Piotr Damasiewicz Project - Imprographic 1 (ForTune, 2013) ****

By Stef

Sometimes it takes a while before music comes on our radar screen too, even if the records have been lying here for months on end, sometimes going back to the previous year, as is the case with this album. And that's a shame really, because this quartet deserves attention, as does this double CD, called "Imprographic 1", a title that holds the promise for more.

The quartet is Piotr Damasiewixz on trumpet, Gerard Lebik on tenor, Gabriel Ferrandini (yes, from RED trio) on drums and Jakub Mielcarek on bass. They play free jazz in the best of traditions, freely, openly, and if there are any references to give, possibly Other Dimensions In Music, or the Tribute To Albert Ayler Band come to mind, two bands with almost identical line-ups, creating beauty, density and space on the spot, often without clear rhythmic patterns, yet with a steady implicit pulse, not really soloing, but creating coherent sonic textures of long and extended phrases, weaving a tapestry of sound, and quite contrary to the liner notes, in my opinion the music is much closer to American music than to European free improvisation, because of its soulfulness, the less cerebral approach, the band is more constructing than deconstructing, and somehow still respectful of traditional concepts like repetitions in phrases, with lots of sustained and flowing moments.

These are excellent performances, recorded live at three venues in Poland, the Alchemia, The Falanster and Cofeina. My kind of jazz, open, free, coherent, technically excellent, with solid interplay and creative interactions.

I hope we get Imprographic 2 soon.

Piotr Damasiewicz Quartet – Mnemotaksja (ForTune, 2014) ****

Damasiewicz released another album earlier this year, again with the same line-up, with himself on trumpet, Gerard Lebik on tenor and contralto clarinet, Maciey Garbowski on bass, and Wojciech Romanowski on drums.

This is not free jazz in the strictest sense - but what does that mean? - because of the strong structural and compositional basis of the nine pieces, and its solid rhythmic foundation. You could qualify the music as modern jazz, with a very open attitude to soloing and shifting structural elements.

I  know it's always risky to draw comparisons among musicians, and even if Damasiewicz' trumpet sound is not comparable to that of Dennis Gonzalez, his music is, because of the unison themes, the sense of drama, the deep melancholy and epic content while retaining this overall sense of freedom and expansiveness.

A really strong album, and one can only conclude that Damasiewicz is an artist with many stylistic possibilities, and he is possibly strong in all of them, including the even more epic work with "Power Of The Horns", one of my favorite albums of last year.

So, being more adept of absolute freedom, my personal choice would be with "Imprographic", but "Mnemotaksja" is obviously more accessible while being equally of high quality.

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Sabir Mateen, Conny Bauer, Mark Tokar, Klaus Kugel – Collective Four (For Tune, 2016) ****

By Colin Green

I’ve been taken with Poland’s For Tune label of late, spending many productive hours (though far from profitable) sampling its catalogue on Bandcamp and discovering a wealth of highly rewarding music from Poland’s vibrant jazz scene, and elsewhere. The label’s motto is “Opus Aetrenatum” (Work Everlasting), a bold and unconfirmable claim, but it’s released some fine albums which will keep me going for a while at least. As downloads, they’re reasonably priced at $8.40 apiece, even for a double album. Standouts so far have been the Piotr Damasiewicz Project’s Imprographic 1, the Vehemence Quartet’s Anomalia (including a stunning version of Wayne Shorter’s ‘Witch Hunt’) and PeGaPoFo’s Świeżość – all warmly recommended.

Collective Four is a cracker. The quartet of Sabir Mateen (alto & tenor saxophones, flute, clarinets), Conny Bauer (trombone), Mark Tokar (double bass) and Klaus Kugel (drums) undertook a six-date tour of Ukraine and Poland in December 2015. This is the performance from Lublin, the last date of the tour.

Like Fred Anderson and Kidd Jordan, Mateen’s playing is imbued with the blues – “Blues is in your heart and your soul” he intones at the beginning of ‘Universal Sounz’. He put in sterling service with trombonist Steve Swell’s Slammin’ the Infinite band (as did Kugel) and achieves here a similar combination of sinewy warmth and agility with the versatile Bauer, ebullient and melancholic by turns, his tailgating trombone meshing with Mateen’s liquid stream of notes to produce swirling currents. On the opening title track, the rhythm section are turbulent, without being noisy, providing a cushion for the frequent changes of pace and mood: surging and exultant shifting to tender and intimate. There are no real tunes, yet there’s a feel for melodic phrasing and exchange, a sort of rhyming which gives a mazy logic to the quartet’s thinking.

There are also individual moments to be savoured – the throaty drone of Bauer’s circular breathing combined with arco bass, set off with flecks of cymbal spray; a fruity combination of trombone slides and blats with Mateen’s unfurling clarinet line; and at the climax of ‘Universal Sounz’, Mateen’s pleading lament on tenor, fighting to be heard over a cascade of drums, growling bass and tart trombone.

‘Collective Movements’ is the last number on the tour’s final date and after an airy introduction on flute and trombone, they go for it. Gradually building in intensity with Bauer ratcheting up the tension on a repeated riff, the music swells to a thrilling crescendo, glorious and life-affirming.
The album’s available on CD or as a download. Don’t pass on this one.

From the first date of the tour in Luzk:

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