Mazzoll / Janicki / Janicki - Minimalover [Mozg]

Minimalover :
Jerzy Mazzoll - bass clarinet & a, b, c clarinets
Slawek Janicki - double bass
Qba Janicki - drums, percussion, electronics


Stowarzyszenie Artystyczne Mozg 2012

I've written about this trio on the occasion of their concert in Krakow few months back and it's due time to get back and remind you about the cd/dvd they've released as I reckon it's one of the most important events of the year on polish creative music scene. Jarzy Mazzoll shaked jazz status quo back in the 90s (polish yass revolution) and, after few years absence he's back with new group and same unrelentless, rebellious spirit, in the company of old cohort Slawek Janicki (muscular tone yet light on his feet as a good boxer) and Qba Janicki (infusion of fresh blood straight from the new generation of improvising musicians).

Minimalover suggests correctly this group moves in the micro-musical scale, attentive to details subtleties. The cd starts with "One sound of siren (for 'a' clarinet)" which is a 13-minute meditation on a complexity of a note, it's hues and internal layers, a single note which never stays the same, thanks to both the internal modulations as well as ever-changing circumstances provided by the percussive and bass accents. "Love has no limits" follows with a solemn, mourning melody (majestic bass clarinet against the trembling, emotional, distorted arco bass and metallic percussive ornaments). Through the rest of the album the trio explores the sonorities of single notes and phrases with focus and dediation, being able to find colours in what seemed to be a pith-black, hollow darkness. The music is dark and menacing, the focus on the density and texture then traditional denotations of rhythm, melody or even the even-tempered pitched note. Ritualistic and mysterious, minimalistic and expressive. Haunting and menacing. Just follow the noir cinematic responses of arco bass and clarinet on the "one sound of improv b" or the sinusoidal dynamics of the clarinet's robust and vibrato tone against the feverishly bowed strings and broken polirhythmics of the cd's finale "extremely one...truth".

To add to the adventurous listeners' pleasure the release features the dvd, and the group's performance is caught in its full spontaneity of open form and disciplined yet liberal interaction. This group is a powerfull unit and they music's dark matter pulls you in with a force of gravity. Resistance is futile.

PS. For those who'd like to immerse fully into the microsonic univers of a single note Mazzoll released also an EP on the Mathka label "Jeden Dzwiek i Pan Bog" ("Single Note and God") which features 21:21 long meditation on a single note and a short composition for the improvised poetry by Marcin Swietlicki entitled "Pan Bog" (God).

The trio is performing tonight in Krakow at Bunkier Sztuki, the last evening of the Audio Art Festival. Make sure to be there.

the cd is present in this radio playlist.