Personnel:
Pawel Wszolek (b), Lukasz Kokoszko (g), Sebastian Zawadzki (p), Szymon Madej (d)
Reference: FSNT-478
Bar code: 8427328424783
"This is a highly successful example of a bassist-led album, with all compositions by the bandleader, who also produces the album, aided by high quality performances, recording, mixing and mastering. There wasnt a press release supplied with the review CD, but from what I can ascertain online, the bandappear to be based in the city of Kraków in southern Poland, home to numerous fine jazz clubs and a very high calibre jazz scene.
The music is melodic and accessible, and, as you might expect, contemporary European in style. Theres some quite Methenyesque, and subtle guitar playing by Kokoszko, but the bands sound is centred around the excellent piano playing of Sebastian Zawadzki, performing the difficult role of being at the heart of the band sound but not being the bandleader or composer. He has an unmistakably modern jazz piano style, but no obvious similarities with his contemporaries.
Overall subtlety gives way to something more dynamic as the intensity builds aroundtwo-thirds of the way through the album, notably on Two In One and Pax, and its worth the wait. Drummer Szymon Madej gets his chance to shine on Revolution with a powerful but controlled accompanied solo, and appropriately, leader Wszołeks completely solo melodic offering closes a very fine set thats worthy of recognition. Summing up, this CD sounds and looks expensive, and - not that its particularly vital to the CDs success - I liked the quite novel way of presenting the track list on the back cover, with the numbering having the appearance of domino dots."
Dave Jones -Jazz Journal (October, 2015)
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http://polish-jazz.blogspot.com/2015/09/pawe-wszoek-choice-2015.html>
http://blog-shinjuku-jazz.diskunion.net/Entry/14159/>
http://grasshopper1.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-257.html>
http://www.polskieradio.pl/6/13/Artykul/1490576,Rozjazzowane-skrzypce-Baldycha>
