Tomasz Stanko Quartet - Lontano

[GA Russell]

Two and a half years ago, King Ubu started a thread on Tomasz Stanko, which you can see here:

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...9&hl=Stanko

In February, he also started a thread about the quartet here:

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...3&hl=Stanko

I don't recall being familiar with Stanko until about three years ago, when the Europeans over at AAJ sang his praises. At the time, I thought he was a hard bopper, maybe a Polish Tom Harrell. I was wrong, apparently.

Stanko has a new album coming out August 29 called Lontano, which I received from ECM. This is the quartet's third album. The quartet is trumpet, piano, bass and drums. The CD was recorded fresh from the group's tour of Japan, South Korea and Australia, so they were in good form.

Stanko is getting up there in age. He has recorded since at least 1965. His first ECM record was in 1975. However, the three sidemen are evidently young. The quartet's first album came out in 2001.

Lontano sustains a single mood for the entire album. That mood is the sort of thing that little kids would find spooky and scary. I suppose it harkens back to 70s ECM recordings.

There are 9 tracks totalling 76:55. That's a long time for one mood. Stanko wrotte or co-wrote all but one of the songs.

Everyone on the album displays his mastery of what he is called upon to do, given the limitation of every song sounding alike.

In October the group will tour the US, with 20 gigs in 12 cities: Los Angeles, Oakland, Toledo, Ann Arbor, Buffalo, Columbus, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore and New York. The group also toured the US in 2002, 2004 and 2005.

Since this is my first Stanko album, I'm curious as to how it compares to his others. No need to repeat what is included in King Ubu's thread, but I thought the group here might have comments about Stanko and if he has changed over the years, and which of his albums you now consider the best.

I like Lontano, and I 'm going to put this album on whenever I want to wind down - either late at night or after I've been listening to a couple of fiery hard bop albums in a row. But no way I would play it in the car. It's too subdued and sleep-inducing for that.

CD Universe says: List Price $17.98, Their Price $14.29, Pre-Order Price $12.59. Or you could wait six months, and maybe it will show up on Your Music. Considering the tour to promote the album, it wouldn't surprise me if BMG carries it.

[king ubu]

Sounds good! I wasn't aware of this new album. I have both of the quartet's earlier albums, seen them live twice and have amassed some nice live recordings, too... they went places since 2001 or 2002!

I assume it's best to see them live - they are not at all ECM-ish live... I saw them twice in the same club in Zurich, about two years apart (2002 and 2004, I think) and that second concert was terrific.

[7/4]

Maybe I'll get my act together to hear them in NYC this time. I hope they get there.

[sal]

I've enjoyed the last two discs he's put out with his new band. They sound really good together. I'm looking forward to seeing him play in Chicago this October.

[GA Russell]

7/4, they are scheduled to play at Birdland in New York October 25-28.

[GA Russell]

Well, maybe I should have just typed the tour dates in!

Sal, they are scheduled to play at Hothouse in Chicago October 18.

[7/4]

7/4, they are scheduled to play at Birdland in New York October 25-28.

Sounds good, we'll see where my life is then!

[Chuck Nessa]

street team

[Ed S]

Big Fan.

Perhaps my Polish heritage plays a role but I dig this guy.

Street Team!

[Chuck Nessa]

Got no problem with TS. Just the street team.

[Nate Dorward]

Yeah Stanko's great but I wish he was still doing stuff with Stenson, Jormin, & Oxley--or that great band that did From the Green Hill (with a fantastic violinist I'd never heard of before, plus an unusually forceful Surman). Liked The Soul of Things but it's his most "inside" group by far.

[Ed S]

Does he really have a street team?

I thought it was a joke

[Guy Berger]

[7/4]

Crud swag? We always called it free crap.

[Guy Berger]

Crud swag? We always called it free crap.

I guess they waited until the day you were out of the office.

Guy

[etherbored]

i've had the pleasure of seeing stanko and his incredibly empathetic trio play on his first and second trips to the u.s. they have such mastery that their performaces ran the gamut from sublime to smoldering. all the while maintaining that haunting eastern european gestalt of which kryzstof komeda was at the center of.

stanko is, in my estimation, an unheralded genius who is just withing the past few years getting his critical due.

'nuff said,

-e-

[EKE BBB]

I received this in an email from Polish Jazz Net:

NEW ALBUM 'Lontano'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The third ECM album by Tomasz Stanko’s popular all- Polish group rings some changes. Where its predecessors, 2001’s Soul of Things and 2004’s Suspended Night were recorded in Oslo, Lontano shifts the recording locale to the South of France – Studios La Buisonne, near Avignon - and it opens up the group’s concept to admit both freer playing and a new look at pieces of historical importance in Stanko’s development, while also emphasizing the achingly soulful balladry that has increasingly become a hallmark of Stanko’s music.

The group arrived in the studio directly from an extensive tour of the Far East – with debut performances by the quartet in Japan, Korea and Australia - 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.

“I like very much (producer) Manfred Eicher’s way of working, 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...”

[EKE BBB]

BTW, here´s the cover, very ECM-ish indeed:

[king ubu]

That's one of the most special studios where they recorded! All or most Sketch discs were done there. Very nice sound, not at all ECM like, not cool... I wonder if they screwed that up later on, though? Will have to get this one soon!

[GA Russell]

King Ubu, funny you should say that. The quartet's other two albums were recorded in Oslo. I was thinking to myself that although the music is very ECMish, the sound is not.

However, apparently you and I differ regarding our tastes. I was thinking that the album would be better if it had that ECM crystal clear sound, instead of the warmer sound it has.

Someone, here I believe, posted that the ECM sound has wooden drumsticks on cymbals sounding like knitting needles. I think that's a great description, and I think I would prefer that sound for this album. Different strokes!

[king ubu]

Hm, I'm not sure... maybe I end up in favor of the "classic" ECM sound... as I said, I haven't heard the new one yet.

But I just read an article about the engineer who built and maintains La Buissonne, and it's most definitely a very special place with a special atmosphere, in a remote area in the mountains etc.

I am not one to be bothered a lot by ECM-sound (whatever that is, actually...), but with Stanko I feel like the live recordings I know and the two club nights I witnessed were very, very different, and thus my hope was that the new disc may be more in that direction... but guessing from what you posted about the material they play, it's musically rather close to the two previous albums, so maybe the typical sound would also fit nicely...

[GA Russell]

OK, while I have a moment I'll type in the tour info I have:

All dates are October:

4-8...Los Angeles...Jazz Bakery

9...Oakland...Yoshi's

12...Toledo...Murphy's Place Jazz

13...Ann Arbor...Edgefest/Firefly Club

14...Buffalo...Albright-Knox Gallery

15...Columbus...Wexner Center

18...Chicago...Hothouse

19...Boston...Regattabar

20-21...Philadelphia...Chris's Jazz Cafe

23...Washington...Blues Alley

24...Baltimore...An Die Musik

25-28...New York...Birdland

[Guest akanalog]

why is no one bothered by garussell's spamming?

i guess because he has good taste and "knows his audience".

[sal]

Is it really spamming? I just see it as an album review. And he's not exactly praising the new Stanko album either....sounds like a 5 out of 10 review to me.

[GA Russell]

Is it really spamming? I just see it as an album review. And he's not exactly praising the new Stanko album either....sounds like a 5 out of 10 review to me.

Sal, I listened to it again today, and the more I hear it the more I like it. But I don't take back anything I said in my original post. Seventy-seven minutes is a long time for nine songs that sound the same, even if they are very good.