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Tomasz Stanko
Personnel: Tomasz Stanko, trumpet - Alexi Tuomarila, piano - Slawomir Kurkiewicz, bass - Olavi Louhivuori, drums
"At the heart of the European jazz scene since the fiery,
radical days of the 1960s, Tomasz Stanko has been hailed as "one of the
world's most original and inventive jazz trumpeters" - The New Yorker
A pioneer of experimental and avant-garde jazz, his distinctive
career traverses a milestone partnership with famed Roman Polanski
film-composer Krzysztof Komeda and explorative cult albums and
collaborations with the likes of Lee Konitz, Ravi Coltrane, Bobo Stenson
and Jan Garbarek.
Featuring a formidable line up from the vanguard of European jazz,
these tautly lyrical sessions will contrast ballad-like expressivity and
modern spaciousness, underpinned by Stanko's finely-honed harmonic
sensibility. Links:
Melbourne International Jazz Festival
www.tomaszstanko.com
YouTube video "Stanko's
tone, with its characteristic grit, speaks of a lifetime of experiences
good and bad; and his ability to levy visceral moments almost instantly
contrasting with passages of revealing vulnerability remains
unparalleled to this day" - All About Jazz
Festival Concert Dates Thursday 9 June, 6.30 pm and 9.00 pm:
Merlyn Theatre, The Coopers Malthouse, Southbank
Friday 10 June, 10.00 am: Workshop featuring Tomasz Stanko Band - Monash University Music Auditorium - Free entry
Saturday 11 June, 6,30 pm:
Merlyn Theatre, The Coopers Malthouse, Southbank
Monash Art Ensemble featuring Tomasz Stanko,
exploring the music of Krzysztof Komeda, the legendary Polish film
composer and jazz musician who was Roman Polanski's composer of choice,
creating scores for such iconic films as Rosemary's Baby and Knife in the Water.
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Finland, July 2010 -
Australia, January 2011
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Tomasz Stanko Quintet
Tomasz Stanko is at the forefront of international
contemporary jazz trumpetism, and holds a status in
international jazz circles similar to where Miles Davis was
in the seventies.
He is one of ECM's leading jazz
recording artists, drawing large concert audiences in
Europe, Australia and the USA. At the age of 67 the
Polish trumpet player hits, once again, a new peak with his
new Scandinavian quintet. The New Yorker recently described
him as "one of the world's most original and innovative jazz
trumpet players", while The Times said of the new 'Dark
Eyes' album (ECM 2009): "Stanko has again made an album,
where every note - and the spaces around it - are full of
impact." .Thrilled by Ornette, Coltrane and Miles, the young
Stanko studied at the Krakow Music Academy and played the
Polish underground scene with his own band, when the film
composer Krzystof Komeda invited him to his quintet. Tomasz
considers his five years in that band as crucial to his own
style: "My lyricism and playing only the essential, my way
of approaching the structures asymmetrically and many
harmonic nuances are all influenced by Komeda." Stanko made
11 albums and a stack of soundtracks with his mentor. Later
he has recorded many albums as the leader of various bands
and collaborated with Krzystof Penderecki, Don Cherry, Arild
Andersen, Bobo Stenson and especially the late great Finnish
drummer Edward Vesala, to name a few. For his new quintet he
hand-picked the hottest young talents on the Scandinavian
jazz scene: pianist Alexi Tuomarila and drummer Olavi
Louhivuori from Finland, bassist Anders Christensen and
guitarist Jacob Bro from Denmark.
http://www.tomaszstanko.com
Members:
Stanko Tomasz, trumpet
Tuomarila Alexi, piano
Bro Jakob , guitar
Christensen Anders, bass
Louhivuori Olavi, drums
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Stanko’s melodies and
parts of his solos could cruise melodically, and then suddenly, like
the sun breaking through clouds, he would unleash a molten stream
of dazzling silver lines, as penetrating as only a trumpet can be…-
arguably one of the most important jazz musicians alive..’
John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald
‘Now in
his 60s Stanko remans a fascinating, mysterious, sometimes rather
severe pioneer of a kind of east Euopean jazz independence..’
John Fordham – The Guardian
"Stanko evokes the spirits of the finest
trumpeters dead and living while creating a mood and a voice uniquely
his own. Yes, you can hear the influences of Miles Davis and Chet
Baker at their most introspective and profound, as well as hotter,
more rasping traces of Lee Morgan and Clifford Brown... 'Soul of
Things' stands shoulder to hiply-slumped shoulder with 'Kind of
Blue', and has an even better sound."
Stereophile, Record to Die For
"Tomasz Stanko's newest release, "Suspended
Night," is a masterpiece of minimalist beauty. A suite of interconnected
compositions, "Suspended Night" simply numbers its "Variations"
I to X. The unaffected simplicity and flexible modal structures
strip down chords and melody lines to allow each of the quartet
members to enter the flow with calm force or lay out with delicate
understatement. At times, the melody line rests on just repeated
pairs of notes -- the right ones.
The quartet has worked together regularly
since last year's equally intricate release, "The Soul of Things."
They let the rhythm drift into comfortable stillness, but aren't
shy to drive ahead either, letting individual notes resonate freely.
Still based in Poland, Stanko and quartet outcool the coolest of
the late '50s jazz groups and make it easy to see why he was awarded
the first European Prize in jazz last year." [2002]
The Japan Times 2004.
Dark Eyes CD |
Dark Eyes CD Review |
Article from Jazzwise UK |
Article from The Guardian UK |
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Tomasz Stanko Quartet
“Stanko evokes the spirits
of the finest trumpeters dead and living while creating a mood and
a voice uniquely his own" - Richard Lehnert, Stereophile,
Record to Die For
Line up:
Tomasz Stanko - trumpet
Marcin Wasilewski - piano
Slawomir Kurkiewicz - bass
Michal Miskiewicz - drums
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Tomasz Stanko is at the forefront of international
contemporary jazz trumpetism, and holds a status in international
jazz circles similar to where Miles Davis was in the seventies.
He is one of ECM's leading jazz recording artists, drawing large
concert audiences in Europe and the USA. For two years in a row
(2004 and 2005) Tomasz Stanko has won the Australian Bell Jazz Award
for the best international album of the year. Stanko's latest recording
Lontano (ECM 2006) features three of Poland's finest young jazz
musicians, Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz and Michael Miskiewicz,
with whom he regularly performs and tours around the world. Tomasz
Stanko has been ranking high in the 2005 and 2007 Downbeat Annual
International critics polls’ Rising Star Acoustic Group..In
the four years since the quartet's much-loved ECM debut album Soul
of Things (2003), both the trumpeter and his young band have continued
to make their mark. Many miles of touring, on both sides of the
Atlantic, have honed their already exceptional group understanding.
Their 2nd album (Suspended Night released May 2004) builds upon
the conceptual framework established by its predecessor. In September’06
Lontano was released complementing the recording triology of the
present Stanko Quartet. In the wake of Soul of Things, Stanko won
the first European Jazz Prize, a major new award initiated by the
Austrian Government and the City of Vienna. |
| ‘Stanko’s melodies and
parts of his solos could cruise melodically, and then suddenly, like
the sun breaking through clouds, he would unleash a molten stream
of dazzling silver lines, as penetrating as only a trumpet can be…-
arguably one of the most important jazz musicians alive..’ -
John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald ‘Now in
his 60s Stanko remans a fascinating, mysterious, sometimes rather
severe pioneer of a kind of east Euopean jazz independence..’
- John Fordham – The Guardian
"Stanko evokes the spirits of the finest
trumpeters dead and living while creating a mood and a voice uniquely
his own. Yes, you can hear the influences of Miles Davis and Chet
Baker at their most introspective and profound, as well as hotter,
more rasping traces of Lee Morgan and Clifford Brown... 'Soul of
Things' stands shoulder to hiply-slumped shoulder with 'Kind of
Blue', and has an even better sound." - Thomas Conrad,
Stereophile, Record to Die For
"Tomasz Stanko's release, "Suspended
Night," is a masterpiece of minimalist beauty …Stanko
and quartet outcool the coolest of the late '50s jazz groups and
make it easy to see why he was awarded the first European Prize
in jazz last year [2002]." - The Japan Times'04.
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