The album JANUARY– recorded in New York with producer Manfred Eicher early in 2007 – includes four pieces written by Marcin Wasilewski, the band’s principal songwriter, including the title track and the beautiful opener The First Touch. The trio performs Vignette written by Gary Peacock and King Korn by Carla Bley – pieces identified with two major pianists, Keith Jarrett and Paul Bley, respectively – and Balladyna by Tomasz Stanko (a tune that was the title track of the Polish trumpeter’s ECM debut disc back in 1975). On their 2004 ECM disc, the trio offered a luminous version of Björk’s Hyperballad” and this season’s pop cover is Prince’s Diamonds and Pearls, the ballad from 1991 which gains a measure of mystery in this stripped-down interpretation in which bassist Kurkiewicz shares the melody with Wasilewski. The cinematic arts are never far away in Polish jazz; ever since 1958, when Komeda first collaborated with Polanski, the genres have influenced each other. The trio covers Ennio Morricone’s title theme for Giuseppe Tornatore’s 1988 film Cinema Paradiso. The album closes with a trio improvisation, a free ballad made in the moment and specific to its time and place, “New York 2007”.
Marcin Wasilewski and Slawomir Kurkiewicz are also members of the Manu Katché Band, appearing on the French-African drummer’s popular albums Neighbourhood and Playground.
www.ecmrecords.com
THE NEW YORK TIMES, MAY 5, 2008
Critic’s Choice: New CDs
Ben Ratliff, Marcin Wasilewski Trio „January” (ECM)
These days an advanced jazz musician can have listened to ECM records since the womb. That label hangs imposingly over jazz, not just for its nearly 40 years of back catalog, but as one current ideal of contemplative improvised music: the deep echo and churchly silences of its records.
The Marcin Wasilewski Trio, a young Polish band formerly named the Simple Acoustic Trio, has worked as the rhythm section for the Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko since 2001. Whereas Mr. Wasilewski, an excellent pianist influenced by Keith Jarrett, once recorded with a more aggressive and playful style, now he’s going further into the drift and the extended tone. He uses a sustain pedal all over “January,” complementing Manfred Eicher’s typical ECM production, and the record is loaded with slow, rubato music. It’s a curious example of a band aspiring to capture the essence of its label, rather than the other way around.
When “January” puts more rumble, grit and interaction in its music, it’s very good. “The Young and Cinema,” by Mr. Wasilewski, asserts its rhythm with long, taut, improvised piano lines stretching to the breaking point. The band’s last record included a Bjork song; this one covers Prince’s “Diamonds and Pearls” brilliantly, with a slow buildup and deflation.
It also covers “Balladyna,” by Mr. Stanko, from before this group’s time with him, with Slawomir Kurkiewicz’s aggressive, big-toned bass plucking and Michal Miskiewicz’s rattling drums, and halfway through, Carla Bley’s “King Korn,” whose wriggling, bluesy motif, dissonance and shift into racing double time feels like a necessary payoff.
© The New York Times
ALL ABOUT JAZZ
Style: Modern Jazz/Free Improvisation | Published: April 30, 2008
January
Marcin Wasilewski Trio / ECM Records (2008)
By Dan McClenaghan
Listening to “The First Touch,” the opening cut on the Marcin Wasilewski Trio's disc, January, is like slipping into a shimmering dream. The piano trio's sound is gentle, drifting and contemplative. Space is a factor, as is intricate three-way interplay. The music fits into the much written of “ECM Records aesthetic” – a sound not too far from that of the Tord Gustavsen Trio or Bobo Stenson – ECM roster mates – but a long way down the line from the sonic aggression of Trio Beyond.
Wasilewski trio's highest profile has come from three CDs with Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, Lontano (ECM Records, 2006), Suspended Night (ECM Records, 2004), and Soul of Things (ECM Records, 2002). Those of you familiar with Stanko's sound won't be surprised here. The first five cuts—compositions by Wasilewski, Gary Peacock, Ennio Morricone and Prince (Diamonds and Pearls) – are like tranquil prayers, with drummer Michal Miskiewicz coloring the proceedings, Paul Motian-like, with soft pastels behind bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz' resting heartbeat and Wasilewski's succinct and slightly abstract piano approach.
The energy level rises up a couple of notches and gets a bit more prickly with the trio's take on Carla Bley's King Korn, and stays there for Wasilewski's The Cat. The title tune, January, moves back to introspective side, a spare, wistful rumination, and “New York 2007” (the disc was recorded there and then, at Avatar studios) is a softly searching trio improvisation.
The three musicians are just entering their thirties, but with years of playing with Stanko under their belts they have developed a sound full of subtlety, finesse and understated beauty.
Track listing: The First Touch; Vignette; Cinema Paradiso; Diamonds and Pearls; Balladyna; King Korn; The Cat; January; The Young and Cinema; New York 2007.
Personnel: Marcin Wasilewski: piano; Slawomir Kurkiewicz: double-bass; Michal Miskiewicz: drums.
© All About Jazz
