Lontano (ECM)
Tomasz Stanko
Released August 25, 2006
Jazzwise Top 10 Releases of 2006
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iCr0vBUOKQE&list=OLAK5uy_mwYY7haTTVPui0PIG13OYj2KnAwhxbI3Y
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0CHweAfQAdYekbPt7RxO1z?si=YhBNCdzCShKBsHnsOyiApg&dl_branch=1
About:
The third ECM album by Tomasz Stanko’s popular all-Polish group rings some changes. Where its predecessors, 2001’s “Soul of Things” and 2004’s “Suspended Night” were recorded in Oslo, “Lontano” shifts the recording locale to the South of France – Studios La Buissonne, near Avignon – and it opens up the group’s concept to admit both freer playing and a new look at pieces of historical importance in Stanko’s development, while also emphasising the achingly soulful balladry that has increasingly become a hallmark of Stanko’s music…
The group arrived in the studio directly from an extensive tour of the Far East – with debut performances by the quartet in Japan, Korea and Australia – which Stanko suggests may have been a factor influencing the departures on “Lontano”. “Just the experience of being on the road, playing to very different audiences helps me to change, personally. I wasn’t expectingrecord number three with this group to be as different as it is – but then it’s almost a policy not to have expectations. As an improviser I want to be open to the whole atmosphere.”
“I like very much (producer) Manfred Eicher’s way of working, where he is always helping to create a direction we can use. We are always open to his input. And I really enjoy the free feeling we found on ‘Lontano’ and the communication between the players. It seems ‘new’ and at the same time it has everything to do with my roots and where I started in jazz. Maybe it sounds paradoxical but I believe it is easier to play freely and with focus in the studio than in the live situation. Firstly because of the clarity of the acoustics; you are in a better position to have control over both your own sound and the ensemble sound…”
In La Buissonne, the energy that the group had built up in live performance was re-channelled to make the fullest use of the potential for interplay. Of the material that Stanko brought to the session, only “Kattorna” was retained, a piece the trumpeter had played with Krzysztof Komeda’s group and recorded on the influential “Astigmatic” in 1965. Thirty years later, in ’95, Stanko’s young associates Wasilewski, Kurkiewicz and Miskiewicz, had revived the tune on their own pre-ECM Komeda tribute recording: it was a piece with which all participants were very familiar. Stanko, scattering sprays of notes, and aided by Marcin Wasilewski’s jabbing piano, guides it in fresh directions.
The closing piece, “Tale”, first appeared on “Balladyna”, Tomasz Stanko’s 1975 ECM debut, but is revived and transformed here at producer Eicher’s suggestion to round off the programme: Again, Wasilewski plays an important role, his thoughtful chording setting up Stanko’s soliloquy.
Elsewhere on the record the emphasis is all dialogue and interaction. The extended pieces “Lontano I”, “Lontano II” and “Lontano III” in particular indicate how much the quartet has grown in the five years since “Soul of Things”, as they create new music in the moment, together: all four musicians in accord, at a high level.
Stanko’s biography is a distinguished one, with many highlights and clearly defined ‘periods’. It is evident however that he has gained new energy and momentum from his association with Wasilewski, Kurkiewicz and Miskiewicz. In helping each of them to find their individual voices, he has strengthened his own.
In 2002, in the wake of “Soul of Things”, Stanko won the first European Jazz Prize, a major new award initiated by the Austrian Government and the City of Vienna. From the jury’s citation: “Stanko has developed a unique sound and personal music that is instantly recognizable and unmistakably his own… A world-class player, a stylist, a charismatic performer and original composer, his music now assuming simplicity of form and mellowness that comes with years of work, exploration and experience. Tomasz Stanko – a true master and leader of European jazz.”
In 2005 Stanko’s “Suspended Night” won the Australian Bell Award as Best Jazz Album of the Year. In the same year, Stanko placed in six categories in the Downbeat Critics Poll – a significant achievement for a European musician.
Track Listing:
1. Lontano, Pt. 1 (Slawomir Kurkiewicz / Michal Miskiewicz / Tomasz Stańko / Marcin Wasilewski) 12:51
2. Cyrhla (Tomasz Stańko) 7:04
3. Song for Ania (Tomasz Stańko) 7:40
4. Kattorna (Krzysztof Komeda) 6:30
5. Lontano, Pt. 2 (Slawomir Kurkiewicz / Michal Miskiewicz / Tomasz Stańko / Marcin Wasilewski) 14:56
6. Sweet Thing (Tomasz Stańko) 6:51
7. Trista (Tomasz Stańko) 4:40
8. Lontano, Pt. 3 (Slawomir Kurkiewicz / Michal Miskiewicz / Tomasz Stańko / Marcin Wasilewski) 12:01
9. Tale (Tomasz Stańko) 3:56
Personnel:
Tomasz Stanko: trumpet
Marcin Wasilewski: piano
Slawomir Kurkiewicz: double-bass
Michal Miskiewicz: drums
Recorded November 2005, at Studios La Buissonne, Pernes-les-Fontaines (France)
Produced by Manfred Eicher
Engineer: Gérard De Haro
Photography by Caroline Forbes, Marek Szczepański
Artwork: Sascha Kleis
Review:
Other bands have been around for
longer than Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stańko’s current quartet, but few have
exhibited such palpable growth in so little time. While Suspended Night (ECM,
2004) showed considerable development from the quartet’s first release, Soul
of Things (ECM, 2002), Lontano represents a major
shift towards free playing that these albums only hinted at.
More than half of Lontano consists
of three extended improvisations. These truly spontaneous compositions
demonstrate the extent to which this quartet has evolved, revealing an ability
to create form where originally there was none. In a recent interview,
Stańko explained that his mentorship of three young players has been less about
overt instruction or rehearsal than simply the act of playing together. But in the
same way that athletes elevate their game by playing with someone better,
working with Stańko has pushed pianist Marcin Wasilewski, bassist Slawomir
Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz to greater heights—and greater risks.
So much so that on Lontano it’s becoming difficult to tell
who’s the student and who’s the teacher.
The freedom that infuses even the composed
material might lead some to compare this quartet to Stańko’s mid-1990s group
with pianist Bobo Stenson, bassist Anders Jormin and drummer Tony Oxley. But
other than the open approach they share, there’s little else to reference.
Wasilewski sometimes echoes the impressionistic classicism of Stenson, but he’s
equally informed by Herbie Hancock’s more dramatic abstraction, notably during his solo on Krystof Komeda’s
“Kattorna.” He’s also asserting greater dominance than ever before.
His ability to respond to his surroundings while pushing onward to new places
has never been stronger.
Miskiewicz takes
more chances than ever before, especially on the three improvisations. But
unlike the organized chaos of Oxley, or even the more exaggerated punctuations
of Jon Christensen, he’s a gentler player. He’s also not averse to settling
into a defined pulse, as he does on “Kattorna” and the latter part of
“Lontano, Part I.” Kurkiewicz rarely speaks with a loud voice, but
his presence is always felt, whether anchoring Stańko’s poignant ballad
“Sweet Thing” and the darker but more propulsive “Cyrhla,”
or acting as an understated conversationalist on the improvised pieces.
While Stańko’s young rhythm section has perhaps made the greatest leap, the
trumpeter has never sounded more vocal-like. On the rubato “Trista”
his raspy tone seemingly cries out in anguish, while on “Lontano, Part
II” he finishes one solo passage with a deep-throated growl.
Stańko’s melancholy lyricism remains a pervasive element, but Lontano represents
a more liberal approach to that innate quality. It’s also proof of the value of
mentorship. With Lontano, this quartet has finally achieved the
classic status of recordings like Leosia (ECM, 1997) and Litania (ECM,
1997). While the other members of the quartet used to rely on Stańko’s greater
experience to help them advance, this is now unequivocally a group of equals.
John Kelman (Jazzwise)