***Tomasz Stanko***

[king ubu]

Let's start a thread for Tomasz Stanko! In my opinion, he's one of the most original trumpet players on today's scene, and a musician full of deep emotional feeling.

I got acquainted with him when he released "Litania", his tribute to his former boss and polish jazz legend, Krzystof Komeda (famous for his Polanski soundtracks - the favourite of mine is "Knife in the Water").

This album features Bobo Stenson and great swedish tenor man Bernt Rosengren. One of my favourite european jazz albums lately.

Last year, or the year before, I saw Stanko live in a club here in Zurich, performing with his quartet. Stanko has been playing with these young musicians for several years now, and they did really grow to be a band. I will have another chance to hear and see them next tuesday, at the same location.

His first album made with his quartet is this one:

A very good one!

I have not yet heard his new album (it's been out for a couple of weeks):

ubu

[king ubu]

Stanko in Berlin 1970

Tomasz Stanko, Michal Urbaniak, Krzystof Komeda, Jacek Ostaszewski, 1960

and a few more recent ones:

1997

ubu

[Gary]

I saw Tomasz Stanko in concert a few weeks ago & it was fantastic, I managed to pick up signed copies of the last 2 Cds you mention. I was initially a little disappointed by Suspended Night as the tracks are a little more subdued than the live show , but after a few listenings it definitely grows (although not as much as some of the British press has made of it).

Hey Ubu guess what radio show is broadcasting a recent Stanko show tonight?

The minidisc is at the ready!

Edited March 26, 2004 by Gary

[EKE BBB]

I only have "Litania", "Leosia" and "Soul of things", but dig´em all!

One of the most interesting European players nowadays, IMHO. I find his music soulful, relaxing, lyrical... beautiful!

Thanks for starting this thread, ubu. I want to know much more about this guy.

[EKE BBB]

Bio, discography and pictures can be found here:

http://www.stanko.polishjazz.com/

[tonym]

Gary is right. Don't miss that gig tonight on Jazz On 3, BBC Radio 3, 11:30pm GMT.

The live performances are more 'electric' than the albums and it will be nice to have a comparison recorded.

I have all of his ECM stuff now, luckily, and I can only say it's one of my more satisfying collections of any one artist. Tremendous playing, composistions and feeling persists throughout the bunch.

The albums with Oxley are more abstract but did grow on me, thanks to Stenson I think, who has that knack of taking oddly metered lines and makes them very listenable.

Stanko himself seems like a really nice chap too.

cheers, tonym.

[Clunky]

If I can get back from the David Binney gig in time I'll be recording this one to MD or CD. The last broadcast Stanko did on Beeb a few years ago was excellent and I play it a fair bit.

[sal]

"Soul of Things" was a real discovery. I will be checking out more of his music in the future.

[Dave James]

Soul of Things is a recording that should be in any respectable collection. I believe it was Bev Stapleton who first championed him on the old BNBB. At least that's the first time I can recall hearing of him. To these ears, there's a fair amount of KoB in SoT. It doesn't get much better than that.

Up over and out.

[Craig23]

I initially started listening to him because I was trying to get recordings with Tony Oxley. My first purchases were Bossanova and Matka Joanna.

I was hooked right away. Yet to have a chance to see him live though.

[Pete C]

Those young guys in his current quartet are really wonderful too.

[shrugs]

Balladyna is his best IMHO.

[jazz1]

I got acquainted with him when he released "Litania", his tribute to his former boss and polish jazz legend, Krzystof Komeda

ubu

Actually one of my fav Stanko is his recording with Krzysztof Komeda on the double cd "Live at Jazz Jamboree" on the Polonia label.

Some great numbers on it, especially "Astigmatic" and "Kattorna"

Michal Urbaniak is also featrured on 3 tracks. Great stuff.

[SEK]

I've been somewhat aware of Tomasz Stanko, since around 25 years ago. I first read about him in Cadence, then bought two of his records from their center "Record Sale" section. I then heard him as being simply a derivation of an aspect of Miles, but, in retrospect, I wasn't really listening very well...

Many years later, the personnel on "From the Green Hill" piqued my interest in checking out that wonderful recording and brought about a fuller reconsideration of Tomasz Stanko's music.

I now only have "From the Green Hill" and "Leosia". Tomasz Stanko's new Rarum compilation is on order, as I am discovering this new thread (How fortuitous! and Thank you, Ubu).

[A Lark Ascending]

Stanko is on the verge of being famous in Europe!

I saw a reference to 'Suspended Night' having gained a gold disc within its first month on AAJ!!!! Not sure how accurate that is but I'd love to believe it.

It has certainly generated more than the usual interest in the UK press.

A beautiful, beautiful album. The third variation is incredibly haunting. When I first played the CD I immediately recognised it from when I saw Stanko last year.

It really is fantastic to see Stanko doing so well. I wonder how long it's going to be before someone in the press breaks the spell and declares him overrated!

[king ubu]

Stanko is on the verge of being famous in Europe!

I saw a reference to 'Suspended Night' having gained a gold disc within its first month on AAJ!!!! Not sure how accurate that is but I'd love to believe it.

It has certainly generated more than the usual interest in the UK press.

A beautiful, beautiful album. The third variation is incredibly haunting. When I first played the CD I immediately recognised it from when I saw Stanko last year.

It really is fantastic to see Stanko doing so well. I wonder how long it's going to be before someone in the press breaks the spell and declares him overrated!

Oh, let the press write what they want!

I hope he's really doing so well. He most certainly is in no way a Miles epigone. He most certainly can hardly be overrated, in my opinion.

His tone, his compositions, his moods, his melodic invention... I think he's one of the best jazz musicians around these days.

ubu

[A Lark Ascending]

I share your enthusiasm. But rather than pick him out as 'one of the best' I prefer to see him as just one example of the enormous talent and creativity coming from Europe these days; and one of many reasons why I feel jazz in the world in general is as exciting, moving and creative as it's ever been.

[king ubu]

I share your enthusiasm. But rather than pick him out as 'one of the best' I prefer to see him as just one example of the enormous talent and creativity coming from Europe these days; and one of many reasons why I feel jazz in the world in general is as exciting, moving and creative as it's ever been.

You're right, Bev.

The "one of the best" part is actually rather my personal opinion than the way he should be rated generally.

I'm looking forward very much to seing him again on tuesday!

ubu

[king ubu]

The concert on tuesday night was great! One of the best concerts I ever heard!

The Stanko quartet is a real band, not just a leader and a backing trio.

The man on piano, Marcin Wasilewski, is a great artist - he should get his own recording date! Bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz has got a true, woody, warm sound on his bass - he plays without a pick-up, too!

Then drummer Michal Miskiewicz reminded me of Tony Williams here and there, but I think he's pretty much his own man. He was really fuelling the group.

Also hearing him live, with no ECM-mixing added, is great. They were really smokin', playing fast numbers more than half of the time, some pretty free stuff, too.

A very impressive show!

ubu

[Leeway]

Ok, this is clearly a minority opinion, but I just don't "get" Stanko. I've sampled several albums, Litania, Balladyna, among them. I really don't see what all the excitement is about. I do like "out" music-- and I can't even say if Stanko should be so classified-- but his music just doesn't grab me. Stanko appears more concerned with aural effects and aesthetic postures. There is something studied about it. The music doesn't really swing and, to me, lacks vitality. In other words, too much head, too little heart. What am I missing? Or are there others who feel the same way?

[Rooster_Ties]

There is something studied about it.  The music doesn't really swing and, to me, lacks vitality.  In other words, too much head, too little heart.  What am I missing?  Or are there others who feel the same way?

I've heard the same thing (or nearly the same thing) said about Greg Osby's more recent output (since about 1998 at least).

The way you get to my heart is through my head, but that's not the case for everyone. (And there's no right or wrong answer.)

But oddly enough, I do think there's something similar about Osby of late, and Stanko - at least in the style of their playing and soloing. (Maybe "style" isn't the right word: in the "effect" of their playing and soloing?? Is that any better??)

Edited March 31, 2004 by Rooster_Ties

[king ubu]

Ok, this is clearly a minority opinion, but I just don't "get" Stanko. I've sampled several albums, Litania, Balladyna, among them. I really don't see what all the excitement is about. I do like "out" music-- and I can't even say if Stanko should be so classified-- but his music just doesn't grab me. Stanko appears more concerned with aural effects and aesthetic postures. There is something studied about it. The music doesn't really swing and, to me, lacks vitality. In other words, too much head, too little heart. What am I missing? Or are there others who feel the same way?

Did you ever see him live? I saw him twice with his current quartet. Live, he's completely different. None of the estheticized ECM-sound etc. They were really hot last night. Nothing studied, and swinging like mad! Sometimes they reminded me a bit of Miles' second quintet (piano and drums, mostly, not Stanko himself).

ubu

[A Lark Ascending]

The music doesn't really swing and, to me, lacks vitality.  In other words, too much head, too little heart.  What am I missing?  Or are there others who feel the same way?

Perhaps you're listening for something that isn't there ('swing' in the traditional American sense of the term).

You're also assuming that this 'swing' equates to 'heart', lack of it to 'head'.

That's a common criticism of European jazz (and ECM jazz in particular) by listeners centred on the American mainstream (and I mean everything from Armstrong to Ayler and beyond there).

But there are other ways to express 'heart'. Mahler doesn't 'swing' but he's full of heart.

I'd say Stanko is drawing off a very different tradition from normal jazz (though there's that there too) ...and he (and scores of other European musicians) are doing that too. That's how they've come to find their own voices.

I can fully understand that in many listeners minds they appear to have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. The very things they love in jazz are sacrificed in the interest of originality or distinctiveness.

But take it from those of us who do relate to the likes of Stanko. The 'heart' is as much there as in anything by Coltrane or Davis or Hawkins.

And, personally, I hear much more 'heart' in the music of someone like Stanko than in many of the contemporary musicians who continue to run through the blues/swing tradition and seem to be 'playing the part'.

But that's just my ears.

It's always dangerous to assume that musicians working in a language you are not familiar with or sympathetic too lack 'heart'. If I tried to read a volume of Lorca's poetry in Spanish I might conclude it lacks 'heart'.

Edited March 31, 2004 by Bev Stapleton

[tonym]

Stanko appears more concerned with aural effects and aesthetic postures.

Given that much of Litania's aural efects were supplied by Rypdal I am not sure that this could be a valid criticism. If you meant aural effects in another sense then forgive me. True he does use his extra dark tone to some extent in 'colouring' phrases. He also uses very fast high rushes in much the same way Kenny Wheeler does ---- but different?!!!

As for posturing...I really don't know what you mean by this.

A great part of Litania and Green Hill really do 'wrench' my heart. Much of that due to the other players, especially Rosengren and Stenson on the former album. But I have never really thought of Green Hill as an over intellectualised album --- simple folk themes and a lot of very effective interaction between the band members.

[Leeway]

Well, I have listened to Mahler and read Lorca, and I do not demand everything in 4/4 time. Nevertheless, I still find Stanko's music to be -- let me be blunt here-- a bit of a bore. Stanko always appears to be reaching for the grand statement, the galactic effect; to me, it comes across as "mood music" for the bien pensant. I guess because he's European (and us prole Americans just can't understand the Old Worlders), he must be way head of us, like Derridean criticism or Foucaultian philosophy, and other such engaging European products.

While I'm at it, let me also say that I also find Stanko's trumpet playing to consist of a limited range and a limited technique. It's clear he has been studying his Miles records, but he lacks what Miles had-- real genius. So, I don't get it.