Marcin Wasilewski Trio, Joe Lovano - Arctic Riff (2020) [Official Digital Download 24/88]

The first-time creative teaming of Poland’s Marcin Wasilewski Trio and US tenorist Joe Lovano brings forth special music of concentrated, deep feeling, in which lyricism and strength seem ideally balanced. The alliance plays tunes by Wasilewski and by Lovano, as well as Carla Bley’s classic “Vashkar,” plus collective improvisations with strong input from all four players. Produced by Manfred Eicher, Arctic Riff was recorded at Studios La Buissonne in the south of France in August 2019.

The album opens with Wasilewski’s rubato ballad “Glimmer of Hope” which, the composer explains, is “based mainly on one motive moving through some tonalities. I was very curious to hear how it would sound with Joe’s tone.” The piano gently prepares for the saxophone’s entry, and Lovano’s very first phrase – underpinned by Michal Miskiewicz’s soulful brushwork – establishes the sensitive atmosphere of intense listening that characterizes the session.

Carla Bley’s “Vashkar” follows, a tune interpreted in many different ways over the last half-century. Wasilewski, who first heard it on the album Footloose by the Paul Bley Trio with Steve Swallow and Pete LaRoca, finds new possibilities inside the world that Carla Bley’s theme opens up: “I really like Carla’s compositions, and I wanted to play ‘Vashkar’s‘ beautiful melody with Joe.” Lovano bears down authoritatively on that melody before the Polish trio unravels some of its implications. The tenorist had performed Carla Bley’s music as a member of her band in 1983 and, in 1986, with Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, but the present recording marks the first encounter as a player with “Vashkar.”

TRACKLIST

1. Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Glimmer Of Hope
2. Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Vashkar
3. Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Cadenza
4. Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Fading Sorrow
5. Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Arco
6. Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Stray Cat Walk
7. Marcin Wasilewski Trio - L'amour Fou
8. Marcin Wasilewski Trio - A Glimpse
9. Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Vashkar (Var.)
10. Marcin Wasilewski Trio - On The Other Side
11. Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Old Hat



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