Krzysztof Popek - Estate

Krzysztof Popek
Estate

Label: PowerBros, 2009
Catalogue No: PB00198

Tracks:

1. Forest flower
2. Estate
3. Highway one
4. Stolen moments
5. Air dancing
6. Melting pot
7. Lazy afternoon

Line-up:

Krzysztof Popek - alto flute
Piotr Wojtasik - tp
Stephen Scott - p
Cameron Brown - bass
Victor Lewis - dr

Recorded:

2008

About the album :

The band's concept is based on the sound and individuality of each musician, hence their meticulous selection. The timbre is created by a specific common colour of the two instruments: alto flute and fluegelhorn and the overall effect is emphasised by the world's most prominent musicians, the pianist Stephen Scott ( Wynton Marsalis, Sonny Rollins), the bassist Cameron Brown (Chet Baker, Art Blakey) and the New York legendary percussionist Victor Lewis ( Stan Getz, Woody Shaw) – the quintet's unquestionable stars. The band's music is based on their own compositions as well as the original pieces of such artists as Wayne Shorter or Randy Westson, which with the common idiom in the sphere of arrangement and performance create a coherent programme in terms of climate where ethnic elements mix with contemporary bop, free at times and all of this is based on the groove pulsation. For years Krzysztof Popek has been working on the stylistics of the alto flute – fluegelhorn sound, which seems to be at its best now.

Review:

Alto flautist Krzysztof Popek gives his music another vantage point with Estate. From Poland, Popek has long been part of a very fertile and evolving turf that included Michal Urbaniak, Tomasz Stanko and Jaroslaw Smietana. It was in this environment that Popek established himself as the leading flautist of the country. But boundaries dissolve with the craft of this musician, who plays from the depths of his soul.

One constant factor on Popek's recordings has been trumpeter Piotr Wojtasik. He complements Popek perfectly, trading ideas and developing concepts in harmony. As for the rest, Stephen Scott is a remarkably inventive pianist while drummer Victor Lewis and bassist Cameron Brown shape rhythm with a constantly pliant pulse. Put them all together and the result is pure magic. The music stirs deeply from sublime ballads to swing to bop to an effervescent pastoral air, all saturated in the melody before they rise to find their individual havens.

The band never falters or falls on shallow ground as they seek and find resolution with finesse. "Forest Flower" serves notice of these hallmarks. Wojtasik sets up a glowing head only for Scott to rend that asunder as he jumps into a bebop pulse. His free flowing yet judicious ideas ripple and speed up the rhythm. Popek then gives the texture a makeover, buoyant lines explore the melodic fabric before Wojtasik takes it in another direction, straddling swing and bop to complete the circle, seamlessly and in perfect shape.

"Estate" casts a spell with its delicate beauty; the melody coursing tenderly through its veins. Popek and Wojtasik pay homage to that, yet they do not let it fade and die. Popek's billowing swells churn constant changes and Wojtasik articulates sunny phrases, the timbral approaches lending the quiet dynamism that makes this a standout track.

"Lazy Afternoon" conjures images of open fields and a sunny day. Popek is the high minstrel, nurturing the tranquil mood, abetted by Scott who fills in the spaces and Lewis who splashes bright accents on the cymbals. Each makes adroit use of space and in keeping melancholy at bay, turn this into a stunner.

At the end of it all this is quite the artistic triumph for Popek and his fine band of musicians. (By Jerry D'Souza, AllAboutJazz)

About the band:

Krzysztof Popek

The leading Polish jazz flute-player, for many years invariably winning in jazz polls of the “Jazz Forum” monthly magazine. The owner of POWER BROS – the independent record label, which is known worldwide. Born on January 27, 1957 in Rybnik. The first steps in jazz during Jazz Juniors Festival in 1982 and during Jazz on Odra in 1985. On both occasions he won individual prizes. He plays soprano flute and alto flute. Besides, he is a composer, an arranger and an inspiring leader of his many formations with the most significant of them all – “Young Power”, which won the immense fame and proved to be very popular. Among many of the group’s albums especially interesting is “Man of Tra”, recorded with the participation of Tomasz Stanko, Michal Urbaniak playing as the guest stars. The album “Letters and Leaves” also proved to be a success. It was recorded by KRZYSZTOF POPEK QUINTET and was nominated for the “Fryderyk ‘96” prize. It won the title of the second Album of the Year ‘96 ( Jazz Forum ) Now, he plays and records with INTERNATIONAL QUINTET and SEKSTET with David Friesen, Randy Porter, Victor Lewis, Joe La Barbera, Ed Schuller, Jasper van't Hof, John Betsch, Piotr Wojtasik and Piotr Baron. Krzysztof Popek performed in the most important jazz clubs across Europe, and also on festivals like Warsaw Jazz Summer, Jazz Jamboree, Molde International Jazz Festival, Göttinger Jazzfestival, Leverkusener Jazz Tage, Nancy Jazz Pulsations, Berlin Jazz Tage, Stockholm Jazz and Blues All Stars Festival and many others.

Piotr Wojtasik

Wojtasik, Piotr (Wojciech), trumpet; b. Wroclaw, Poland, b. 10 June 1964. I started playing professionally during my music studies at the Katowice Academy of Music, faculty of Jazz (1983-1987). Led by Wojciech Niedziela, "New Presentation", was the first regular group that I recorded with, and that I played with at festivals in Poland (Jazz Jamboree 1988), and Europe (Bratislava, Budapest, Hamburg, Moscow), many of which were recorded by radio stations.

Paralelly, I collaborated with "Young Power." The group appeared at such festivals as "Jazz and Blues" in Stockholm, and the "Molde Jazz festival" in Norway. The beginning of 90`s is a period of time during which I frequently worked with two groups "Quintessence", and a quintet led by Krzysztof Popek, who started "Power Bros", an important Polish jazz label, for which I record today. Only two musicians were a constant part of groups led by K. Popek in the years 1992-95, himself, alto flute, and me, flugelhorn. The group featured American , German and polish musicians (Derl Taylor, Paul Imm, Volker Greve , Marcin Jahr, Cezary Konrad).

One of the most important events in which I had the opportunity to participate was a session organized by European Broadcasting Union - a big band organized in Amsterdam by Jerry van Rooijen , in 1994.

In 1997 I formed my own quintet which featured Maciej Sikala - ts., Slawomir Kurkiewicz-b., Krzysztof Dziedzic-dr., and the Polish tenor player Tomasz Szukalski. The group existed until 2001 and performed at most major jazz clubs in Europe ("Quassimodo" - Berlin, "Porgy and Bess" - Vienna , Kiev , Paris , and most Polish jazz festivals , Jazz nad Odra, Jazz Jamboree, Warsaw Summer Jazz Days).

Recent musical events include regular collaboration with the Piotr Baron Quintet. Apart from the musicians mentioned here above , I recorded or toured with D. Friedman, Ed Shuller, Harwie Schwartz, Carter Jefferson , Gary Bartz , Louis Hayes, David Friesen, Mark Soskin, John Gross. Additionally I collaborate with Zbigniew Priesner a Polish Film Music Composer. Since 1990, I work at the Katowice Academy of Music , Faculty of Jazz , as a full time educator.

Stephen Scott

Another in the latter-day parade of tradition-respecting "young lions," Stephen Scott brings formidable technique, some of Ahmad Jamal's locked-groove obsessions, and elements of Wynton Kelly, Bud Powell, and McCoy Tyner to his work. He started piano at the age of five, and progressed rapidly to the point where he was taking private lessons at Juilliard at 12. Although grounded in classical music, Scott was also exposed to reggae and salsa on the radio, but wasn't introduced to jazz until his high school years (he gives saxophonist Justin Robinson the credit for that). By the age of 18, Scott was playing in the band of singer/talent scout Betty Carter, and soon began performing or recording with the likes of the Harper Brothers, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby Watson, and Bobby Hutcherson. Beginning in 1991, Scott turned out a steady supply of mainstream albums for Verve, using mixtures of fellow young lions and esteemed veterans like Joe Henderson, Ron Carter, and Elvin Jones as sidemen; and he also played on Henderson's 1991 commercial breakthrough, Lush Life.

Cameron Brown

Jazz bassist, composer and educator Cameron Brown began his career in the mid-sixties, recording in Europe with George Russell and Don Cherry. These two wonderful musicians remain life-long influences and inspirations.

Mr. Brown anchored some of the most important groups of the seventies, eighties and nineties, beginning in 1975. Sheila Jordan, Roswell Rudd, Archie Shepp and Beaver Harris were his mentors and bandleaders then. He has enjoyed special relationships with master drummers: Art Blakey, Dannie Richmond, Philly Joe Jones, Edward Blackwell, Idris Muhammad and Joe Chambers, as well as Mr. Harris.

The Don Pullen/George Adams Quartet, featuring Dannie Richmond, developed into an intense and rewarding partnership which lasted nearly ten years. In addition to this quartet, Beaver Harris's 360 Degree Music Experience, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, the Sextet and Big Bands of George Russell, and various groups led be Mr. Shepp, Mr. Cherry, Mr. Rudd and Mr. Richmond, Mr. Brown has performed and/or recorded with Donald Byrd, Booker Ervin, Ted Curson, Lee Konitz, Chet Baker, Terumasa Hino, Betty Carter and the John Hicks Trio, Houston Person, Etta Jones and Jane Ira Bloom.

He's helped young people around the world to nurture their interest in and passion for jazz from North Carolina to Norway, from Helsinki to New York, to Hong Kong and Taiwan. He is on the faculty of the New School University and has taught at the summer workshop near Venice, Italy co-sponsored by the Manhattan School of Music.

At present, in addition to freelance work, Mr. Brown performs and/or records with Joe Lovano, Sheila Jordan, Archie Shepp, Dave Ballou, Dewey Redman, Lou Donaldson, Marc Copland, Jim McNeely, Steve Slagle, George Cables, Joe Locke, Salvatore Bonafede, Tony Malaby and Phil Markowitz as well as his own ensemble, Cameron Brown and the Hear and Now. He has appeared on more than 80 recordings.

His first recording as a leader, after nearly 40 years of performing, is with his group The Hear and Now and is entitled Here and How! on the OmniTone record label.

Victor Lewis

Internationally acclaimed drummer and composer Victor Lewis was born on May 20, 1950 in Omaha, Nebraska. His father, Richard Lewis, who played saxophone and mother, Camille, a pianist-vocalist were both classically trained musicians who performed with many of the "territory bands" that toured the midwest in the forties. Victor grew up hearing jazz along with popular and European classical music at home, and would go to the local theater with his father to hear the big bands when they passed through Omaha. The first people he remembers seeing were Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Woody Herman.

Victor started studying music when he was ten and a half years old. He began on the cello because he was too small for the acoustic bass, but switched to the drums a year and a half later after watching the local drum corps marching on the Fourth of July and other holidays. He also studied classical piano which is when he learned how to read music.

Lewis began playing drums professionally on the local scene at the age of 15. Because few of the older drummers in Omaha could read music, the young percussionist was called up for a variety of commercial jobs, including jingles, the Bob Hope Show, even the circus. At first Victor's style reflected his attraction to the big band drummers he had seen with his father and heard on records, but after hearing a record of Miles Davis' Quintet with Tony Williams things changed. He began exploring Williams' sound and the styles of other great small group drummers like Art Blakey, Kenny Clarke, Max Roach and Philly Joe Jones. Soon afterwards he started his own small group to play around town. His first job with a nationally known jazz musician was accompanying Hank Crawford in Omaha.

On Victor's first gig in Manhattan, a night at Boomer's with bassist Buster Williams' group, he met trumpeter Woody Shaw. Lewis joined the trumpeter's band and a few months later, he made his recording debut on Shaw's classic, The Moontrane. The drummer also began making his mark on the burgeoning fusion and pop jazz scenes, providing the beat on records by Joe Farrell, Earl Klugh, Hubert Laws, Carla Bley and David Sanborn. It was on Sanborn's lps that Victor's compositional skills were first exposed to the public. They recorded Victor's "Seventh Avenue" and "Sophisticated Squaw" (a/k/a "Agaya") on their first outing together and Sanborn would call on Lewis' writing talents again in the future when he recorded "The Legend of the Cheops."

In 1980, Victor left Shaw's group to join another tenor giant, Stan Getz, beginning an association that would last up until the saxophonist's death in 1991. Lewis made many recordings with Getz including videos of the group's performances at the Paul Masson Vineyards and the Robert Mondavi Vineyards. It was Getz who first recorded his composition, "I Wanted To Say."

By the end of the eighties, Lewis was one of jazz's busiest freelancers. He toured and recorded with a wide array of the music's most respected leaders. The long list of artists including Kenny Barron, Art Farmer, J.J. Johnson, Mike Stern, John Stubblefield, Grover Washington Jr., The Manhattan Jazz Quintet, Bobby Hutcherson and Bobby Watson attest to his talent and versatility.

When not driving a group with Bobby from the drum chair, Victor has been the main-stay in the Kenny Barron Quintet since its inception. Among the many tunes he has contributed to this band, his much heralded "Big Girls" can be heard on the pianist's Quickstep disc on Enja, "Hey, It's Me You're Talkin' To" on the Polygram release Other Places.

When he's home in New York, Victor can most often be found in the city's recording studios. In addition to the many jazz dates he's recorded with people like Gary Bartz, Eddie Henderson, Johnny Griffin, Janis Siegel, Larry Willis, John Hicks and Abbey Lincoln, he has recorded a jazz method record with educator-saxophonist Fred Lipsius. An educated drummer, Lewis tries to pass on his knowledge, giving private instruction to students, participating as a freelance instructor with The New School University Jazz School-Mannes Music School Jazz Program in New York City and appearing in drum clinics around the world as often as his schedule allows it. He has participated in a symposium in Modern Drummer magazine and there have been several feature articles about him in publications such as Downbeat, The Wire, Jazz Times as well as Modern Drummer.

In 2003 Victor joined the faculty of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ where he teaches drummers and coaches jazz combos.

Victor has recorded albums under his own name as well, featuring his own compositions and unique style of drumming. The first, Family Portrait, on AudioQuest includes performances by John Stubblefield, Edward Simon, Cecil McBee, Don Alias, Jumma Santos and a six-voice chorus led by Pamela Watson. Even Victor gets an opportunity to participate on some of the vocal selections and on one track plays a little piano. The album features suite-like compositions dedicated to his whole family - "Family Portrait," his parents on "A Mis Padres," children "Bella y Cosima" and "Lil' Sis."

Victor's working quintet - featuring Seamus Blake (whom Victor discovered while teaching at Gunther Schuller's jazz camp in Sandpoint, Idaho), Terell Stafford, Stephen Scott and Ed Howard - has recorded the second band offering on Enja Records entitled Eeeyyess!. The record showcases six of Victor's original tunes including the title tune "Eeeyyess" & "Here's To . . . You Babe" with lyrics written & sung by Lewis. Know It Today, Know It Tomorrow on Red Records, the first quintet album's contributors include Eddie Henderson, Edward Simon, Christian McBride and introduced tenor player Seamus Blake. Six more of Victor's compositions can be heard on this project including "Hey, It's Me You're Talkin' To" and "The Loss of a Moment."

The fourth release as a leader is Three Way Conversations on Red Records and features different trio combinations of Victor on drums and Ed Howard on bass with either Seamus Blake on tenor, or Steve Wilson on alto or Terell Stafford on trumpet. Here again is a sampling of the compositional talents of the multi-talented drummer-composer-arranger with ten new original tunes.

"Lewis is a master of shading and color, and the kind of timekeeper that could teach a clock new ways to tick" says jazz writer Bill Kohlhasse. As his ever increasing talent becomes more and more obvious to the general public, it is clear that Victor Lewis is an important artist on the horizon.