Nu Ensemble at 8th Krakow Jazz Autumn - day I (08.10)

Autumn has arrived and with it the Jazz Autumn Festival in Kraków. It took three years to bring back Nu Ensemble together, some of the musicians in the group have visited Krakow on many occasions before, few came to Alchemia for the first time and they all received a warm welcome from the full crowd audience.

Paulina Owczarek and Tomek Gadecki

Differently to the weeks with Resonance and Barry Guy New Orchestra, the program scheduled for the week has a strong focus on solo and duo performances, with the last set reserved for a bigger group. The new element is the presentation of the polish improv scene and the honor of launching the festival was given to Paulina Owczarek and Tomek Gadecki - SamBar duo. Two baritone saxophones filled the musical space with intriguing sonoristic effects, smoothly exchanging "rhythmic" and "melodic" roles and exploring the unexpected possibilites of the instruments. Coincise and rewarding performance.

The second set was introduced with a short minirecital by Stine J Motland with (as Mats would say afterwards) "some kind of vocal".

Stefano Ferrian / Simone Quatrana ImproConnection Tour at Barka (05.11)

The post should be treated more as a Autumn Jazz festival's chronicle than a review. I have written recently about Stefano Ferrian's Nutimbre band and their most recent release "Risk". The two members of the quintet just launched the international ImproConnection Tour which consits of some 24 gigs in various locations, on each occasion the two players will be playing with local improvising musicians. The evening in Krakow was the 4th gig of the series and I invite you to check Stefano's website to see if you can check any of the next concerts (tonight = Vilnius).

There were some really strong music moments during the night and the four musicians really dug deep trying to create on the spot, although it seemed evident that the italian duo knows each other pretty already well. But the connection was established clear and strong and music flowed with the inspired stream, I was particularly impressed by the fast-lightning and yet very precise, fractured and repetitive patterns played on piano by Simone Quatrana but big hands to Paulina Owczarek and Ernest Ogore who stood up for the occasion and played some fervent music to match the Ferrian / Quatrana duo intensity.

The challenge of ImproConnection Tour is to meet everyday with different circumstances and different musicians and to be able to adapt constantly and learn from each opportunity. This is going to be a hard yet exciting time for Stefano and Simone and wish them both the best of luck. May the music continue to flow as strong as it did in Krakow.

A fragment of the previous concert in Brno



Stefano Ferrian - tenor sax, alto sax
Simone Quatrana - piano
Paulina Owczarek - baritone sax
Ernest Ogórek - double bass, electric bass


Barka. Krakow. 05.11.2012

Tim Daisy / DOT Trio at Alchemia (Krakow Autumn Jazz 2012; 30.10)

Tim Daisy played in Alchemia on countless occasions with a rich variety of projects and I'll daresay (haven't really cross-checked it) that he played a part in each Krakow Autumn Jazz Festival so far, yet it was the first occasion to see him in a solo setting.

He opened with a piece dedicated to two polish musicians he performs with quite often - Mikolaj Trzaska and Waclaw Zimpel, both well known to Krakow audience (in fact, both present in this year festival's program). The piece employs a steady beat that serves as an axis for slight dynamic shifts and sudden meter changes. During the rest of the set Tim would honor Merce Cunningham, Kyle Bruckmann, the late John Tchicai as well as Marek Winiarski and Wawrzyn "Laurence" Makinia (respectively Not Two and Multikulti labels).

While on many occasions solo performances seem to be an excuse to exploit and exhibit technical prowess or indulge in experimental formalism, Daisy's improvisations tend to be quite melodic and very structured. There's a "theme" to each piece which might be based on a particular phrase, frame, meter or the timbral effect of the given pair of drumsticks (part of his "bag of tricks") - in fact each piece is a singular narration with its own pulse to give the structure while the emotional, personal dedication provides the substance.

For the second set Tim joins forces with Mark Tokar - a long time collaborator with the Resonance Band and Four (quartet with Dave Rempis and Waclaw Zimpel) and Paulina Owczarek who represents the Krakow improvising scene. The duo drums - bass duo hit it right away instantly with a deep and dense and heavy groove that filled the space and it was evident they know each other already pretty well. Unfortunately Paulina, whom I've seen playinggreat music on plenty of occasions, seemed a bit lost and too shy to fight for her own space in the music, she remained hidden, her "inside" approach to the instrument, carving patiently the space with barely audible sounds didn't match well the energetic, kinematic play of Tim and Mark and the baritone with which she should have kicked their asses remained "under". The trio was sort of an unfullfilled promise, but that's the risk you have to take in this kind of music you can't win it all. Just a simple fact of life.

1st set
Tim Daisy - drums

2nd set
Tim Daisy - drums
Paulina Owczarek - baritone saxophone
Mark Tokar - double bass

Alchemia. Krakow Autumn Jazz 2012. 30.10.2012