Like Crazy Girl, Requiem's primary focus is to bring the music of the late, legendary Polish composer/pianist Krysztof Komeda into the new millennium with fresh arrangements, but this time the approach is far more open-ended.
Komeda Project
Requiem
Label: WM Records (2009)
Catalogue No: WAD 02
Format: CD
Tracks:
1. Daytime Night-time Requiem Pt. 1
2. Daytime Night-time Requiem Pt. 2
3. Daytime Night-time Requiem Pt. 3
4. Ballad for Bernt
5. Dirge for Europe
6. Astigmatic
7. Elutka *
8. Prayer and Question
9. Litania
10. Anubis *
A all musics by Krzysztof Komeda, except tracks 7 and 10 (*) by Andrzej Winnicki
Personnel:
Andrzej Winnicki - piano
Krzysztof Medyna - tenor and soprano saxophones
Russ Johnson - trumpet and flugerhorn
Scott Colley - bass
Nasheet Waits - drums
About:
Plenty has been written about European musicians approaching the American jazz tradition; it's far rarer to hear about American musicians bringing their heritage to distinctly European projects. Capitalizing on the critical acclaim for its debut, Crazy Girl, pianist Andrzej Winnicki and saxophonist Krysztof Medyna - the driving force behind Komeda Project - bring trumpeter Russ Johnson back for Requiem. What makes Requiem different, however, and a significant evolution over Crazy Girl, is the enlistment of über-bassist Scott Colley and equally ubiquitous drummer, Nasheet Waits.
Like Crazy Girl, Requiem's primary focus is to bring the music of the late, legendary Polish composer/pianist Krysztof Komeda into the new millennium with fresh arrangements, but this time the approach is far more open-ended. Sacrificing the comfort zone of a group familiar with the music, Winnicki and Medyna opted, instead, for the first encounter sound of surprise that comes from working with master musicians like Colley and Waits.
The initially dark-hued Prayer and Question leads into one of Requiem's fieriest passages, with Colley and Waits' hard-swinging foundation supporting both its serpentine melody and Winnicki's most unfettered solo of the set. Dirge for Europe heads into previously uncharted territory, a feature for Johnson and Medyna that's bolstered by Waits' propulsive, New Orleans-influenced rhythm. The three-part epic, Night-time, Daytime Requiem and equally complex, twisting and turning Astigmatic, put a contemporary face on two of Komeda's most timeless compositions.
Born and raised in Poland, Winnicki and Medyna bring both a European classicism and melancholy Slavic melodism to music that's heavily refracted through the prism of the American tradition. Before moving to the United States, they spent years touring Europe with the award-winning group Breakwater. Medyna was also a member of In/Formation, touring on double bills with ECM recording artist/Polish trumpet legend Tomasz Stanko - Komeda's closest musical associate from 1963-1968. Winnicki and Medyna formed Komeda Project five years ago, after releasing In the Bush in 2001 with a reformed Electric Breakwater that also featured bassist Mark Egan and drummer Rodney Holmes.
Trumpeter Russ Johnson has performed with a who's who of jazz heavyweights, including Kenny Wheeler, Bill Frisell, David Liebman and Joe Lovano, in addition to leading his own groups and touring with Lee Konitz's latest nonet.
Scott Colley has become one of modern jazz's most in-demand bassists, playing with everyone from Pat Metheny, Jim Hall and Joe Lovano to Herbie Hancock, Kenny Werner and Brian Blade. Ever-inventive, with an innate ability to always find the right note, this Down Beat Rising Star winner from 2002-2004 has been an invaluable partner on countless sessions where finding the essence of the music is a true testament to expansive talent.
Nasheet Waits has, with a résumé that includes work with Fred Hersch, Geri Allen, Steve Coleman, Stefon Harris, Andrew Hill and The Mingus Big Band, emerged as one of his generation's most important drummers. Like Colley, Waits' deep roots in the tradition are what give Requiem its edge - a record of unmistakably European jazz played with the swing and unmistakable conviction of an American rhythm section.
On Requiem, everyone plays their hearts out, on a program of boldly thematic and challenging charts that still possess the underlying freedom required to encourage unpredictability, even within the most scripted of arrangements. With Requiem, Komeda Project ups the ante on the promise of Crazy Girl, paying reverent homage to one of the 20th Century's great composers while bringing modernistic edge, reckless abandon, and unmistakable swing to this profoundly moving set of starkly beautiful music.
Review:
The Komeda Project's follow-up to their extraordinary previous effort, Crazy Girl, is quite different on three levels. There are more cinematic film noir compositions of their mentor Krzysztof Komeda, a lengthy epic suite is included, and the rhythm section includes fine American jazzmen Nasheet Waits on drums, and bassist Scott Colley. Where the music itself generally dismisses time signatures and floats on the surface rather than buzzing along, there are, on occasion, some more discernible beats and rhythmic pulses. The exceptional pianist Andrzej Winnicki, trumpeter Russ Johnson, and saxophonist Krzysztof Medyna team up to glide, slide, and skate on the wings of their U.S. friends, to create music that is highly accessible within a contemporary, creative improvised and thematic concept. One can imagine introspective movie scenes, slightly shaded in shadows, implying much more than is obvious. Of the standalone tracks, "Astigmatic" is long-winded in Keith Jarrett mannerisms, bouncy and playful, with Winnicki holding down the bulk of the melodic work. The pretty unison tandem of the two horns on "Ballad for Berndt" (taken from Roman Polanski's film Knife in the Water) takes into account Komeda's heightened sense of romanticism and irony. "Litania" parallels regal and hymnal tones in lower-level dynamics as bolstered by Medyna's lead, "Anubis" is a John Coltrane-like modal piece with resonant singing by both horns, and "Elutka" (written by Winnicki) is a typical free-flowing piece bereft of rhythmic devices, allowed to drift downstream effortlessly. In three parts, "Night-time, Daytime Requiem" is evocative as the kiss of death, from encouraging fluttering trills and solemn passages that build momentum, fading into alluring waltz refrains, then going crazy. This story-telling, down-up-down roller coaster technique seems to have no cues or specific placement save its association with video inspiration, but a sad trumpet solo by Johnson and a 6/8 jazz swing brings the piece to a happier ending. Obviously, Requiem is a more somber project than Crazy Girl, each recording having lofty goals and substantial merit. It is the yin and yang that makes Komeda's music utterly fascinating, and in the sphere of Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, or Kurt Weill, attractive for the modern jazz musician to face head on and embrace with passion and gusto. ( Michael G. Nastos, Rovi)
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