Resonance day 1 at Alchemia - Krakow Autumn Jazz Festival (19.11)

I've been offline last couple of days but I'll try to catch up quick- Resonance is back in Krakow. A group born 6 years ago on the festival transformed from a festival project into a regular group and a whole matrix of possible musical combinations. 

The alchemia evenings are exaclty that - an (al)chemistry laboratory of improvisation in a way, trying out all the possible combinations of x elements taken from y-large group. Here's the brief round-up of the first night:

Day 1

Set I

Magnus Broo – Mark Tokar – Tim Daisy

Freewheeling session with strong pulse, heavy bass tone and panache flurry trumpet flights. As groovy as abstract (Mark would massage and tap the bass as if it was a drum instrument). You can hear the enthusiasm and joy of meeting but most of all the level of communication between the trio's members (includin a semi-conducted drums-trumpet „cuts” during the monstrous bass solo). Strong set to kick off the week.

Swedish Azz at Alchemia (09.04) Krakow Jazz Autumn Preview

Krakow Jazz Autumn Preview is a series of spring concerts, an offspring so to speak of the main annual event that brings the heroes of improvised jazz music to Krakow. The series got its launching event a few days ago with a concert by Swedish Azz group, quite a particular project, a tribute to undiscovered and occult swedish jazz music of past decades.

With Mats Gustafsson as a spokesman, the group is obviosuly not your typical copycats-tribute band. The original tunes (appearing in its original form in the vinyl as well) mash with the post-modern deconstruction with elements of crazy, noise and free all included in the service. The results are inspiring, surprising and often humorous exemplified well the Christmas tune played to end the concert (two days ago it was still winter outside) and the video excerpt below so enough talking (writing).

To complete the retro-garde aspect of the group's reportoire Swedish Azz can proudly present a series of vinyl-only releases on Not Two records that sport fittingly old-school covers. The Alchemia concert was in fact a release party to their new single printed on a red flexi-disc and double 10 inch release titled "Erik Carlsson and All-Stars" (Volym 1 and 2).

The group's catalogue should be of serious interest to  any record collector interested in jazz, free jazz, swedish jazz or any of the players included.

The following events of the series should be of serious interest to any live music lover and, although I'll remeber the dates in the weekly concert schedule posts, let me turn your attention to several dates in Alchemia straight away.

22.04 Free the Dance - improvised dance and music performance, series directed by Malgorzata Haduch

24.04 Hang Em High - punk-jazz-metal-rock-... unit , heavy hitting music to be expected

07.05 Rara Avis - new project by Stefano Ferrian (you can found some more informations on the blog about his recent activity) with Ken Vandermark along the italian core of the group.

23.05 Sabir Matten with Matthew Shipp. No comment needed

29.05 Maya Homburger, Barry Guy and Lucas Niggli. Classical clarity of tone and passion of improvisation united.

Swedish Azz
Mats Gustafsson - baritone sax, alto sax, live electronics
Per - Ake Holmlander - tuba, cimbasso
Dieb13 - turntables, live electronics
Erik Carlsson - drums, percussion

Alchemia. Krakow. 09.04.2013. Autumn Jazz Preview here's the teaser for the 22.04


and the teaser for the 24.04

SVELIA at Alchemia (12.03)

Svelia is an australian-swedish unit. One might risk an artistic hypothesis : the creativity sparks on fringes and Svelia's music happens on fringes of a veriety of styles - radical improvisation is countered by tricky and disciplined compositions, bursting energy by heartbreaking lyricism, hard-edged harmonies by melodies that will haunt your mind in sleep (a perfect example, the fittingly entitled lyrical "Beautiful Insomnia").

Avantguarde movement have many brilliant improvisers, few great composers but I'd say you'd be hard put to enlist any songwriters and that where Svelia comes in - it frames the liberating madness of free expression within the form of song.

The band will enter the studio in a couple of weeks and the album should appear later this year - frankly I can't wait and I'll try to write more about the it on the occasion. In the meantime, keep your ears wide open.

SVELIA :
Casey Moir - voice
Reuben Lewis - trumpet, flugelhorn
Juke Sweeting - piano
Johan Moir - double bass
Aidan Lowe - drums


Alchemia. Krakow Autumn Jazz Reberb. 12.03.13

the song Nowhere, No How began the evening, here it is performed with another band.



Crashing was one of the definite highlights with the berserk solos creating a paraller reality to the delicate main melody amd rhythmic vamp.

All Included at Alchemia; Krakow Autumn Jazz 2012 (18.10)

Only one day before Martin Kuchen would hypnotise the audience in Alchemia with his minimalistic vision of a solo performance. All Included instead is a fully energetic free jazz ensemble where the veteran gathers together young talents of Scandinavian scene.

Peter Brotzmann & Defibrillator at Alchemia (Krakow Autumn Jazz Opening) 03.10

I promised you yesterday that the 7th edition of the Krakow Autumn Jazz festival would start with a bang and there was no doubt about it. Every time you see Peter Brotzmann on stage it means loud things will happen.

Brotzmann, age 71 and counting, presented Krakow's audience with his new project, in a company of a young trio whose name suggests a match made in heaven (or in hell, given that one of his nicknames is Behemoth of saxophone). And the Defibrillator sure hits it hard and heavy with the wise master from the very beginning - the gritty, distorted electronic feedback noises, the metal sort of heavy drumming, the psychodelic fuzzy trombone.

What I always loved about Brotzmann's presence on stage is the fact that his powerfull, distorted even brutal sound seemed to me always a maniftestation of some kind of primal, natural force. While it would be hard to call his way of playing emotional, nevertheless I always found his heavily vibrated sound filled with emotional substance that strikes somehow the essence of being in the moment.

As much as I admire his will to search for new paths and idea of challenging himself with an unusal sound enviroment I was hard put to find a correspondence between the primal nature of the sax's timbre and sci-fi, high-tech electronic wall of sounds. Which surprised me becasue I had expected that the noise, grind-core roots of the trio's sound would be a perfect fit for Brotzmann, instead I found it quite hermetic, out of sync with the emotional substance of the leader's music. In fact I preferred the group when the trio played without the Brotzmann's assistance, moments in which the overall sound's vision, dark and psychodelic, became much more cohesive.

That all being said, during the lenghty 1-hour continous performance, there were passages of dynamic interplay where the band created some real sparks. Like the thunderous drumming against the gritty tenor cries, intriguing distortions along the circular tarogato lines and last but not least the atmospheric encore where Brotzmann's deeply lyrical tenor was on full display, surrounded by the mysterious array of electronic clicks and ticks and subtly resonating plates. Which was the moment I clearly heard the soul in the machine.

As you take my account into consideration keep in my mind my unfairly high expectations. I'd say the music was highly intriguing but didn't entirely convince me. 

What is more important, my dear readers, is that I can officially announce: 7th Krakow Autumn Jazz has begun and we're all in for a plenty of musical excitement! And it all started with a bang, as promised.

Peter Brotzmann - alto, tenor, tarogato
Defibrillator:
Sebastian Smolyn - electronic trombone
Artur Smolyn - electronics
Oliver Steidle - drums

7th Krakow Autumn Jazz
Alchemia. Krakow. 03.10.2012  

ImproGraphic at Alchemia (12.09)

Piotr Damasiewicz is a young polish trumpet player whose interest in music is to bring mathemathical methodical approach of some of the modern music toward the unpredictability of free jazz improvisation (for more of that, check his ambitious debut album "Hadrons").

Concert in Alchemia was a part of a short tour with his new quartet starring Gerad Lebik, Jakub Mielcarek and Gabriel Ferrandini, the tour is to result in a cd realese.

Matthew Shipp & Mateusz Walerian duo at Alchemia (16.05)

Mateusz Walerian is a young polish jazz saxophone player that, although he has not yet recorded a cd, plays regularly with the likes of Hamid Drake and Matthew Shipp which should be prove enough that he's a musician to observe closely. The duo tour with Matthew Shipp arrived also to Krakow to share its music with audience at Alchemia.

Matthew Shipp remains one of the most characteristic piano players of the generarion, his musical language rooted in the classical avant-guarde music from one side and solemn church hymns on the other. Heavy chords, contrasted by gentle suspension of the notes and subtle modulations  and shifts within the repetitive lines or reinforced by thunderous storm of hands on the keyboard. 

Mateusz Walerian's playing is rooted in the early free-jazz, with heavy echoes of bluesy tone. His lines can be jazzy in the spirit of post-bop as well as angular and abstract, he goes for more direct approach on alto, while searching for more sonic shades on bass clarinet. He tends for modest and minimal, selecting carefully the means of his expression.

Together they created a program that shifts between tension between their styles of playing and comunication, between here and there, now and then, between solemn hymnos, romping jazz tune with boogie piano line, idyllic and peacefull meditations in the form of ancient mantra of serial music. Thunderous explosions of expression contradicted by chamber-like subtle moments of lirycism. With the variety and the span of the performance (80 minutes long continuous piece) the concert was a bit overwhelming, nonetheless rewarding well the attention. 

While it was Matthew Shipp who in my ears dominated the evening (not at all surprising given his style and power of expression) I treat Mateusz Walerian's playing as a promise and it remains to be seen how he manages to keep it. I'd like to see him step up more as a leading voice in the near future.

 ps. the duo is playing next days in

Wroclaw (17.05)

Warszawa (18.05)

Poznan (19.05)

Szymbark (20.05)

so hopefully you have a chance to catch them live.

Mateusz Walerian - alto sax, bass clarinet, clarinet, flute
Matthew Shipp - piano

Alchemia. Krakow. 16.05.2012

Inner Ear (Trzaska / Swell / Holmlander / Daisy) at Alchemia (21.03)

As Marek Winiarski introduced the band - Inner Ear is 40% of Resonance and that's already quite good result. Quartet was born 3 years ago, with the second meeting of the Resonance Ensemble. I've written recently about their fresh and first cd "Breathing Steam" as well as I talked about the band with Mikolaj and he spoke also about their first meeting: 

...You're on stage and you see it, you hear this is THE band.We play so many improvisational meetings, that's what this music is about. And sometimes you hear from the very firsttime this is THE group. You look, go one place and somebody's following you, or you can follow someone, or you canmake a turn and he will continue. It's all beyond any explanation...
(in the section "Interviews" you can find links to the entire interview)

I can confirm this is THE band, 4 musicians filling the air with flow of ideas, immagination, adventorous spirit, reacting and co-creating. Music for inner ear that demands focus but rewards greatly the attention (and the audience gathered in Alchemia was holding their breath to hear even the most futile sounds hidden in the apparent silence). I invite you to get back to the cd's review and interview with Mikolaj for more. As for the concert it all summed up for me in the brief moment - expression of complete excitement andon Tim Daisy's face as the band was about to start the second improv of the concert. He had no idea what was about to happen. And he enjoyed it immensely. So did I and (to judge from the final applause) the rest of the audience.

(photos taken by Krzysztof Penarski a week before during the Resonance performance)

Mikolaj Trzaska - baritone sax, bass clarinet, clarinet, objects

Steve Swell - trombone, objects

Per-Ake Holmlander - tuba

Tim Daisy - drums, percussion

Alchemia. Krakow. 21.03.2012

Nu Band at Alchemia (11.03)

Joe Fonda

Nu Band played in Krakow couple of years back, also released on of their cd in Krakow-based Not Two label. This quartet celebrated last year its 10th anniversary it's great to see that those four still find enough gas in tank to tour, compose, play and enjoy it so much.

As written above -  they've been around as a quartet for more than a decade now so if you've been following the (free)jazz scene you should be pretty familiar with them. Fantastic musicianship, wild immagination and music that is rooted deeply in the jazz avant-guarde of the 60's, in the historical sax-trumpet-bass-drums format,. You can hear the blues foundation, you can tap your foot trying to follow quirky swinging syncopations of Lou Grassi's toms.

Mikołaj Trzaska at Alchemia (29.11)

It was a final concert of this the 6th edition of Autumn Jazz Festival in Krakow and a worthy closure to a series a great concerts. Mikolaj's music has been an important part of Alchemia's jazz stage for as long as I remember and a festival without his performance would feel somehow incomplete.

Conference Call Quartet at Alchemia (28.11)

Gebhard Ullmann

Conference Call Quartet, an American-German cooperation, is a band that likes to play in Krakow. Their concert from 2007 yielded a double cd ("What About..?" on Not Two records) that received a general acclaim. And deservingly so, I might add.

The music they play is filled with subtle lyricism, tricky boppish lines, infectious grooves, free jazz energy. They can equally play a heavy post-hard-boppish number, or a lushfull ballad that becomes a transcendental musical meditation. Or a spirited blues (which they do as an encore). 

Bezdroża - improvised music at Alchemia (18.10)

Before the summer the "Muzykoterapia" series ended but there's new hope for experimental, avant-guarde, improvised and interdisciplinar music art in Krakow. "Bezdroża" project (quite a poetic word that looses its charm in litteral translation - "Roadlessness") aims to create a platform of communication, a gathering space for performers, composers, improvisers and (definitely not least) the audience.

Free Improvisation is a kind of music that one can try to describe in so many theoretical ways and yet it lives by the extremities and any theory whatsoever will fail to describe it. It's not about technique but it hardly can be played without posessing some sort of technique. Anything is possible, acceptable (traditional aesthetics are suspended) but it doesn't mean everything works. Everything is apparent, chaos mimics structure, structure mimics chaos. It's a performance that loves a strong personality yet hates any kind of musical egoism or showmanship. It can take any shape, like water, but needs some kind of support, a form to be filled to achieve that. It can be extremely emotional or intellectual or somehow neither - pure zen emptyiness. It can be intimate, minimalistic and fragile, can be violent and expansive. Finally it's a natural phenomenon that only happens once, is a kind of art totally immersed in the moment and space, and whatever (genius or mediocre) result came out - it's never to be achieved again, lost forever in the memory. 

The EDGE (J. Kao Hwang / T. Ho Bynum / K. Filiano / A. Drury) at Alchemia (16.10)

Jason Kao Hwang

After a rock warm-up with Kazutoki Umezu KIKI band and almost a month-long break finally the Krakowska Jesien Jazzowa (Autumn Jazz Festival) is really on! And it starts with a real blast. The Edge played their last concert of of a small tour (concerts in Poznan and in Katowice on previous days) - their first ever visit to Poland. And they were very happy to finish that tour on Alchemia's stage, which, apparently, is more famous overseas than in Krakow.

And from the very first moments you know you're in for a treat - a strong bass pulse, freewheeling drumming with a slight latin tinge (cowbell) and furious soloing in between the tricky, intricate themes. Music whose complexity doesn't alternate it's live, vibrant, dynamic and passionate character.

Krakowska Jesień Jazzowa (Krakow Autumn Jazz Festival) starts tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow starts the 6th edition of the festival that is crucial for the musical education of this blog's author (my humble self). 

The stage of Alchemia (and occasionally Klub Re and Manghha Museum) was the space of creativity hosting countless musicians and groups,  some of the true legends of improvising music (Joe McPhee, Peter Brotzmann, Anthony Braxton, William Parker, Evan Parker, Trevor Watts) other making their first steps in the genre (I remember some of the first concerts by Waclaw Zimpel and his trio The Light!). There were special projects created for the festival (Resonance, Barry Guy Week) and concerts that were the first chance for many musicians to introduce themselves to polish audience, appreciative, attentive and always hungry for new musical experiences. And the festival always presented us with new names that even in this pretty cosy and close circle of pretty unpopular music's fans, were underground.

My passion for this music was born and nurtured and refined, my knowledge constantly questioned during those concerts and after each edition have ended I would impatiently wait for the new one (with spring's concerts being just a starter for a real annual meal).

And it is no coincidence that this blog was born during this festival with the direct impulse being the last year's special project - the Barry Guy New Orchestra Week, the celebreation of its 10th year of activity (just check the very first posts of the blog).

Thus I'd like to take the chance to thank in advance Marek Winiarski from Not Two records - the festival's artistic director, the owners and the (both past and present) crew of Alchemia and everyone else whose dedication and work made the 6th edition, nonetheless all the obstacles, possible.

I'll write about the concerts on the blog, and I managed to prepare in advance some cd reviews to keep them arriving steady so I invite you to check the blog sistematically.

Tomorrow it will begin (and I'll write about it the day after)!!!

Hope to see you on the concerts and around!
Check the program:
on Alchemia's page
and visit the festival's blog page.

IC Ensemble at Alchemia (12.09)

IC stands for Imperial College in London and IC Big Band stands for a 5-trumpets, 5-saxes, 5-trombones and rhythm section strong orchestra comprised by the its students. And just the idea of non-professional musicians and non-music students gathering together to play some music is inspiring to say the least.

The stage in Alchemia saw an 8-piece group (it would be pretty much impossible to fit the entire band into this space) that nonetheless delivered a nicely round sound (alto, tenor, trumpet/flugelhorn, trombone in the horns section) and a great selections of tunes - avoiding the trap of watershed standards in favour of a couple of nice obscures (tunes by Steve Davis, Cedar Walton) and a handfull of niecely done originals, couple of ballads (a nice piece by the pianist) thrown in between the more up-tempo tunes with a funky twist ("Kool" by John Scofield, "Blackjack" by Donald Byrd) and my personal favourite of the night - exuberant and joyfully south-african "Sonia" by Dudu Pukwana. Obviously each tune a platform for a set of solos that, while not exactly memorable, were pretty solid (with special acknowledgement towards the trumpet player who, to my ear, used best the solo time he was allowed).

Rafal Mazur / Marek Pospieszalski / Qba Janicki at Alchemia (22.06)

I praised all three members of this trio on numerous occasions. Yesterday's concert is yet another occasion to do that so here it goes:

I never can really tell what makes the free improvised music performance successfull. There's so many variables, so many factors, so many elements to be balanced. If writing about any kind of music is difficult, it is even more so in a case of music performance that comes from willing to escape any kind of musical barriers, stylistic norms and confines.

With fragile textures woven in the air (ostinato walks on the bass, melodic clouds of percussion sounds, circular labirynths of lines on the saxophone) or heavy and slow drones. Hard and edgy or soft and barely audibly. This music escapes any kind of generalisation, any kind of catchy 'one-line' summary. 

I always admired Janicki's killer punk-rock instincts but he shows himself to be not only a very versatile drummer but also a creative geek, using a laptop and some kind of touchpad device to create drones, loops, process the live sound. Sometimes he adds a completely different sound (piano clusters, thumb piano, gongs), sometimes his loops add a rhythmic structure, otherwise they provide meditative background. With Qba Janicki splitting in half his duties between the laptop and the drums set the group shifts swiftly through  the series of close interactions, to the point in which is hard to say that the electronic transformations are just the bridging interludes and they become equally important part of the performance.

Marek Pospieszalski is a very promising saxophone player, his sound indebted to Coltrane, but also influenced by Evan Parker, very keen to use extended techniques (especially agile with the circular breathing technique) creating myriads of sounds, intervowen lines, following the partners closely. I look forward to see him develop more personal attitude towards the instrument, maybe take also more commanding lead on the stage, not only to follow graciously, but to push the others out of their comfort zone. Nonetheless it's a pleasure to see him playing and I expect a lot more coming our way from this young player soon.

Rafal Mazur, due to his busy schedule in Krakow, is probably the most popular musician on this blog. Wise Man among the youngsters, never pushing himself to the front, rather trying to push his partners into the new regions (be it with a heavy walking line, delay effects, or bowing the strings to create a resonating sound that slowly dies in the air).

Focused performance, bringing the listeners into an outer space - not only because of some humorous sci-fi or game-boy sounds coming from the laptop - but rather becuase of the ethereal quality of the music, that bends the space and makes the time go in circles instead of a straight line. In fact a illusive repetition helps this group control the flow in a natural and semless way. The spontaneous creation was being enjoyed to the point that the musicians got lost near the end, not sure how (not wanting?) to end the track - possibly the only moment where they wandered to far and crossed the line between transcendent and monotonous (but it all ends well with a nice drumrolling crescendo).

I'm trying hard here with all this writing above to disprove the initial point of being there no sense in writing about freely improvised music. Not sure which way it went, all I know, and I recommend this solution to you with all the might of my hear and mind - there's all sense in seeing performances like this live. If those guys are playing near you - make sure to be there. If they're not, maybe they're others who do. Improvised music is always best served live.

photos by Krzysztof Penarski

Rafal Mazur - acoustic bass guitar
Marek Pospieszalski - tenor saxophone
Qba Janicki - drums, electronics

Alchemia. Krakow. 22.06.2011

Pawel Kaczmarczyk Ethno Sextet at Alchemia (15.06)

Paweł Kaczmarczyk is a representant of a very prolific generation of piano players in Poland (Marcin Wasilewski, Leszek Mozdzer, Slawek Jaskulke come to mind) and a sign of appreciation towards his music is the fact that his latest cd ("Complexity in Simplicity"; 2009) was released by an internationally recognised ACT label. 

Although his piano playing and the compositions are firmly based in hard-bop/post-bop roots, he's actively searching to expand his musical vocabulary, on a hunt for new inspirations (one of only few musicians I know that often can be spotted in the audience, especially when it comes to more mainstream side of jazz) and expanding his Audiofeeling Band (a piano trio) into the ethno - sextet gave him exactly the opportunity to do that - add a new perspective, an extra layer to his pieces as well as engage in more freely improvised dialogues, exploring the reign of world music.

Konrade Gęca / DM&P Trio / Fuka Laka at Alchemia (01.06) last concert of this Muzykoterapia season

The last concert of this season of Muzykoterapia series that promotes experimental music of any kind, co-hosted by the AudioTong, a small but active label in the field of undergournd, experimental and uncommon (check out their website http://www.audiotong.net/ for more informations, also much of the catalogue is available for free download)

1. Konrad Gęca 

is not only the instigator and main behind-the-scene making force of the Muzykoterapia concerts but is also an active improviser in the field of electronics, mixing tape field recordings and electronically generated sounds. His performance is very introvertic and thoughtful. Kind of a music where duplicated errors in the transmission become a rule, assimilated mutation, glitch becomes the structure. Endless static noises give the illusion of endless spaces. The latter half incorporates more clearly field recordings - silence that through the imperfection of the recording device and amplification becomes hushed noise. This music is accompanied by the series of pictures of the city, mountains, ocean (or is it the other way?) creating a sort of sonicscape. Really hard for me to give any kind of evaluation as, nonetheless the live presence behind all the devices, I find that any kind of structure, narration, meaning or value is not inner to this kind of performance but comes only from its perception. As such I'd say that in musical terms the concert didn't have enough variety and lacked emotional impact, in terms of a multimedia performance though it was  in fact very poetic - which brings me to the conclusion that sounds were secondary to pictures. And the other conclusion is that any kind of reading and interpretation would be valid in its own rights - which probably makes this performance a success.

You can find more information about Konrad Geca (including some of the video footage used during the concert as well as presentation of musical forms he's interested in - field recordings, electro-improvisation, noise, dub influences ecc) on his website http://dropr.com/konradgeca#/

Konrad Geca - electronics, tapes, visualization

2. DM&P Trio

This Krakow based trio celebrated with this concert the release of their first cd and it does indeed make proud to see that the there's so much happening in Krakow. That being said I never really could get through the invasive electronics use in this project. There's a great and subtle interplay between the two sax players, beginning with focused search for harmony then moving towards balancing between Slawomir (abstract lines yet phrasing clearly influenced by jazz tradition) and Philip (extrovertic madness of free-improv, shouts, screams, overtone blows). Occasional live filtering and processing of the instruments provided Pawel Dziadur (echoe, distortion, loop) give the music an extra dimension, so do the occasional quieter passages of unidentified scratches and drones. But every time Pawel Dziadur pushes it more into the noise regions I have the impression that he overshadows the saxophones instead of complementing them. While I definitely appreciate this trio's passion and dedication, I find it hard to like their music, I've never been a fan of hard electronics and can't really find a key to crack this open.

a selection of videos featuring other performances can be found here : http://www.sonicart.republika.pl/

Paweł Dziadur - electronics

Sławomir Maler - alto saxophone

Philip Palmer - alto saxophone

3. Fuka Lata

A duo from Warsaw wchich also celebrated its first release*. It's a highly hypnotic and dreamingly surreal mixture of electronic landscapes, occasional dance beat, endless guitar delays and vocal that achieves shamanic effects through modern electronic filters (echo, harmonizer, delay). The trans thus achieved is quite tantalizing, with simple yet effective lightning and mysterious dancer-performer accompanying the duo, the effect is quite compelling and as such it was one of the most complete stage performances I've ecently seen (understandable since you don't see too often any lightning or extra-musical elements of concert performance when attending mostly free jazz events).

The line between hypnotic and monotonous or transcendental and tiresome is very thin and I felt that the music was for some passages too close to crossing this one. On the other hand the way they manage to blur the line between dream and reality was quite captivating. But from under all those layers of guitar echoes, vocal delays and electronic landscapes occasionaly a catchy song tries to emerge and I must say (surprised myself to write it) I was waiting the entire concert for this more avant-pop aspect of their playing, something I had been able to see during the rehearsal. Still, it was something visually and audibly intriguing.

* The music was released under the Creative Commons License and is available for free download at http://fukalata.com/ (it focuses on electronics and guitar, with very little vocal compared to the live performance)

Fuku Lata duo
-vocal, electronics
-guitar, electronics, vocal
-dance/performance

Alchemia. Krakow. 01.06.2011

Ha Tichona Trio (Trzaska / Brice / Sanders) at Alchemia (24.05)

by Krzysztof Penarski

 It's hard to say what makes the free improvisation a successful one, what notes make the difference between poor, good or great. Yet sometimes everything seems just right.

It was the first day of this trio's tour and one could see the excitement those musicians felt about the opportunity to play together. And it did transfer into the music, and it was passed to the audience. I really don't know what to begin with. Mikolaj sound on alto is mesmerizing, even at most lyrical ther's the inner tension in the timbre, you could hide entire planets in there, even at his most expansive and screaming, there's something intimate and emotional to what he plays. Olie Brice had a keen ear, able to find notes that were both logical and surprising. And Mark Sanders absolutely brilliant, dense and light at the same time, embedding the sax and bas with polirhythmic clouds of of sounds (lot of plates) that were both rhythmic and melodic, his attention to details unbelievable.

But everyone who knows those musicians know that they can play. Good improvisation needs to be a whole that is more than the sum of its parts, and that was the case. The reactions immediate enough that it was close to telepathy, following instantly the instrument that would assume the leading part (usually the alto, but still that was a very democratic development). The ability to sustain a long, free-form narration, make the development seem natural and organic, through builds and breaks, duo and solo sections. Through moments of pure screaming wild expression and hushed whispers, echoes of swing and soul or abstract jumps and coulurful, textural plays. Until the serene and beautiful encore that seemed like a gospel hymn, with gentle melody (slow, full of air tone on bass clarinet, great harmony chords laid down on bass) and fragile and delicate accents on the plates. With the audience in complete silence and the trio frozen on the stage after the music was over, hanging on to the last echoes of the last sounds, making sure there was no more coming before breaking into the applause.

I know that this texts seems a lot like a repetition of jazz / improvised music cliches. But frankly I don't know what else can I write, the energy, the passion (I challenge anyone for a duel who insists that free improvisation is merely an intellectual workout), the musicianship, the heart, soul and mind being all united in the moment - it was all there. The first set blew me away, the second one kept me in the stratosphere - one of the very best concerts I've seen this year. 

If this trio is playing anywhere near you in the next days of the tour - don't miss it.


Ha Tichona Trio:
Mikolaj Trzaska - alto sax, bass clarinet, duduk
Olie Brice - double bass
Mark Sanders - drums

Alchemia. Krakow. 24.05

Rafal Mazur & D'Incise Electro-Acoustic Quintet at Alchemia (08.05)

by Krzysztof Penarski

Among the late occasions to see Rafal Mazur's activity on Krakow's improvisation scene this was the most unusual combining both the electro and acoustic side of improvisation as three different nations on the stage.

Actually the musicians played in the middle of the room, surrounded by the audience, with speakers situated on all for corners of the room making for quite unique sound scene experience (unique for a concert as the 'sourround sound' is now something quite obvious in a home cinema). 

In such events what excites me the most is quite frankly not the music itself but the possibility to see the laptop whizz produce sounds in a way that escape my cognitive capabilities. Ludger would use some kind of touchpad, and he started with magnifying the air-conditioning noise in the room. D'incise, apart from using the laptop would also bow small gongs, use the wooden table, metal plates and other objects. Jonas Kocher's playing was pretty minimalistic, as he would create dark and brooding backgrounds on the accordion. Rafal would keep the touch of the strings lighter and more abstract than usual, utilizing bow quite often, plucking gently, playing the bass guitar like a cello (which was his primarily instrument). The music was quite minimalistic, dreamy-like, somehow hypnotic, exploring different textures. Tomek Choloniewski did a good job of stirring the proceedings every now and then with a sudden cry or thundering drumroll.

Definitely and intriguing performance although with this kind of music-creation it's really different to give any kind of quality evaluation as this music kind of comes firectly from the strenght of the individuals playing, but then gets zen, looses the sense of individuality, becomes this kind of formless, shapeless energy cloud. Which can be as much disturbing as relaxing experience, or a mix of both sometimes.

D'incise - electronics, sound objects
Jonas Kocher - accordion
Ludger Henning - electronics
Tomek Chołoniewski - drums, percussion
Rafal Mazur - acoustic bass guitar


Alchemia. Krakow. 08.05.2011