Ksawery Wójciński / Klaus Kugel / Paweł Postaremczak Trio at Bomba (30.06)

photo from the concert in Performer club at
 Żyrardów (1.07) by Pawel Owczarczyk

Bomba continues it glorious quest in giving young musicians an opportunity and space to play in front of the Krakow's audience - and no matter how unconventional and provisory this space is, this continous effort deserves a big round of applause.

Both Ksawery Wojcinski and Pawel Postareczak are playing in the Hera quartet and, stunned with Waclaw Zimpel's leadership, I feel I underestimated their contributions to the groups first release (self-titled "Hera" cd) while both players impressed me immensely on stage during the Lublin Jazz Festival, especially Ksawery Wojcinski who became my personal hero of the day. Klaus Kugel, I can only guess got introduced to them thanks to his playing with Waclaw Zimpel's Undivided, played already with Ksawery on a great "Nuntium" cd released this year by Multikulti (I plan to get back to write more about it soon).

The trio starts with a slow, pensieve tune, slowly exploring its melodical variations, getting more intense, spiritual, building the dramatic tension with low vibrating cries of the tenor, tearing the bass strings and storming through the drum kit, full of passion, a musical battle or exorcism that suddenly ends with a gentle coda.

Kugel's style of playing is very unique in a way he manages to balance a very powerfull and heavy attack on the kit with melodic sensibility and attention to details. He's like the weather shaman, quite capable of bringing a cooling breeze or a gentle rain but thriving bringing down a furious storm & thunders, his ability to sustain those culminations is uncanny.  Pawel Postaremczak instruments choice indicates Coltrane as a strong influence and his playing strives for emotional intensity that characterized Trane but he chooses rather to stay in the middle register of the horn, digging deep into the melodic possibilites of the theme rather than expanding the harmony through running scales, and when goes into the altissimo it makes it even more dramatic and powerfull.

The second piece starts with a delicate legato solo on the bass, that creates a stable motiv with the high notes, accented subtly by the mallets, bells and bowed plates, creating an oniric atmosphere to build on. To uplift the mood, stretch the dynamics, create a dramatic tension. Ksawery, who only consolidates the impression he made in Lublin, plays a great solo, rhythmically driven, plucking energetically the strings while mantaining the both the groove and the melody, moving his body unconsciously and it's absolutely inspiring to see how completely immersed in the moment he is, how committed he is to the music - his passion is almost palpable and his energy contagious. His deep woody tone and his earthy rhythm and energy-oriented playing reminds of William Parker and of Joe Fonda.  After Wojcinski's solo the band continous to create another story - with Postaremczak taking on the soprano, adding a brighter tone and more knotty lines while mantaining the energy level. The last piece is more peacefull, starts like a meditative chant, slowly burning inside.

A great concert and the clear passion and fire makes up for the audio flaws (with a space this little it was easy to predict that Kugel's drumming may be overpowering every now and then). The performance was registered with mobile recorders and I hope the tour they're playing the next few days will give enough high quality material (as far as the audio goes, I don't have any doubts about the music's quality) to create their debut cd.

Ksawery Wojcinski - double bass
Klaus Kugel - drums and percussion
Pawel Postaremczak - tenor and soprano saxophone

klub Bomba. Krakow. 30.06.2011