Slawek Jaskulke Trio
feat. Maciej Sikala
Live at Gdynia Summer Jazz Days

Label: Allegro Records Poland (2002)
Catalogue No: 003
Format: CD

Tracks:

1. Reality known - S. Jaskulke 10'19
2. In my opinion - S. Jaskulke 8'01
3. Autumn gifts - M. Sikala 10'49
4. Platino - M. Sikala 8'45
5. Nevergreen - S. Jaskulke 15'15

Performed by:

Slawomir Jaskulke - piano
Piotr Lemanczyk - bass
Tomasz Sowinski - drums
Maciej Sikala - tenor sax

Recorded:

live on July 1, 2001 during Gdynia Jazz Days, Gdynia, Poland

What the critics say:

..This young, talented artist undoubtedly brings a gust of his own originality in the Polish pianism. It's been a long time since someone was so consequent in overthrowing the existing pianistic, constructive patterns and sonoristic standards while still employing, let's face it, the quite traditional means: dense accordics, speeding motorics at times bordering on untamed sound aggression on the one hand and the noticeable dose of lyricism on the other." (Andrzej Winiszewski - Jazz Forum nr 1-2/2002 )

...After the departure of Krzysztof Herdzin, his place at the piano in the Zbigniew Namyslowski Quartet was taken over by Slawomir Jaskulke, who has accompanied the leader in his foreign travels for many months. This is how Zbyszek himself describes how this change has affected the band's sound: "The arrival of Slawek has transformed the band's profile into a much modern one, just as it is always the case that youth brings in a fresh breeze and new elements. Our music has now much more freedom of harmony, more freedom in opening the form, there are no hard and fast rules for sticking to the arrangement. As well as playing quite a lot of new stuff, we still play some of my older compositions, though we play them now in a completely different way. Our repertoire is rather ample. Each of the musicians has a thick book containing about 80 pieces. The themes we pick depend on out mood, the audience and the circumstances of the concert." (Jazz Forum Nr 4-5/2002)

...The second part was kicked off by a performance of Slawomir Jaskulke, a pianist from Gdalsk. Since his performance at Gdynia Summer Jazz Days earlier this year, he has been my black horse of Polish jazz pianism. His trio is further made up of Piotr Lemalczyk - b and Tomasz Sowilski - dr, ergo Maciej Sikala section. Jaskulke rules and divides there, constructs improvisations in an interesting manner and also shows off his own, very skilful compositions. Definitely the strongest point of the festival!... (Przemek Psikuta - Jazz Forum Nr 10-11/2001)

...Everyone is already talking about the pianist Slawomir Jaskulke. His performance was one of the brightest items during the tour concert at the Witkacy Theatre in Zakopane. Together with Andrzej Cudzich (b) and Jacek Kochan (dr) they carried out a fascinating deconstruction of the 'Softly' theme, bravely going beyond the well established ways of playing standards... (Pawel Brodowski - Jazz Forum Nr 10-11/2001)