Wislawa

Three virtuoso musicians at the top of their game playing very beautiful music. If you enjoy jazz this is well worth a listen.

Good album my wife is a big fan of Stanko

The title track and a variation thereof which book-end this 2 cd release are, arguably, the most beautiful recordings ever made by Stanko. While the remaining 70 or so minutes of music does not always match those heights, "Wislawa" is the mark of another classic Stanko band which hopefully heralds another era of music-making.At the risk of repetition of countless ECM reviews, the purity and detail of sound in the recording is at times spell-binding, especially in the crepuscular "Wislawa" itself. Elsewhere the music is more engaged (see the aptly named "Assassins") but the way "Tutaj-Here" soars is truly special. All the four musicians excel and Virelles, in particular, is shown in better light than on Chris Potter's recent (and perfectly admirable) "Sirens"). Highly recommended.

For me this is probably Stanko’s finest recording. It flows so effortlessly down so many different musical tributaries, twisting, turning, undulating with so much finesse and ingenuity that by the end you just want jump right back in and get swept along once more in the current of a master at his absolute compositional peak (unlike his final ‘December Avenue’); along with a group of young cohorts who excel and surprise at every turn. This is a terrific recording. Total running time: 100 mins (2 discs).

Tomasz Stanko ist für mich ohne Zweifel einer der ganz großen noch lebenden Jazzmusiker. Sein Sound auf der Trompete ist einzigartig und voller Tiefgang. Auch er besitzt wie Miles Davis die Fähigkeit, immer wieder neue und zumeist junge Talente um sich zu gruppieren. Nach einigen Jahren mit seinem polnischen, exzellenten Quartett mit dem Pianisten Marcin Wasilewski, einem Intermezzo mit einem international besetztem Quintett, hat er nun sein neuestes Album mit dem kubanischen Pianisten David Virelles und den beiden Amerikanern Thomas Morgan (b) und Gerald Cleaver (dr) eingespielt.Das Quartett spielt mit viel Tiefgang und freier als die letzten Gruppen von Thomasz Stanko. Mit Litania und On the Green Hill gehört diese neueste CD für mich zu seinen besten Einspielungen. Alle Stücke stammen aus seiner Feder und sind inspiriert von der polnischen Literaturnobelpreisträgerin Wislawa Szymboska. Es ist wunderbare Musik, die man hier entdecken kann.

I was a trumpet player in high school & college. Afterwards when I stopped listening to Progressive Rock in the late 1970s I turned to Classical music then Jazz. All of a sudden all the Jazz Band I took in school made sense. I became a big fan of the Jazz trumpeters Maynard Ferguson, Wynton Marsalis, Chet Baker, & Miles Davis. In the late 1980s I went cruising around record stores (yes there were record stores then) buying American Jazz from the late 1950s to early 1960s because somehow this type of jazz fit my fancy. Miles Davis with "Bitches Brew" was rather out there for me at that time, but he calmed down into Jazz Rock after that. Before the turn of the century I started listening to some experimental Jazz trumpeters like Jon Hassell & Nils Petter Molvaer. I didn't know of Tomasz Stanko but solved this with the purchase of this CD "Wistawa".I read one review in Amazon which opened my eyes; something to the effect that today's American Jazz tries to return to the late 1950s (Wynton Marsalis was given as an example) while European Jazz (Tomasz Stanko was given as an example) looks to & creates the future. Here is an interesting twist to what I hear about Tomasz Stanko & other modern Jazz trumpeters; while Jon Hassell & Niks Petter Molvaer go for the atmospheric sound effects to almost Acid Jazz, Tomasz Stanko keeps the tradition of a quartet with trumpet, bass, piano, & drums, yet enters into neo-modern Jazz. In other words the other future looking trumpet players are using a lot of synthesizers, tape loops, & other modern means of creating their new sound. Tomasz Stanko creates the future of Jazz with the historical acoustic basics. Most of the songs in 'Wistawa" start with a slow very open abstract melody & as things slowly heat up Tomasz Stanko lets his trumpet notes fly as John Coltrane did with his sax. Yes this is free Jazz but not atonal as some musicians made it in the early to mid-1960s as in Eric Dolphy or Ornette Coleman. The music of "Wistawa" still holds onto a tune & even sounds European for some strange reason with an American bass & piano player, & a Cuban drummer for the backup band. This is not Jazz for a romantic evening, but for serious listening.

Fantastisch, was Stanko im Alter noch abliefert. Das macht Mut zum eigenen Weitertun. Kein Demenzpräventionsprodukt, sondern ein gediegenes Alterwerk mit überraschend starker Präsenz eines alten Trompeters. Schön!

Earthy, breathes, oozes with tones that help you drift into the night. Changes in rhythm and some up beat songs as well. If you enjoyed his other albums you'll enjoy this one.

Das Urgestein der polnischen Jazzszene hat ein tolles Album abgeliefert.Zwischen entspannt und expressiv, wirkt der Sound aber nie aufdringlich.Klasse