and one live recording, both expressing Stanko's power as a performer and a composer to the max. The studio album, which was compiled over a period of two years, presents music composed by Stanko at the period when he was experimenting with hallucinogens and was deeply influenced by the writings of the Polish mystic / philosopher / avant-garde artist Witkacy (Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz), who was also an early experimenter with drugs…

The change of direction on Lontano, the third release by Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko and his three young collaborators - Marcin Wasilewski (piano), Slawomir Kurkiewicz (bass), and Michal Miskiewicz (drums) - is startling. Whereas Soul of Things (2002) and Suspended Night (2004) focused on Stanko's increasing sense of balladry and structurally harmonic, assonant atmospheres, Lontano showcases a band confident enough after playing for five years to find real space for free improvisation. Recorded in the south of France instead of Oslo, producer Manfred Eicher works his name magic and allows stillness and silence to play as much a role as the performers engaging one another musically. The opening title track is the first of three such excursions with the title "Lontano"…