Mateusz Smoczyński - Adam's Apple (2024) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

What's here in summary is the first symphonic album by Mateusz Smoczyński. A violinist, soloist and composer, co-founder of the incredible Atom String Quartet. The album includes two violin concertos: firstly a "Jazz concerto" by Zbigniew Seifert, released for the first time in something like half a century; and secondly a concerto for improvising violin entitled Adam's Apple composed by Smoczyński. For all practical purposes a ''classical'' release but one that exerts a good deal of crossover appeal given its jazz empathy and strong background, we'd suggest the 'Rubato' 4th part of the Smoczyński Jazz Concerto as most relevant to readers of marlbank plus the 'Solos Ad Libitum' of the Seifert.

Seifert (1946-79) known as Zbiggy - one of the ''lost leaders'' of Polish jazz to use a term used by Scottish jazz critic Brian Morton - was influenced by John Coltrane and played violin in the Tomasz Stańko Quintet of the early-1970s and went on to record such acclaimed records of his own as Man of the Light, Passion and Kilimanjaro and who died while only 32 after suffering from cancer.

But what's here is not only a tribute to Seifert but also to the American classical minimalist composer John Adams whose work Smoczyński only encountered as recently as 2016. In the notes he says that Adam’s Apple - no connection at all incidentally to the classic 1967 Blue Note Wayne Shorter quartet album of the same name - ''serves as both a reference to the biblical story of the poisoned apple and a direct homage to John Adams, whose influence profoundly shaped this composition.

''Intentionally juxtaposing Seifert's and my concertos on one album demonstrates the diverse directions improvising violin can take when integrated with a symphony orchestra'' - Mateusz Smoczyński

Tracklist:
01 - Adam's Apple_ I. Genesis
02 - Adam's Apple_ II. Eden
03 - Adam's Apple_ III. Temptation
04 - Adam's Apple_ IV. Cadenza
05 - Adam's Apple_ V. Apocalypse
06 - Jazz Concerto_ I. Rubato - Tempo - Ad Libitum - Fast Tempo
07 - Jazz Concerto_ II. Rubato - Tempo
08 - Jazz Concerto_ III. Solos - Ad Libitum
09 - Jazz Concerto_ IV. Rubato


Thanks to the Original customer!