Some ramblings about the music I love, about the concerts in Krakow or elsewhere I get to witness, about cds I manage to get my hands on and particularly like. Stay tuned.
Jazz Alchemist
Warsaw Summer Jazz Days remains one of the most important jazz events in Poland, quite successfully balancing the delicate line between commercial and artistic validity. This year's program seems to do that perfectly and I honestly can't wait to be there.
Here's what awaits you in Warsaw on the first two days of the festival at the Soho Factory.
09.07 Giovanni Guido Trio Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet Vijay Iyer Trio
10.07 Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet James Carter Organ Trio Brad Mehldau Trio
A correspondence battle between three piano trios, an upcoming star Giovanni Guido, one of the most intriguing pianists around Vijay Iyer and one of the most established musicians of the genre Brad Mehldau. How will the informal competion turn out? We'll see.
Apart from that you'll have the explosive James Carter with his organ trio, the sophisticated Ambrose Akinmusire (!!! he's performance 3 years ago at the festival was truly fantastic) and, from Marsalis clan, Jason on vibes. Sounds like a recipe for amazing two days.
25th Krakow Jewish Culture Festival is barely over, yet there's no time to rest (alhtough there will be time to reminiscence - I'll write about my four favourite performances of the festival in the next few days).
The Heat is on, Summer is here, which means plenty of festivals of all sorts. Krakow's Summer Jazz Festival continues with some strong moments this week, Rozstaje / Crossroads has joined Euroradio Folk Festival for a week-long run. Plus Warsaw Summer JAzz Days this year looks mightily fine (I'll cover this festival in a separate post tomorrow). Buckle up, summer is no time to be lazy.
05-12.07 Rozstaje / Crossroads Festival (and Euroradio Folk Festival)
Two mighty folk festivals has joined forces in Krakow this year. 200 musicians, 50 concerts, 4 coninents represented. Any world music afficionado will be satisfied.
Check the program closely at festival's webpage Rozstaje / Crossroads 2015
Any examples? Manou Gallo Groove Orchestra from Ivory Coast sound like a perfect plan for Saturday evening.
And the 2nd week of the festival begins today. Lots and lots of great music awaits you.
Important notes - events at Dajwor are open-air and free admission
Midnite sessions start at midnight, last often till early morning hours, tickets are 10 PLN
All the concerts from Tempel Synagogue are transmitted live via streaming available on festival's website!
29.06. Frank London, Michael Winograd & Yaako Lemmer - Ahava Raba at Synagogue Tempel (8pm) Gelada DJ Set - Bob Dylan & other jewish hippies at Dajwor Quarter (8.30pm) Frank London & La Mar Enfortuna - Midnite Session at Alchemia
We start with some classic sounds by the festival's omnipresent Frank Longon, Michael Winograd and kantor singer Yaako Lemmer. Alternatively you can listen to the dj set by Yaron Mandelovici. The night will end with more of Frank London and the exquisite La Mar Enfortuna.
The Summer has come (although it's a bit rainy at the moment), but the Summer Festivals has come. The main recommendation goes for the Krakow Jewish Festival and I'll outline some of the music schedule tomorrow. Below you can find some recommenations for musical events
01.03 Wójcinski / Szmanda Quartet at Piec'ART.
The Quartet boasts three Wojcinskis and one Szmanda - Szymon on piano, Maurycy on trumpet, Ksawery on bass and Pawel (the only Szmanda) on drums. A dark horse of the week - a concert that should not go unnoticed.
01.07 Elysian Fields at Alchemia
Straight from New York, melancholic rock from the band that started in the legendary Knitting Factory.
02.07 Rotem Sivan Trio at Piec'ART
For jazz guitar fans, Rotem Sivan sounds and his cohorts sound like a treat.
Starting 1st of July - 20th Summer Jazz Festival, with daily concerts in Pod Baranami and Harris Piano Jazz Bar. Of notice this week:
01.07 High Definition Quartet at Harris Piano Jazz Bar 03.07 NSI Quartet at Harris Piano Jazz Bar 04.07 Kuba Płuzet Trio at Harris Piano Jazz Bar
also, there's more for jazz guitar fans, a competition will be held between 01-04.07 (a tribute to late Jarek Smietana) with its grand finale Guitar Summit (featuring Mike Stern, John Abercrombie among others).
This is the 25th edition of the Festival which has grown to be one of the most important cultural events in Krakow's yearly calendar, one of the biggest events dedicated to jewish culture (battling Jerusalem and New York for the title), is one of the most complex and complete experience, a total immersion into judaic world (concerts, lectures, films, museum tours, food, guests from all over the world) whose rich program fills up 10 days of activities and leads up to the grand finale, the Shalom concert, an multi-hour marathon of joy and music nicknamed Jewish Woodstock.
Ladies and Gentleman, below is a summary of the OFF part of the festival's program (first 4 days only!) which is focused on jewish traditional music in the prism of modern pop/indie/rock/jazz/electronica culture. I wholeheartedly invite the entire program - you'll bound to find something to your particular liking.
Apart from from the traditional main concerts in Tempel Synagogue and the Midnight Jam Sessions at Alchemia there are plenty of open air events (free admission) at new space called Kwartal - Quarter (Dajwor street, on the back fo the Old Synagogue).
25.06. MLDVA at Dajwor Kwartal (8.30 PM) Congo Beat The Drum (movie projection) (9.30 PM)
MLDVA is a live dj act the grooves freely mixing ethnic rhythms (klezmer, turkish, chasidic) with modern aesthetics of dub and trip-hop.
Congo Beat the Drum is a move that tells a story of two jewish musicians travelling to Jamaica to record their songs with local musicians. Klezmer meets reggae - sounds like a lot of fun.
26.06. Ori at Cheder Cafe (8 PM) OFF Radio Krakow - Only Vinyl Set with Daniel Drumz and Good Paul at Dajwor Quarter (8.30 PM) Teder Presents a night in Tel Aviv at Barka (10 PM)
Ori is an original songwriter, born in Jerusalem, living and working in Berlin. Eclectic and unorthodox, his music shows influences of folk, neo-soul, trip-hop and minimalism. Music for a peaceful dream.
For something slightly different and more upbeat you have two DJ events. Firstly a double set curated by OFF Radio Krakow, secondly a whole night party with some of Tel Aviv's greatest.
The 25th Krakow Jewish Culture Festival starts this thurdsay, to which I'll dedicate a separate post tomorrow. Accordingly to one of the Murphy's laws, if there are two good parties this week they'll definitely be on the same day. Which is why you'll have to make some hard choices. Below the concert proposals for the upcoming days which are not festival-related.
23.06. King Ayisoba & Band at Klub RE
Straight from Ghana, King Ayisoba and his crew, with traditional rhythms and some modern twists. A must-see to anyone interested in world / roots music.
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.
Brace yourself. Summer is coming. Which means there will be a plenty of open air concerts, festivals and other stuff around. We countdown till the next Krakow Jewish Culture Festival begins and right after that Warsaw Summer Jazz Days start with an very intriguing line-up. In the meantime...
18.06 Hot Tamales at Tak Było
For something completely/slightly different. A bluesy acoustic trio with soothing vocals, guitar and harp that has found much appreciation on a variety of blues festivals (including recent Bluesroads in Krakow) will meet you this thursday in Tak Bylo.
09.06. Buka & Gase / Kubaterra at Betel Klub (GREEN ZOO Festival)
Green Zoo is possible one of the most intriguing musical events taking place in Krakow. Festival dedicated to the often unconventional, unnamed, underground, impossible to classify musical projects from the realms of indie electronica, rock, folk and more. BTW if you haven't done it yet - dig through Tiny Desk Concerts, there's some amazing crazy stuff there.
In Poland 1st June is Child's Day so you better celebrate your inner child today or else... For example you can treat yourself to some live music this week. Or go see a movie during the Krakow Film Festival (which as usual has also the DocMusic section along with open-air cinema musical screenings and more!) (some updates added)
03.06. Mitch & Mitch with their Incredible Combo at Rotunda Plac Nowy (Krakow Film Festival).
A crazy cartoon band with Mitchy nicknames invented covers repertoire that plays some of the funniest concerts around. A mix of great musicianship with a abstract humour.
I skipped Monday, but without further delay I'd like to recommend you two events below for your musical reflection and entertainment this week. Enjoy.
(an important music event skipped my mind as I posted this first. Check out Film Music Festival's programme - you might find something to your liking). 27.05 Rishin Singh, Mateusz Węgrzyn and Konrad Gęca - Muzykoterapia series
Another installment of the Muzykoterapia concert series with three distinguished performers who operate in the field of impro, noise, electronica, audio performance, field recordings and all sorts of audio-video experiments. The performance will take place in Culture House at Mikolajska 2. Important Note - free entrance.
27-31.05 Krakow Film Music Festival
A treat for those who love movies and music and orchestras (mostly). The Festival will present among others, themes from Andrzej Wajda's movies (featuring Audiofeeling Trio), TV series and Video Games soundtracks and more. Check the details here: http://fmf.fm/
29.05 MLDVA at Cheder Cafe
MLDVA is a live act that will get you partying to the funkified far east rhythms. The evening is and introduction to the upcoming Krakow Jewish Festival and seems also like a great introduction to your weekend. Free entrance as well.
I've skipped a week due to various circumstances, I hope you still caught some live music during the week. Either way, the following days will bring some extremely interesting concerts and I hope you won't miss them. The special recommendation goes to the two events in Alchemia.
16.05 Białoszewski with Mikrokolektyw and Patryk Zakrocki at Klub Re (Milosz Festival) 17.05 Andruchowycz and Karbido at Klub Re (Milosz Festival)
Poetry and music are always a strange yet endearing couple. Two nights in a row, we'll see the two beautiful arts meet on the stage for what is bound to be an emotional evening (given how powerfull Bialoszewski's poetry is and how intense Andruchowycz's recitation can be). Both concerts are part of the Festival dedicated to the late Czeslaw Milosz.
18.05 Charles Gayle / Ksawery Wojcinski / Klaus Kugel at Alchemia
Whether he wants it or not, Charles Gayle is now among the living legends of free jazz. Charles Gayle speaks the Truth. His trio with Ksawery and Klaus is an absolute must-see. Also, the trio will promote their new cd fresh out on ForTune Records.
Long weekend was particularly short this year. Moreover there's no time to relax and this week schedule is basically overfilled with the great movie program of the Off Camera festival. Still there's always some worthy music to see.
06.05 D.R.A.G at Piec'ART
This is a quartet led by the violinist Dominika Rusinowska, featuring the talents of Matuesz Gaweda on piano, Jakub Mielcarek on bass, and Kuba Rusinowski on drums - a group that should bring some solid modern jazz to the stage.No videos available as for now but I've been told there'll soon be.
09.05. Nat Osborn Band in Alchemia
Soulful and funky style Straight from Brooklyn New York,. This concert seems like a great way to start Saturday night. Nat's tour band will feature Mike Parker, Damian Niewinski keeping the groove tight.
The marathon continues as we have still two more concerts in the Starzy i Mlodzi Jazz Festival, a must-see concert in Alchemia, little something for something completely different and Unesco's international jazz day
27.04 PeGaPoFo at Sztuka (Starzy i Mlodzi Festival) 28.04 N.S.I Quartet at Szutka (Starzy i Mlodzi Festival)
The presentation of young jazz scene, both bands already
28.04 Atomic at Alchemia
Amazing quintet from Scandinavia that combines the free spirit and respect for tradition, infinitely classy free jazz combo that has gone a long way since their early years.
I'll cross the week line with this one but it's impossible to cut the list short of Monday and Tuesday concerts. Thanks to Starzy i Mlodzi czy Jazz w Krakowie and rugular activity be venues like Alchemia and Piec'ART we have a very busy days ahead of us.
21/22.04 Gorilla Mask at Piec'ART
Under this intriguing name hides a trio made by Peter Van Huffel on sax, Roland Fidezius on bass and Rudi Fischerlerner. The trio promises a free jazz, punk and metal mix.
Warsaw Summer Jazz Days remains one of the most important jazz events in Poland, quite successfully balancing the delicate line between commercial and artistic validity. This year's program seems to do that perfectly and I honestly can't wait to be there.
