Concerts Schedule 25.03 - 31.03 and 01.04-07.04

As Easter is near there are few events this week, as there will be no time to give you a heads-up for the next one I decided to pair up the next two weeks and here are my suggestions for the next 14 days:

25.03  Zsolt Soros, Jean-Herve Peron and Theme at Alchemia

THEME is a british-polish unit playing, well, just check the video below. They will be joined by Zsol Sores the electronic sound artist, and Jean-Harve Peron known from the krautrock legent Faust band. Should be enough to start the week.

*EDIT  - fresh update - Rafal Mazur and Artur Majewski at Solvay on 27.03 19:00.

01.04 Piotr Orzechowski solo at PIEC'Art

Piotr will play solo, there's no telling whether the performance will be an example of improvised music in the vein of his EP "Pianohooligan" where he tributes Bach as well Keith Jarrett or maybe he will play some music from his debut longplay cd "Experiment : Penderecki", or else. One way or another (or third way) it should be interesting.

04.04 Miąższ at Alchemia.

Miąższ, with their witty lyrics and cross-genre music that cites on folk, jazz, cabaret, rock, blues, reggae ecc. is one of the few bands that gibe you possibly most fun you can have sober. I wholeheartedly recommend their concert in Alchemia, you might check the post I wrote after the previous one. A precious music video for their lullaby below:

04-06.04. Directions In Music Pawel Kaczmarczyk at Harris Piano Jazz Bar

Directions in Music is a series of projects Pawel Kaczmarczyk created to honour jazz heroes, each one featuring a special line-up and honour guest. For the 16th birthday of Harris Piano Jazz Bar three special evenings are lined up:

04.04 Directions In Music for Elvin Jones (with Kazimierz Jonkisz oln drums)

05.04 Directions In Music for Ray Charles (with Jorgos Skolias on vocals)

06.04 Directions In Music for Stan Getz (with Janusz Muniak on saxophone)

06 - 07.04 Orioxy at PIEC'Art

PIEC'Art brings another scandinavian group to Krakow for a two-night stand. An intriguing instrumental setting puts together voice, harp, bass and drums to bring surprising music that is poetic, dark and theatrical. The material available on the web sounds very inviting.

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.