1. An den kleinen Radioapparat
2. Night Train to You
3. Faithful
4. Mosaic
5. Ballad of the Sad Young Men
6. Oz Guizos
7. Song for Swirek
8. Woke Up in the Desert
9. Big Foot
10. Lugano Lake
Marcin Wasilewski - Piano
Slawomir Kurkiewicz- Bass
Michal Miskiewicz - Drums
This is the third ECM CD by this Polish trio who have been playing together since the 1990s. Wasilewski and Kurkiewicz will be known to many European jazz enthusiasts from their appearances on Manu Katche's popular CDs, Neighbourhood and Playground.
The remarkable empathy between the three musicians reaches new heights on this outstanding new CD.
Five of the pieces are originals by Wasilewski and reveal his gift for painting musical pictures based around simple chords and unusual time signatures. Night Train to You with echoes of the late, lamented Esbjorn Svensson is a particularly evocative piece, beginning simply and progressing from 6/8 to 11/8 as it takes its listeners on a rewarding musical journey. Song for Swirek is another outstanding original, developing from the hauntingly reflective into the irresistibly finger-snapping.
Faithful, the title track, from a 1966 Ornette Coleman album The Empty Foxhole, is played with the kind of deep-felt intensity that demands closed eyes and rapt attention. In contrast, Paul Bley's Big Foot is cheerfully extrovert with witty exchanges between the three musicians.
The Keith Jarrett influence is especially noticeable on Fran Landesman's beautiful Ballad of the Sad Young Men which could hardly be better played by Jarrett, Peacock and DeJohnette than it is here by the Wasilewski trio.
Gorgeous, limpid chords, richly sonorous bass notes and intricate rhythmic patterns in high quality sound combine to make this my CD of the year so far.
George Stacy
CD Reviews
ECM 275 9105
