Mike Parker Unified Theory - Embrace The Wild

Mike Parker's Unified Theory
Mike Parker - double bass
Dawid Fortuna - drums
Bartek Prucnal - alto saxophone
Slawek Pezda - tenor saxophone
Cyprian Baszczynski - trumpet

self-release 2014




New York is (supposedly) the jazz capital of the world. Krakow is (allegedly) the jazz capital of Poland. I won't discuss that now, just wanted to establish some connection :)

Mike Parker is a New Yorker who has been living in Krakow city for quite a while now and became a well-known and regular presence on jam sessions and variety of projects happening on the stages of city's few but active jazz clubs. 

"Embrace The Wild" is the second release under "Unified Theory" name, but the first one recorded in Krakow and it finds Mike teaming up with some of the young talents of Krakow/Poland jazz scene, to play a set of compositions that balance diversity of styles with the harmony of beautifully crafted melodic layers. 

Double Bass player usually hides somewhere in the back of the sound mix and stage. It takes discipline to be a bass player and lead the group. Now, this is a bass player's album, and bass stays often in the front, thankfully much in the way of Dave Holland or Charles Mingus, none of the flashy MM or SC stuff (you know who I mean). Mike Parker can keep the time in check with funky riffs and fill the bottom with the big sound or play the most melodic base in the 4 voice harmony, with trumpet and two saxes above. Parker's clearly well skilled on the instrument. But for me this is an album of Mike Parker - the composer.

Paweł Kaczmarczyk Directions in Music with Jorgos Skolias - Ray Charles at Harris Piano Jazz Bar (04.05)

Directions in Music project led by Paweł Kamczarczyk pays hommage to the pianist's leaders and among previous editions were to be heard innovative arrangaments of music by Eric Dolphy, Sam Rivers, Freddie Hubbard and many more. The concert in Harris las friday was dedicated to Ray Charles, quite a change as we move away from jazz legends to a legend of pop culture, yet no one would debate its connection to jazz world (apart from r'n'b & pop chart hits Ray played some jazz as well in fact).

The main artistic risk and general question in projects like that is how to approach the original music and Pawel Kaczmarczyk takes an adventurous approach to Ray's songs. The originals are completely restuructured and reorganized on all levels of harmony, rhythm, melody's cadence. Bluesy and smooth "Georgia on my mind" might be the closest to the original. Other songs are filled with sudden twists and surprising ideas. "I can't stop loving you" circles in contrasts as the funky groove intro stops suddenly before a ballad verse. There's also expanded keyobard solo and Pawel's joy of music is infective as he seems like a kid playing a video game when he toys with cosmic sounds, fat beats and spacious echoes. There's hypnotic, extended, impressionistic solo on a ripetitive bass patern "Here we go again" that. "Hit the road Jack" focuses on walking piano labirynth-like line and galloping d'n'bass drum rolls. "Hallelujah I love her so" starts with gospel intro but then hits a hard-bop brakes with a salsa twist in the middle. Ambitious and fun, and Paweł Kaczmarczyk also found the right guys to play the material with - Jorgos Skolias is a singer with warm voice and very personal expression, Dawid Fortuna is one the best groovers right now, he's way of playing is only deceivingly simple, he can hit it hard or lay it smooth and light, Maciej Adamczak anchors the music with ease, mantaining order when young guns are hitting it off.

Adventurous and entertaining. A croud pleaser? Jazz for masses? If so, who cares, I want more. This was a lot of fun, check some samples from the previous concert below and see for yourself.

Jorgos Skolias - voice
Paweł Kaczmarczyk - piano
Maciej Adamczak - double bass
Dawid Fortuna - drums

Harris Piano Jazz Bar. Kraków. 04.05.2012

Mazolewski Bund Band and Jewish Surf at Cheder Cafe (02.12)

Just a quick post about a concert that took place last friday (I'm kind of busy with a new job but I hope to get back to more steady writing soon enough).  The concert took place in Cafe Cheder on Kazimierz, was a part of the MuLaKuŻ cycle (a musical laboratory of jewish culture), a double header for the special occasion which was a release of the cd compilation documenting the cycle.

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.