Wasilewski

“There’s a galaxy of piano trios in today’s jazz universe,” the BBC Music Magazine has noted, “but few shine as bright as Marcin Wasilewski’s”. On its seventh ECM album the multifaceted Polish group illuminates a characteristically wide span of music. On En attendant, collectively created pieces are juxtaposed with Wasilewski’s malleable “Glimmer of Hope”, Carla Bley’s timeless “Vashkar”, The Doors’ hypnotic “Riders On The Storm” and a selection from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Fluidity is the hallmark , allied to the deep listening made possible by more than a quarter-century of collaborative music-making by pianist Wasilewski, bassist Kurkiewicz and drummer Miskiewicz. En attendant was recorded at Studios La Buissonne in the South of France in August 2019, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

The first-time teaming of Poland’s dynamic Marcin Wasilewski Trio and big-toned US tenorist Joe Lovano brings forth special music of concentrated, deep feeling, in which lyricism and strength seem ideally balanced. The alliance plays four new tunes by Marcin and one by Joe, as well as Carla Bley’s classic “Vashkar” (in two variations), plus collective improvisations with strong input from all four players; Slawomir Kurkiewicz’s bass skills are particularly well-deployed in the spontaneous piece “Arco”. Joe will be joining the Polish trio for a number of selected concerts in the autumn. Arctic Riff was recorded at France’s Studio La Buissonne in August 2019, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

The fourth ECM album for the Wasilewski Trio adds a special guest, the lyrical Swedish saxophonist Joakim Milder, whom the Poles came to know through performances with Tomasz Stanko’s Litania project. Amongst other affinities, the players share a love of Krzyzstof Komeda’s music, and Komeda’s “Sleep Safe and Warm” theme, written for Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby makes a reappearance here. As ever, the Wasilewski group balances original material – intensely melodic new tunes by Marcin (including two variations of the beautiful title track) – with a daring range of covers, embracing Herbie Hancock, the Police’s “Message In A Bottle” and Slawomir Kurkiewicz’s arrangement of a composition by Grazyna Bacewicz, and reinforces its status as one of the most resourceful groups around.

“January” is a strong musical statement from a still-young band with a long history already behind it, and an album with an exceptionally wide-ranging programme - all of it played with assurance, purpose and focus. The disc reconfirms that the trio of Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz and Michal Miskiewicz is one of the most outstanding contemporary jazz groups.

These three young Poles are known to ECM listeners worldwide for their sensitive playing in the Tomasz Stanko Quartet. In their homeland, however, they are also have a strong reputation as an autonomous group. Their first international release shows why. With a wide-open repertoire that intersperses original material with interpretations of pieces by Bjork, Wayne Shorter and Szymanowski, Wasilewski, Kurkiewicz and Miskiewicz bring something new to the piano trio tradition.

The story of Simple Acoustic Trio goes back to the beginning of ‘90s. Still being students of the Music High School S.A.Trio. made their debut in 1991. They won the third prize at the Polish jazz contest-Jazz Juniors ’91. In the same year, a sixteen-year old band leader - Marcin Wasilewski won the fourth prize at the International Jazz Pianist festival in Kalisz, Poland. Two years later the band won the first prize at the 7th International Festival of Jazz Bands “Chorus ‘93” during Jazzin’ Sorgues Festival in France. In 1996 the band participated in two jazz competitions. In Getxo, Spain, the band won the first prize and Marcin Wasilewski was chosen the best soloist of the festival. In the same year the band became a prizewinner of the Leverkusen Jazz Festival, and again Marcin Wasilewski was considered the best soloist.

For years, fans of Poland’s Marcin Wasilewski Trio have been asking for a live album. Here it is. Recorded at the Jazz Middelheim Festival in Antwerp, Belgium, in August 2016, it captures the trio in energetic, extroverted mode, fanning the flames of their Spark of Life repertoire and drawing on the deep understanding Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz and Michal Miskiewicz have established in the course of a quarter century of shared musical endeavour. As UK magazine Jazz Journal has noted, “Wasilewski’s music celebrates a vast dynamic range, from the most deftly struck pianistic delicacies to gloriously intense emotional exuberance, the chords pounded with unrestrained joy, yet always within a marvellously melodic concept.”

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"…

In early 2018, the guys hit the studio with producer Drew Fulk (Motionless In White, Pop Evil) in Los Angeles to record The Silver Scream. Following the sessions, Ice Nine Kills initially teased the release with The Shining-inspired 'Enjoy Your Slay' featuring a cameo from none other than Sam Kubrick frontman for The Shields and grandson of Stanley Kubrick. The title The Silver Scream fits like a bloody mask. 'It sounded like an eighties slasher flick to me,' exclaims Spencer. 'It s got that tongue-in-cheek double entendre. I really love that.' In the end, Ice Nine Kills carve up a big screen-worthy escapism of the highest order and reach a new level in the proces