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Few European nations can boast a jazz scene as active, innovative, and enthusiastic as the one that captivated Poland from the late '50s to the '70s.
From the big band of Andrzej Kurylewicz to the fusion experiments between third stream and serialism by Andrzej Trzaskowski, to what many consider one of the pinnacles of Polish jazz, Astigmatic by Krzysztof Komeda, Poland perhaps more than other European countries promoted an alternative path to the American hegemony by drawing from the reservoir of European post-romantic music, from tense and ambiguous atmospheres, and what composer Adam Sławiński, author of the liner notes of Astigmatic, describes as the plaintive Slavic sensitivity.
In the stimulating Polish jazz environments, trumpet player Tomasz Stańko, only twenty years old, begins to stand out for his own talents, being recruited by Komeda in the recording sessions of Astigmatic. His soloist skills, balancing between technique and expression, are undoubtedly among the factors contributing to the success and originality of the album's sound. On the other hand, it was not uncommon for Komeda's band to act as an "incubator" for new talents in Polish jazz: another example of a musician from the circle who would later achieve European success as a personality in Polish fusion is Michal Urbaniak.
It is precisely to the master and mentor Komeda, who passed away in 1969 in Los Angeles due to the consequences of a trivial fall, that Stańko dedicates the first album recorded in 1970 under his quintet's name. The ensemble consists of alto saxophonist (and, in other contexts, violinist) Zbigniew Seifert, tenor saxophonist Janusz Muniak, drummer Janusz Stefański, and bassist Bronisław Suchanek. The curious choice not to include a pianist in an album dedicated to Komeda, whose primary instrument was the piano, does not go unnoticed: Stańko, in fact, chooses to revisit the master's style not merely by citing it (or performing his pieces, as he would in the latter part of his career) but by reinterpreting his lessons with a more modern perspective with particular attention to the developments in North American post-bop and free jazz.
From the very first track, Czatownik ("The Attacker"), Stańko immediately makes his intentions clear: against the "Komeda-like" aspects such as the repetition of thematic cells, the alternation of dynamic highs and lows during solos, and the obsessive rhythmic ostinatos, contrast the "anti-Komeda" peculiarities such as the speed of execution, the free attitude of the solos, and a certain taste for collective and chaotic climaxes. All this contributes to a double sensation of exciting freshness: that inherent to the Polish formula and that of Stańko's rendition. What truly makes the listening experience of Music For K thrilling, however, is the energy, cohesion, and of course the technical skill of the quintet that traverses the typically fragmented structures of the pieces without hesitation, continually building new and shifting sonic and improvisational environments, and setting continuous ambushes to the listener's attention.
Compositively, Stańko reveals himself to be full of ideas (perhaps like never again in his later career) as emerges from tracks like Nieskończenie Mały ("Infinitely Small") and Cry: unisons, suspended and unresolved atmospheres, dissonant pulses of winds, broken rhythms, decelerations, and accelerations. The album's title track is the perfect synthesis of this combination between compositional order and free chaos, enclosing inside a haunting and hypnotic theme rhythmic breaks, long open solo sections, and sharp sound textures. The American influences of Andrew Hill, Charles Mingus, Albert Ayler, and Archie Shepp are evident and merge with Stańko's Polish/European sensitivity in a firm manner without ever falling into citationalism.
Unlike the master who passed away prematurely, Stańko would continue a prolific and long career, becoming a true pillar of jazz not only in Poland but in all of Europe. Demonstrating his strong versatility, within a few years he would record, again with his quintet, the jazz-rock experiment Purple Sun (1973) and the ambient and free exploration TWET (1974), before moving to the German label ECM (of which, in time, he would become a favorite), collaborating in 1976 with bassist Dave Holland for the album Balladyna. As already mentioned, the memory of master Komeda would never abandon the Polish trumpeter who would continue to record and perform his pieces, eventually dedicating an entire album to him, Litania - Music of Krzysztof Komeda (1997).
Music For K contains 35 minutes of fresh, electrifying, and excellently played jazz and represents an essential addition to the listening experience of any European jazz enthusiast.
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