Andrzej Trzaskowski's pieces are placed as it were, at the very center of contemporary jazz: in them, improvisation goes together with the strict discipline of composed music, the current of "elementary" jazz rhythms with more or less refined elements of composition.
THE ANDRZEJ TRZASKOWSKI SEXTET
Seant
Polish Jazz vol. 11
Label: Polskie Nagrania - Muza , 1966/2004
Catalog No: PNCD 911 (XL 0378)
Format: CD
Tracks:
- Seant 10:00
- Variation on the theme "near the Forest" 6:20
- The Quibble 7:50
- Cosinusoida 24:35
All music by Andrzej Trzaskowski
Recorded:
December 1965 and December 1966, at the Warsaw Philharmonics Hall, Warsaw, Poland
Performed by:
Andrzej Trzaskowski - piano
Ted Curson - trumpet
Wlodzimierz Nahorny - alto saxophone
Janusz Muniak - soprano saxophone
Jacek Ostaszewski: bas
Adam Jedrzejowski: drums
About:
Andrzej Trzaskowski's pieces are placed as it were, at the very center of contemporary jazz: in them, improvisation goes together with the strict discipline of composed music, the current of "elementary" jazz rhythms with more or less refined elements of composition. And what is the result of these "combinations"? Witch the lay-out of instruments characteristic of modern jazz, the idiom of the pieces is extremely intense, often bi-tonal, based on the twelve-tone scale and the particular tonal system of the latest jazz styles: the construction of all four pieces is very dear, with well defined, even sharp outlines and often their color is surprising.
This is what can be said, in very general terms, about the features of these pieces from the purely musical point of view. But in examining their formal problems in detail we might well lose sight of the essence of this music. The crux of the matter lies elsewhere. The main question could be put like this: what is the relationship in these pieces between their strictly composed and improvised parts, in other words, between the discipline of composition and the original element of jazz, or to use an analogy taken from modem music, part is played in it by the aleatoric element?
Here we have touched upon the basic problem of formation. Each of these pieces, being conceived as a dosed composition and at the same time an open process of execution, is based on certain carefully composed opening elements. They are not melodic themes proposed in the traditional manner (with the exception perhaps of the second piece), but whole structures, with their own rhythm, harmony and colour, which are played - to use the old term - "tutti'. In these structures, differing in length and inner complexity but always in some sense distinct, the elemental features contain potential indications or suggestions of improvisation; it is only from these structural "impulses" or "signals" that the improvisations of particular instruments emerge. In what sense and how far are these improvisations, resulting in such attractive constructions as the improvisation of the trumpet or so astonishingly original as the piano part in the last piece - how far have they been "staged" by the composer, to what extent has their shape been foreseen?
What is "staged" in them is the duration of the improvised parts, determined of course only approximately, the time ratio between composition and improvisation. A question arises here in conclusion: who is the creator of these fascinating jazz "games"? Is he more a composer (strictly speaking) or a jazzman, a jazz musician? We do not need to answer this question here, however, as what is so intriguing in Trzaskowski's pieces is just this duality, the double aspect, the fact that they are the result of convergent tendencies: on the one hand it is the musician's attempt to create an integral piece of music of real value with all its parts adjusted to the whole, and on the other hand it reveals a pure force, a truly improvised jazz invention, an elemental force more concerned with the very process of spontaneous, dynamic playing than with the final form of the piece. It seems therefore that we can consider these pieces from two points of view: as pure compositions and as pure jazz. The two aspects are equally real, only on condition that they always appear simultaneously.
Andrzej Trzaskowski - 33, Composer, pianist and musicologist Studied music at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow with professor S. Lobaczewska. Since 1959 has had his own band. Has given concerts in most European countries and in the USA (festivals at Newport and Washington -1962). He has been working together with many leading jazz musicians incuding Stan Getz, Indrees Sulieman, Leo Wright, Nathan Davis. He is one of the leaders of the European jazz avant-garde. For seven years he has been active as writer of film and theatre music as well as jazz theorist.
Ted Curson - 31, Studied in Philadelphia. He worked together, among others with Red Garland, Cecil Taylor, Mal Waldron, Duke Jordan, Archie Shepp. From 1960 appeared wrth Charlie Mingus's Band, in 1964 formed his own band with which he appeared several times in Europe. In 1966 he was voted the most interesting trumpeter of the younger generation by the critics of the fortnightly DOWN BEAT. He has been with Andrzej Trzaskowski's band since 1965.
Wlodzimierz Nahorny - 25, He graduated from the Advanced School of Music in Sopot In 1965 he won the top award at a home festival "Jazz on the River Oder" in 1966 the second prize in the saxophone section at the Friedrich Gulda International Modem Jazz Competition in Vienna, in 1967 the first prize at another jazz competition on Vienna. One of the most promising young jazz musicians in Europe. Janusz Muniak - 25, He studied at the Secondary Music School in Krakow. Has been working all the time with the Polish Radio Jazz and Dance Band.
Jacek Ostaszewski - 22, He studied at the Secondary Music School in Krakow. Made debut in the "Jazz Darings" band.
Adam Jedrzejowski - 36, By profession an engineer. Since 1960 has been regarded as one of the best percussionists in Poland.
(original line notes from the album's back cover)
Andrzej Trzaskowski's career has spanned four decades - from his pioneering work as a pianist with the legendary jazz group Melomani in the '50s to his present position as the director of the Polish Radio and TV Orchestra. He first gained international recognition as the leader of his own group, the Wreckers, with which he toured the U.S., appearing at the festivals in Newport and Washington in 1962. He went on to perform with his Trio, Quintet or Sextet at all of Europe's major jazz festivals. During 1965 - 70 he participated eight times as a pianist, conductor and musical director in the Jazz Workshops organized by the Norddeutsche Rundfunk in Hamburg. He has worked with many top American musicians, such as Stan Getz, Art Farmer and Lucky Thompson.
The present CD includes selections culled from his two most representative albums from the mid '60a, originally released as "The Andrzej Trzaskowski Quintet" and "The Andrzej Trzaskowski Sextet: Seant". These LPs were recorded only several months apart similar personnel boasting some of the brightest talents of the young Polish jazz generation. However, the later date features the American trumpeter Ted Curson of Charlie Mingus fame, replacing Tomasz Stanko in the Sextet.
Jazz critics today rank these albums among the most important recordings in European jazz of the '60s. They are essential documents of an era when jazz musicians in Europe started to seek their own artistic identity, independent of the prevailing American models.
At that time Trzaskowski had just discarded his hard bop style, which he pursued with the Wreckers, and started to forge his own, more advanced conception. His goal was to renew the traditional jazz language by incorporating compositional devices of so-called New Music and improvisatory techniques introduced by free jazz. New structures, unusual sound textures and harmonic solutions, complex rhythms, extended pre-composed ensemble parts juxtaposed with spontaneous solo improvisations of great expressive power, contrasting moods and emotions - these are some of the elements used by Trzaskowski in this interesting set of original compositions, ranging in form and duration from a miniature "A Ballad with Cadence In Horace Silver's Style" to the ambitious, thought-provvoking 18-minute three-part suite called "Synopsis".
© Pawel Brodowski (original line notes from the Polskie Nagrania PNCD 025 CD reissue)
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