Erik Friedlander / Daniel Zamir Quartet at Tempel Synagogue (24th Krakow Jewish Festival day 4 and 5)

I'm waiting impatiently for tonight's concert by Sharabi project with Frank London and Deep Singh. I believe Frank London is a crucial person to the Radical Jewish Music ever since the mighty Hasidic New Wave. He's as well crucial to the Krakow Jewish Culture Festival having played part in probably every edition of the festival, did you know 1998 performance by the Hasidic New Wave was released by Not Two records?

Few words only about last two evenings. Not too many since you can watch the concerts yourselves on the festival's web channel which is far better than reading others' thoughts on it and I invite you to follow the live transmissions during the week.

Erik Friedlander began the week with a beautifully intimate solo performance a suite "Songs of Scribes" he was commissioned to write by Jewish Museum in New York for an exhibition of manuscripts of jewish, christian and muslim sacred texts. 

The music felt like a beam of light in the dark space, shining with beutiful harmony. Be it the symmetry of medieval madrigals, the emotivity of folk dances like tarantella.  Friedlander's performance was delivered with profound maestry of the instrument, grace and kindness. You could play a shoestring, Coltrane used to say, if you're sincere. It doesn't hurt to be a virtuoso on the top of that as well.

Daniel Zamir used front a dynamic trio Satlah that would shake the jewish music in the key of the free jazz. This year he came back to Krakow with a mainstream jazz combo and with a clearly mainstream project "Saxophonist on the roof". Can you imagine a more iconic culture "text" than the epic soundtrack of the "Fiddler on the roof"? Ironically, the music itself, has little to do with authentic folklore but nevertheless it become one of the cultural lenses through which we look at the jewish culture. 

Zamir and his cohorts would re-interpret the hit songs from the musical in the key of modern jazz, they'd just enough harmonic complexity to the original material and groove to make it all work fine. Bit too elegant, bit too smooth for my taste, but personal preferences aside, sparks were flying with the streaming solos of the leader on the soprano and Omri Mor on the piano. It was definitely a crowd-pleaser and the crowd wanted more, including some chanted call&response. I'd be too much of a cynic to not honestly enjoy "If I were a rich man" with the funky groove. 

Check the quartet's concert on the festival's channel, meanwhile let's jog our memories with the music by Satlah.



Erik Friedlander - cello
Tempel Synagogue. 30.06. 24th Krakow Jewish Culture Festival

Daniel Zamir Quartet
Daniel Zamir - soprano saxophone, voce; Omri Mor - piano; Gilad Abro - double bass; Amir Bressler - drums
Tempel Synagogue. 01.07. 24th Krakow Jewish Culture Festival

Krakow Concert Schedule 30.06-06.07

The week is pretty filled up with the Krakow Jewish Culture Festival about which more in the previous post. Still, for those willing to look elsewhere, there are some alternatives.

03.07 Bartek Prucnal Quartet at Harris Piano Jazz Bar
Bartek Prucnal is clearly one of the most promising jazz saxophonists out there. The quartet will consist of Mateusz Gaweda on piano, Adam Szwugier on bass and Dawid Fortuna on drums wchich should make for a pretty explosive mix.

3-4.07 N.A.K. at Piec'ART
A trio with widely recognized Jacek Kochan and one of the most gifted youn pianists on polish scene Dominik Wania, Michal Kupczyk on bass completes the band. I've no idea about any details of this particular projects but these musicians are bound to come up with something interesting.

05.07 Ida Zalewska and Kuba Pluzek Trio at Harris Piano Jazz Bar
Kuba Pluzek is developing a very strong voice as a leader but he's also a very accomplished accompanist to the elegant and classy voice of Ida Zalewska. It will be smooth and fun evening at Harris.



 06.07 Karl Culley and Friends with Andy Baily at Piekny Pies
An interesting singer/songwriter clearly inspired by the classics of the acoustic genre.

Krakow Jewish Culture Festival musical recommendations.

I wholeheartedly invite you all to absorb all the variety of the festival. Nonetheless, my particular interest goes obviously toward the musical part of the program, and the "off" half of it, rather than classical.

28/29.06 Liron Amram and the Panthers at Barka "Sobieski" (8pm)
As is very common in this cultural circle, Liron Amram, grew surrounded by music, his father being one of the stars of yemenite music. He reinterpretes thoses songs in melodies in the language of 70's dub, electronica and groove. East meets West, etno meets oldschool. Party guaranteed.



30.06 Erik Friedlander "Songs of the Scribes" at Synagoga Tempel (8pm)
This musician is no stranger to any follower of improvised music. Merging classical sound with radical approach, most known for his work with John Zorn (Bark Kohba Sexter, Masada String Trio) but polish listener can remember him as well from the "Chamber Quintet" with Oleś Brothers. The concert will be the european premiere of his solo suite.
A meeting with the artist will be held at 4pm at Cheder Cafe.



30.06-04.07 Midnite Session at Alchemia  (12pm)
A traditional daily late night jam session that will rock Alchemia from the midnite till the early morning hours. Every midnight of the week.

24th Krakow Jewish Culture Festival starts today!

One of the biggest annual events in Krakow, and one of the biggest events of its kind in the world - 24th edition of Krakow Jewish Culture Festival starts today and will last till the next Sunday. 

Over the course of 10 days, Krakow citizens and thousands of guests of the city will have a full immersion course into the jewish culture. 

Cinema, city, history, philosophy, kitchen, traditional dance as well as modern club sessions and last but not least music, both classical and modern. 

I, Jazz Alchemist am the most interested in the last ingredient of the mix and tomorrow I'll try to run you through the musical part of the program of the festival.

In the meantime you can check the festival's website for more details as well as this link for the posts about the 2013 edition.

Kraków Concert Schedule 23-29.06

You get to relax for the first few days of the week, but coming thursday, there's a lot to see. There will be a separate post dedicated to the program of Krakow Jewish Festival, below are the events not related to it in any way, that seem to deserve your attention as well.

26-27.05 Significant Time at Piec'ART

A Norwegian quartet with a fresh and bit quirky approach to vocal jazz formula. A lot of fun, definitely unorthodox, joyfull and vivacious. The band is: Signe Irene Time – vocal, Øyvind Dale – piano, Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson- Bass, Raymond Lavik – Drums.

Double invite to Galieria i!

Galeria i! is slowly becoming the busiest underground (not literally) space for free improv performances in Krakow, Let me pass the invite for the next two evenings.

20.06 Sympli Romantiko - Denis Kolokol, Ernest Ogorek and Tomek Choloniewski

How it would be to actually touch the sounds or the perceive them as other physical objects? The trio tries to find and answer to that question with Denis Kolokol playing music through body movements along with Krakow's very own Ernest Ogorek on bass and Tomek Choloniewski on drums.



21.06 Institute of Intuition with Kamil Szuszkiewicz

Institute of Intuition will be represented by Rafal Mazur on acoustic bass and Tomek Choloniewski on drums. The guest, for a solo and trio set, will be Kamil Szuszkiewicz on trumpet, whose debut cd "Prologomena" I praised on the blog a while ago. It will be hard to squeeze the concert in between all that'll be goin around during the Wianki - Feast of Music, but it should be definitely worth it.

Krakow Concert Schedule 16-22.05 / Wroclaw Art of Improvisation Creative Festival

Not so much during the week, one concert "for something completely else", along with your regular nights at the jazz clubs. However the weekend will be a musical feast. A massive Wianki in Krakow for a lot of fun while Wroclaw will provide a more intimate context for the improvising music.

I'm also waiting for a confirmation on two possible Art of Intuition performances in Galeria i!

19.05 Sunday Pagans at Piekny Pies

Traditional multi-voice folk songs filtered through modern drum'n'bass, electro, dub trance nd else. Sounds like a freaky mix? That's the way I like it.

21.05. Wianki - Fete' de la musique in Krakow
The annual feast this year, instead of one big scene below Wawel castle will have a different formula this year. A number of open air stages and clubs will be involved and audience will be able to enjoy concerts of classical music, traditional jazz, club music events, indie rock, reggae and else.

The whole program can be consulted here. My reccomendation would go for alternative scene on Plasc Szczepanski with

Samech - the neo-classical quartet, mostly inspired by the tradition of jewish music, the second polish band in the internationally appreciated Tzadik label
Peter J Birch - bluesy and folksy acoustic americana
Patrick The Pan - melancholy indie
Zbigniew Wodecki with Mitch & Mitch Orchestra and Choir - a full-time retro show with funk and twist and whole lotta fun.
Silent Disco - curated by the Unsound Festival

There are other club events sparged through the city
Alchemia party with DJ set by two turntablists Wake Up and Lapsky along with Slawek Pezda on sax and Marcin Polanski on drums. DJ Jam with DJ Krime and Pauza Klub or ad DJ set with Macio Moretti and Bartłomiej Tyczynski in Bomba.

20-22.05 Art Of Improvisatoin Creative Festival at CK Agora, Wrocław

Another edition (3rd I think) of the multidisciplinary Art of Improvisation Creative Festival in Wrocław

will inspire art lovers this weekend. The focus is on music and the program is really strong, with performances from Matthew Shipp Trio, Matte Rasmusen trio with Alan Silva, Marcin Masecki, Kamil Szuszkiewicz and Hubert Zemler duo or new polish - german quartet Second Exit.

For the whole program and details visit the festival's website here. 

We seem to have bypassed spring directly into summer. A perfect time to go out and enjoy oneself. Below some suggestions for the next week.

12.06 Unusual History of Ether at Alchemia
The dark and moody songs by this unusual group remind me a little bit of Nick Cave. A stamp of approval from the ILK label bodes well.

Krakow Concert Schedule 04-08.05

It's been a long and intense weekend, sorry the schedule is a little late bu here it is for the remaining part of the week including a must-see DVA concert.

05.06 DVA at Klub RE
A crazy duo from Czech, voice, electronica, loops, guitar, clarinet. DVA has an unique sound and absolute charisma on stage. I wrote about their performance in Alchemia a few years back and it remains one of the best live acts I can think of.

Krakow Concert Schedule 26.05-01.06

Are you up for the next week with plenty of music?

26-27.05 Mopti at Piec'ART
Straight from Scandinavia but clearly inspired by the warm African sound. Double night with young quintet.



27.05 Ghedalia Tazartes at Alchemia
A music of journey by mystic nomad who croesses boundaries of musican genres and times.



27.05 Institute of Intuition with Tomek Gadecki at Galeria i!
Part of the Paulina Owczarek and Tomek Gadecki SamBar tour. Our guest from Gdansk will join the Krakow workshop group with Michal Dymny, Tomek Choloniewski, Rafal Mazur and Paulina. (The concert starts at 7pm so it's perfectly possible to catch before going to Alchemia).



28.05 The Mob Fixing Freedom at Piekny Pies
Straight from Vienna a melodic punk trio will fix you freedom.



30.05. Pixar in Concert at Krakow Arena
for something completely different. Inagural concert at the Krakow Arena especially for the children's day. Orchestral performances of the music known to the younger ones (and the ones not so young anymore) from the modern classics of animation. Sounds like a lot of fun to me.


01.06 Francois Carrier, Michel Lambert and Rafal Mazur at Alchemia
The french guests need no introduction, nor, to any reader of the blog, does Rafal Mazur. We'll see what will come out of their meeting.

Krakow Concert Schedule 19-25.05 / Green Zoo Festival

I've complained last week about lack of events. I should've better kept my mouth shut. You better gather your strenghths in the first few days of the next week because starting thursday there are places to be and the number of difficult choices can melt your brain.

22-25 Green Zoo Festival IV

Green Zoo Festival is presents 10 events within three days, dedicated to all sides of the alternative in music. Indie rock, pop, electronica, experimental, improvisation. There will be techno, hip hop, dance along with free improvisation. You name it. Most of the names in the schedule remain unknown to me but you can trust the selection. The concerts of most interest from jazz ear perspective are listed below:

22.05. Mikrokolektyw at Klub Re (Green Zoo Festival)

Artur Majewski andKuba Suchar duo is internationally recognised for their mixture of acoustic and electronic improvisation.

Krakow Concert Schedule 12-18.05 edit - Jozefinska 21 encore

The previous list was posted too early to include invites for two interesting events in the alternative space at Jozefinska 21 which has become a sort of community center in the Podgorze area.

14.05 Institute of Intuition series vol. 3 - Paul N. Roth

Institute of Intuition is another collaborative series featuring guest musicians with Krakow's improvisers. The concert will feature Tomek Choloniewski, Rafal Mazur, Michal Dymny along with Paul N Roth. Attention: starts early - 7pm. 

16.05 Official opening of the space as art gallery "I!" (And!) with Krakow's experimental audio-video unit HiQ (read: haiku). 

The group will include Alek Janicki (multimedia), Maria Janicka (laptop), Rafal Mazur (acoustic bass guitar), Michal Dymny (el. guitar), Michal Gorczyca (electronics), Andrzej Skwarek (el. cello). 

Krakow Concert Schedule 12-18.05

After four spectacular nights at Pardon To Tu, the next week in Krakow seems very much eventles. There's an electro concert at Alchemia, a punk night at Piekny Pies, but jazz fans are left with the standard everyday concerts of the mainstream venues. Among which the trio below is in my oppinion the most intriguing proposition.

12.05 Matuesz Gaweda Trio at Piec'ART

Mateusz Gaweda with Piotr Poludniak and Dawid Fortuna are among the most active jazz musicians of their generation, still at the very beginning of their artistic paths but well on the road of finding their own musical language.

2 nights with The Thing at Pardon To Tu (04-05.05)

Let us start this time with where rather than who. Pardon To Tu has established itself in the recent

years as the busiest free jazz stage in Poland. Few years back such statement could be made Krakow's Alchemia, now I've came to envy the jazz fans in or Capitol. I believe it's perfectly natural that such places come to live and go, but I what I've witnessed in Pardon To Tu gives reasonable hopes that this particular places will live and love the music for a longer while.

The place, cosy and warm, makes the musicians feel at home, the audience is there, filling the house and listening enthusiastically. The musicians are there in the audience as well, to listen to each other, to learn and to enjoy themselves. Warsaw's free jazz scene is flourishing and Pardon To Tu has become it's hang out space. There's creative impetus around the place and its probably the most important manifestation is how the club tries to participate actively in forming its artistic enviroment, an example of which is the residence series of the "2 nights with" and improvised sets featuring the internationally acknowledged guests playing with polish musicians.

Krakow Concert Schedule 05-11.05 / Bluessroads Festival / Pardon To Tu visit

The biggest event of the week in Krakow is the double concert with the legend Tomasz Stanko and the rising star of polish jazz scene Marcin Masecki. The two will play two separate concerts on the 7th may in Alchemia. Meanwhile in Warsaw, Pardon To Tu continously reaffirms its position as the best stage for improvised music in Poland. While in Warsaw I'm hoping to finally get some writing done, there are two boxsests than just can't leave my cd player right now which stands in the way of "new releases". I'll let you know what two boxes are they very soon.

07.05 Tomasz Stanko and Marcin Masecki at Alchemia.

The veteran of european jazz and the wild youngster toghether will play two separate sets at 7pm and 9pm. Unpredictable evening is to be expected.