IRCHA
Mikolaj Trzaska Clarinet Quintet feat. Joe McPhee
Lark Uprising

Label: Multikulti Project, 2010
Catalogue No: MPT001
Format: CD

Tracks:

1. Ant-hill Builder
2. City Shepherds
3. Sleeping deep in the Moss
4. Swampquake
5. Sparrows In Petagon

Line-up:

Joe McPhee: alt clarinet
Waclaw Zimpel: bass clarinet, clarinet, toragato
Pawel Szamburski: clarinet, bass clarinet
Michal Górczynski: bass clarinet
Mikolaj Trzaska: alt clarinet, bass clarinet

Recorded:

live on Tzadik Poznan Festival 2009

Liner notes:

Ircha is an instrumental quartet of four personalities - musicians and improvisors using different types of clarinet - from the classical Bb clarinet to the less popular bass clarinet. The project was brought to existence by Mikolaj Trzaska who comes from Trójmiasto. He is a saxophonist and clarinet player, one of the leading personalities on the Polish yass stage, co-founder of the Milolosc and Loskot bands. Presently he is a leader of the international trio Volumen, member of numerous formations - among others teh Bassisters Orchestra and Shofar performing Jewish music. He played with many free jazz world stars, such as Peter Brotzman, Ken Vandermark or Peter Friis Nielsen.

Waclaw Zimpel is one of the leading musicians declared as a revelation appearing on the Polish jazz stage in the last few years. His Polish-American-Ukrainian album "Four Walls" was evaluated by Diapazon.pl as the most important jazz record of 2008. Zimpel is a co-founder of the Emergency and The Light bands. Pawel Szamburski is a leader of the great Meritum band and the author of the round of events "Djazzpora". He is also a film, theatre, silent film and contemporary dance music composer. Michal Górczynski is a musician, composer, author of installations and radio programs, co-founder of the Kwartludium band specializing in performance of contemporary music.

The main idea of Ircha is to present a contemporary view on the Jewish music in Poland, which is the artistic inspiration of each of the musicians. The group's objective is to find a common ground for the traditional Chasid music and contemporary jazz. The group's repertoire includes magic pieces of unknown Ukrainian and Polish composers, accompanied by their own compositions and extensively built-up improvisations.
 

by Wawrzyniec Makinia

Waclaw Zimpel - clarinetist, composer
He has graduated with mention I.J. Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznan - Poland in Prof. Zdzislaw Nowak's classical clarinet class. Zimpel studied also at Hochschule Für Musik und Theater in Hannover with Prof. Johannes Peitz. His musical ideas are focused on different forms of improvisation and classical music. He has collaborated extensively with major contemporary improvisers and composers, including Ken Vandermark, Bobby Few, Joe McPhee, Steve Cohn, Christian Ramond, Mikolaj Trzaska, Tim Daisy, Steve Swell, Dave Rempis, Klaus Kugel, Marcin Masecki, Raphael Roginski. His and Tim Daisy's project "Four Walls" was announced "CD of the year 2008" by polish internet jazz magazine "Diapazon".