Customer Reviews

Lontano

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A lot has already been written about this quartet and their previous recording, Suspended Night. In the past few years I've been as interested in the compositional and arrangement elements of jazz as in the performance aspects. On this record, the band plays very freely, from what seem to be minimally sketched compositions, and yet the results are complex and deep.

Lontano is moody, shadowy, often slow and very spacious; some people might talk about a streak of melancholy running through it. They allow silence to play its role. This is heartbeakingly beautiful, sophisticated, intelligent, elegant and passionate music. When it swings, it really swings, and it's full of surprises.

Tomasz Stanko's trumpet has the world-weary sound of a mature jazz master, and his young trio is as inventive and interesting as anyone out there. Marcin Wasilewski has a unique voice on piano and I think we'll be hearing him for a long time.

I've never understood why "free" jazz playing so often gravitates toward the same disjointed, dissonant place. These guys are free players who discover a path to delicate beauty and subtle interplay while playing very spontaneously.

I've never written a review for a web site, and I may never do it again. But this music is very inspiring and I wanted to recommend it to anyone who ends up on this page. Order Suspended Night, too, while you're at it, and also the trio's album, simply called "Trio", also on ECM. These guys are creating music that's going to last.

Imagine, if you can, being a young Polish schoolboy in the early 1970s, surrounded by daily radio fare of Chopin - Polkas - Soviet Army Marching Bands, and retreating into the world of Led Zeppelin, Yes and Pink Floyd.

Bored, but not even knowing it, you turn on the television to a cultural chronicle called "Pegaz," and hear the music of Tomasz Stanko for the first time. Thinking that your musical art-rock universe was rebellious and counter-cultural, this music is shocking in its weirdness and wildness; it hurts your ears, it repels, but you keep coming back.

Fast forwarding 30 years ahead.

You are sitting in a coffee shop in Los Angeles and talking to Tomasz Stanko about his most recent album - The Soul of Things. I would like to have my music to be enjoyed by all - says Stanko, finishing his 3rd (?) that day double espresso - The critic, the jazz fan, the girl on the street. I know that they will not necessary appreciate all nuances, but if they pass the 1st layer, they might be able to get to another, and then to another, and so on...

Fast forward again.

On August 29, 2006 the newest release from Tomasz Stanko Quartet Lontano will hit the stores in the United States, and will be followed by a 12-city, 20-date US tour in October this year. The new album was recorded at studios La Buisonne, in a French Provence, near Avignon, directly after an extensive tour of the Far East, which Stanko suggests may have been a factor influencing the departures on Lontano: Just the experience of being on the road, playing to very different audiences helps me to change, personally. I wasn't expecting record number three with this group to be as different as it is - but then it's almost a policy not to have expectations. As an improviser I want to be open to the whole atmosphere.

Lontano is a quintessential exemplification of ECM sound. You can't imagine a better example of this "wonderfully modern and impressionistic über-intellectual, spacey music made by a variety of races and nationalities with Scandinavian winter night, motionless as a Zen master meditating" sound (thank you Google). It is evident that Stanko's sound today is an archetypal to ECM's sound; or perhaps has ECM adopted Stanko's own sound for itself? Or maybe the song remains the same since the 1970's?

Only today those weird, radical noises became something else for you, something different and distinct, but without loosing its own voice, its unpredictability and its quintessential Slavic's moodiness. Despite the new titles of the tracks you are listening on Lontano, you hearing the same music you heard 30+ years ago: same wildness of the sound, some pain coming out from sub consciousness of the artist, and same hope.

Despite Stanko's personality displayed dominantly on this album, this is essentially a Quartet's work. Many complements were already given to extraordinary members of Stanko's quartet, but no words could describe the heavenly interaction between the musicians. Everywhere on the album the emphasis is on dialogue and interaction. It is evident that Stanko has gained new energy and momentum from his association with Wasilewski, Kurkiewicz and Miskiewicz. It is impossible to find the words to describe the mastery of Slawek Kurkiewicz's bass - you can hear anybody from Ron Carter to Dave Holland in his unique touch; you can't stop admiring the irreplaceable sound and complexity of Michal Miskiewicz's drums. And still, the piano of Marcin Wasilewski's is able to make the statement on his own. Stanko's himself admitted that he has never played with the musician like Wasilewski - the only one who could understand his music that well. The critics are usually misleaded by Wasilewski's roots in Keith Jarrett's language; perhaps you should be thinking about Beastie Boys' imaginary album featuring McCoy Tyner on piano...Listen up.

Lontano is also a perfect example how sensitive producer could influence the final result of studio's interaction among the artists. I like very much Manfred Eicher's way of working - says Stanko - where he is always helping to create a direction we can use. We are always open to his input. And I really enjoy the free feeling we found on Lontano and the communication between the players. It seems `new' and at the same time it has everything to do with my roots and where I started in jazz. Maybe it sounds paradoxical but I believe it is easier to play freely and with focus in the studio than in the live situation. Firstly because of the clarity of the acoustics; you are in a better position to have control over both your own sound and the ensemble sound...

There have been very few musicians who have maintained their own voice throughout their careers. Of course the name of Miles Davis shows up here first and not by coincidence - just listen to The Birth of the Cool and The Cellar Door Sessions one disk after another. Stanko has always acknowledged the big influence of Miles on his own art. Looking around it difficult to find anybody else - perhaps with the exception of Wayne Shorter - who has been so faithful to his language for such a long time. Of course the forms of expression have changed and the language is different today than it was 30 years ago, but the song remains the same.

We all should hope to listen to this song for many more decades to come.

'Lontano' is the third album by the Tomasz Stanko Quartet for ECM. It is a masterpiece which continues the group's ascent into the rarefied, heady, truly sublime section of the jazz world reserved for only the finest ensembles.

Drenched in subtlety and nuance, listening to the group is akin to eavesdropping on a hushed dialogue among kindred spirits, where the natural ebb and flow of the conversation relies as much on that which is stated as is implied.

Comparisons with Miles Davis are inevitable and appropriate. As the reigning king of 'less is more,' Stanko, who is 64 and hails from Poland, has crafted the 'Kind of Blue' for the current generation.

Recorded immediately upon the completion of a tour of the Far East, the foursome's seemingly telepathic interactions are honed to razor-sharpness.

Musically, more than half of the disc is dedicated to the three parts of the title track which clock in at 13, 15 and 12 minutes, respectively.

Serving as a microcosm of the group's full range, the quartet swings on its own terms as segments of ethereal, lyrical beauty are followed by looser, more animated passages marked by a simmering intensity and culminating with a collective pause before the group returns to ruminations which are once again decidedly introspective.

Produced with sparkling clarity, yet imbued with an intimacy that brings the players squarely into your listening space, this is not only quintessential ECM but required listening for jazz fans of all stripes.

I own approximately 1,000 jazz albums, and this one places right at the top of favorite recordings. I bought this CD about 4 months ago, and cannot stop playing it. I have listened to it at least 100 times, and the more I listen to it, the more I discover. I NEVER get tired of it. The interplay between these musicians is breathtaking and beautiful, and the magic gets better with repeated listenings. For anyone who thinks Europeans can't play jazz, check out this album. The recent trio album by the pianist on this album, Marcin Wasilewski, is nearly as good. The two previous albums by Stanko's quartet (Soul of Things and Suspended Nght) are very good, but this one tops them all. I rarely write reviews for Amazon, but this album is so beautiful and emotional that I felt compelled to write this.

Much has been made of the radical new sound of this release. As it is unmistakeably a Tomasz Stanko quartet release and follows in the footsteps of Soul of Things and Suspended Night, I think that this claim has been a little overplayed. That said, there is more organic feel to this fantastic new recording. That it is a freer might seem odd given that Soul of Things and Suspended Night both effectively comprised a dozen or so variations on a theme. By comparison, on Lontano the lengthy improvisations (Lontano I, II and III no less) are interspersed with Stanko compositions and one cover of a Krystof Komeda track whose music will be familiar to those who have heard Stanko's Litania recording of the late 1990s.

Implausibly (given his sustained excellence), Stanko's playing has never sounded better. The trumpet is less busy than before but the tone is exemplary - more breathy and soulful than on Soul of Things and Suspended Night. The songs evolve and develop more than on previous releases, most noticeably the lengthy three piece suite Lontano but also the composed self-standing songs such as Cyrrhia. As befits these songs, the Quartet manages to be more hesitant, suggestive yet assured in its playing which is the mark of true ensemble musicianship.

The least successful track is Kattorna, the Krsytof Komeda composition from 40 odd years ago (and apparently covered by Stanko's backing musicians in their pre Quartet days). The musicianship of the quartet on this song is of the highest order and says something about the remainder of the album but the more up-front jazz (with little signature blasts of trumpet reminiscent of Suspended Night) does not impress as much as the other more contemplative tracks.

The most successful track is Tale which closes the album and sounds nothing like the original version recorded 30 years ago on Stanko's ECM debut, Balladyna. Where the original is jerky, the version on Lontano is luscious, in no little part to the addition of piano, played with great sensuality by Wasilewski.

In fact, one of Stanko's greatest attributes is giving his fellow musicians space to breathe and play and not in any token solo way either. The empathy on Lontano III for example is breathtaking - an almost perfect mix of texture, atmosphere, melody - and all the more so for being an improvisation. Wasilewski is much feted and rightly so and his sound is reminiscent of Bobo Stenson's in much of this album. As I have mentioned in reviewing Suspended Night, in my opinion, the real star live is Miskiewicz and he and bassist Kurkiewicz do not suffer by comparison.

In short, this is Stanko's seventh recording for ECM in the last eleven years. This is arguably the best of an excellent crop and is unlikely to be bettered by a jazz album for the remainder of the year.

Stanko, grantdavida thank you
fjb/o! connects to every word

FJB/O!-music 2006

This is an exquisite album. The way Herbie Hancock's _Maiden Voyage_ is. The way Keith Jarrett's _Koln Concert_ is.

Let's begin with the sound in the broadest sense: the music is absolutely stunningly recorded (as is typical for ECM)--the 4 instruments of the quartet are beautifully spread out in the stereophonic soundscape. One can hear every detail of Stanko's timbral shifts, every nuance of Miskiewicz's drums is captured crisply. The sound is deep, warm, spacious.

The stylistic features of the music that are most rewarding for me: Stanko's incredibly profound understanding of Miles Davis' trumpet conception--Stanko has thoroughly studied and absorbed two of Miles' great talents: using unusual timbres on the trumpet to convey complex emotions, and using space generously and constantly to avoid tedious, cliched playing. Also, Marcin Wasilewski's powerful voice on piano: his style is richly melodic, with a refined touch (he clearly comes out of the Bill Evans/Herbie Hancock/Keith Jarrett lineage)--burnished, thick chords with a strong, intense right-hand melody.

This music is often "free": in tempo, in harmony, in texture. But there is a constant emphasis on sustained and deep melody, the two main melodic voices being those of Stanko on trumpet and Wasilewski on piano (the latter often steals the show!). Listen to "Kattorna" for a dark, funky groove that owes much to Miles' quintet of the 1960s (and to my ears wouldn't sound out of place on a Dave Douglas CD); listen to the 3 parts of "Lontano" for one of the great examples of "free" playing that is pensive, cautious and soft. Perhaps my favorite passage of the album occurs towards the end of "Lontano, pt. 1" when the quartet settles into a latin-esque, dark modal groove. They seem to be on the verge of really letting loose, but instead reign the music back in, to end quietly--very compelling, seductive almost.

I cannot help but be over-enthusiastic: this is one of the very best jazz albums I've heard in the past 10 years.

Miles's Tone. Few horn blowers ever find it. Tomasz does.His tone was the first thing I noticed.His song writing and band were secondary.They however grew on me and I'm ready to explore more of his work.
Like most Eastern Europeans Tomasz writes and plays with an underlying melancholy.Latenight/earlymorning/grayafternoon music. If you're late to the Tomasz Stanko party ,like me, don't delay... hear his horn.Hear his music.It'll be the best thing you did for yourself today.

After two definitive quartet albums (2002's Soul of Things and 2004's Suspended Night), Tomasz Stanko takes a step back and releases a very different, much more experimental album. While the previous albums were recorded in Oslo's Rainbow Studios and featured a Goddard still on the cover, Lontano features more typical ECM photography and was captured for posterity in the French countryside. This is an introspective, thought-provoking album, and each track is given a song title rather than a variation number (which might help with marketing).

The problem (if it could be described as such) is the album's length (76:57) and track sequencing. In some ways, this is almost two albums in one. "Lontano I, II, and III" are long (12:52, 14:58, 12:05), mostly improvised pieces that are dispersed among six shorter, tighter, more-focused compositions. This makes the album seem longer than it really is, even to the point of dragging. The band is excellently recorded, there are brilliant ideas, dramatic interplay, and great performances, but there are times when one can't help but feel this is background or soundtrack music.

There are some truly inspired moments that remind one of Soul of Things or Suspended Night. The ethereal opening of "Lontano I" evokes wide open spaces rather than a late-night urban jazz club. Listen to the vast range of tones Stanko elicits from his trumpet on this track alone: from the delicate breath of his opening line, to buzzing like a bee, to blaring like a siren. "Lontano II" begins with Michal Miskiewicz's brushes over very high bowed notes on Slawomir Kurkiewicz's double-bass, reminding one of the whistling wind. Stanko plays a wonderful fluttering solo, and twice the band builds a slow cresendo and then quietly fades. Pianist Marcin Wasilewski plays a quirky line on the uptempo "Kattorna" that might gain some airtime on jazz radio: what "Suspended Variation II" was to the last album, "Kattorna" is to this one. Among the shorter tracks, we are also given the haunting "Cyrhla", the meandering "Song for Ania", the melancholy "Sweet Thing", and the stormy "Trista". Then there is the exploratory "Lontano III", which reprises many of the sounds/tones of the previous two "Lontano" tracks. At this point, one must ask, is this atmospheric magic, or just simply marking out time?

I hope I haven't been too discouraging: this album will beat the pants off 98% of what is being recorded in jazz today. After releasing this album, the quartet did one more tour before going their separate ways. The Wasilewski/Kurkiewicz/Miskiewicz trio have now released two of their own ECM albums, and Stanko has a new band. While not entirely a disappointment, Lontano is not exactly the follow-up I was hoping for to the masterful Suspended Night. But then, true artists always leave us wondering and guessing.

It took me a few plays before 'I got it' but I love "Lontano", perhaps, even more than "Suspended Night"! The compositions and performances on "Lontano", reflect the cumulative genius of Tomasz Stanko and an incredible trio of musicians that make up the Tomasz Stanko Quartet. The three musicians that back up Stanko are Pianist Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz on bass and Michal Miskiewicz on drums. This Trio sometimes call themselves the Marcin Wasilewski Trio and sometimes the Simple Acoustic Trio.

That trio of musicians have been together and playing with Stanko since their teens. I highly-highly-highly recommend the trio's music without Tomasz Stanko. Their CDs include "January" and "Trio". I absolutely love Marcin's piano play and Michal Miskiewicz on drums is something else. He's every bit as good as Manu Katche, Jack De Johnette and Paul Motian. Slawomir Kurkiewicz on bass is truly amazing as well.

Getting back to "Lontano", this is one of three CDs by the Tomasz Stanko Quartet which also include "Suspended Night" and "Soul Of Things". All three CDs are beautiful and performed to perfection. I like Stanko's moody-weary play on "Lantano" slightly better than his other two CDs. Of the three "Lantano" may be a bit more challenging at first, less melodic and slightly more advant-garde...slightly. It took me a few listens to truly appreciate "Lontano". Now, I consider "Lontano", to be the best of the 3 CDs. The music will draw your mind in and take you to delightful places. This is free jazz perfomed at the very highest level. I consider "Lontano" a masterpeice, a jazz classic equal to "Kind Of Blue". Yes, Polish jazz has evolved to the very highest level.

Really, you need to buy all three Tomasz Stanko Quartet CDs plus the two CDs by the Marcin Wasilewski Trio (Simple Acoustic Trio).

Yes, they are THAT good.

The Tomasz Stanko Quartet comprises Marcin Wasilewski on piano, Slawomir Kurkiewicz on bass, Michal Miskiewicz on drums, and of course, Tomasz Stanko on trumpet. This is a tight group that has played and toured together often, a group that is not afraid to take some chances in improvising, yet who seem to love spinning entrancing webs of melody and rhythm. The cuts on Lontano vary in tempo and style, but consistent throughout is the sheer intensity of the playing. That is not to say the music is relentless and loud and pounding; indeed, the playing is often soft and tender--but it is an intense softness, an intense tenderness, deep and smoldering and soulful. If you are a jazz fan who has not yet picked up on Stanko's sound, Lontano is a great place to start.