Raphael Roginski and Polish New Jewish Music part 2 - Shofar [Kilogram Records] and Sisters [Multikulti]

Shofar - Ha-Huncvot

Mikolaj Trzaska - alto saxophone, bass clarinet

Raphael Roginski - guitar

Macio Moretti - drums

 Kilogram Records 2013

That's the band it all begun with. "Shofar" (Kilogram Records 2007) was a deep dive into heritage that seemed to be completely lost at the moment. A journey to the past in order to understand's one identity and roots. It turned out that that music, it's feeling lives deep inside the three musicians and many others that followed on trying to explore the tradition of hasidic music with the contemporary context. (the topic appears few times in the interview with Mikolaj Trzaska)

Mikolaj Trzaska - Trzaska Gra Roze [Kilogram]

Mikolaj Trzaska - Bb, bass clarinets, alto saxophones
Waclaw Zimpel - alt, Bb, bass clarinets
Michal Gorczynski - Bb, bass clarinets
Mike Majkowski - double bass
Adam Zuchowski - double bass
Pawel Szpura - drums



Kilogram Records 2013

The music on the cd was recorded almost exactly one year ago - at OFF Festival 2012 in Katowice. Mikolaj has been making music for theatre and movie for quite a while now (only the soundtrack for "Dark House" was officially released on a cd) yet "Trzaska plays (the music from) <Rose>" marks a turning-point in this part of his artistic activity.

Mikolaj Trzaska Ircha Clarinet Quartet - Watching Edvard / Zikaron Lefanai [Kilogram]

 Ircha Clarinet Quartet:
Mikolaj Trzaska - bass, Bb metal clarinets
Michal Gorczynski - Bb, bass clarinets,
Pawel Szamburski - Bb, bass clarinets,
Waclaw Zimpel - alt, Bb, bass clarinets and tarogato

Watching Edvard - Kilogram Records 2011
Zikaron Lefanai - Kilogram Records 2012

Ircha Clarinet Quartet is truly an unique band. I wholeheartedly reccomend their first cd "Larks Uprising" recorded with Joe McPhee, but it did not really represent the band's music as it really is. The Quartet share double musical interest, first of which is the ritual jewish music heritage, secondly each member of the group compose their own music for the quartet and those compositions, delicate, poetic, minimalistic share the qualities of modern music by the likes of Steve Reich or Philip Glass rather than jazz or klezmer.
The Quartet second and third release present together an honest picture of the group's musical vision as the first cd "Watching Edvard" showing their "modern composition" side and the latter one "Zikaron Lefanai" focusing on their interpretation of the jewish heritage. What remains intact through the two albums is the band's wonderfully unique collective sound and sense of unity.

Inner Ear (Trzaska / Swell / Holmlander / Daisy) - Breathing Steam [Kilogram]

Inner Ear Quartet:

Mikolaj Trzaska - alto saxophone, bass clarinet, tarogat

Steve Swell - trombone

Per-Ake Holmlander - tuba

Tim Daisy - drums

Kilogram Records 2011

Inner Ear group is an offspring of Ken Vandermark's Resonance Project (it's second edition to be precise, the one that resulted in "Kafka in Flight"). All the musicians involved here arrived late to Krakow the first night of the project and thus was formed the group to play the last set of the evening. 

Ironically enough, when the decision to reunite came and the band was to play a small tour in Poland last year, Tim Daisy and Steve Swell got stuck at the airport in Munich and couldn't show up for what was planned to be the final concert of the Autumn Jazz Festival of 2010. The other two played that night with Ken Vandermark who fortunately was still in town (more about which in this post). All the travelling - logistics problems did slow them down, but in the end the quartet got together, united by the will to play music with each other. The music on this cd was registered a week later in Radio Gdansk Studio.

Reed Trio (Trzaska / Vandermark / Zimpel) - Last Train to the First Station [Kilogram]

Reed Trio
Mikolaj Trzaska - alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Ken Vandermark - tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, clarinet
Waclaw Zimpel - bass clarinet, clarinet, tarogato

1kg Kilogram Records 2011

I remember how I've been excited getting news about this trio first recording ever since 2008. Wawrzyn Makinia (known maybe better as Laurenz; owner of Multikulti) was all hyped about the first recording session (I was visiting Poznan for Made in Chicago Festival and could a get a first-hand report). Only to find out (through Ken Vandermark's facebook and occasional meetings in Krakow with Waclaw or Mikolaj) that the session was lost due to the hard disk crash. The trio's set during the second edition of Resonance project (autumn 2009) was so inspiring and in complete sync that It was obvious enough that those three will continue to work together.