ZBIGNIEW NAMYSŁOWSKI — Winobranie (review)

ZBIGNIEW NAMYSŁOWSKI — Winobranie album cover Album · 1973 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Sean Trane
Don’t ask me how my library system ended up with this kind of unknown album in their catalogue! I will tell you I learned about it on some progressive rock music forum, and it’s hardly surprising, because this album is at least partially a steaming hot JR/F album that the planet shamefully ignores. Recorded in 73 with what I suppose is Warsaw’s who’s who at the time, Winobranie shows us that Poland’s jazz scene was certainly very much with the times, hardly late on the later developments in the “free world”. What certainly differentiates Namyslowski from most other jazzers is his use of cellos (courtesy of himself), but he uses Cieslak’s trombone growls to stupendous bass effects. Apparently this was Namy’s first album in over 7 years, so maybe other non-musical things were not as easy as the soundscapes might indicate on the disc. Most likely jazz musicians didn’t have it much easier than rock musicians behind the Iron Curtain in the 70’s.

The opening 10-mins Wine Feast title track is an intense introduction is Zbignew’s sonic world, and it’s quite an enchanting and energetic trip. The following 5% is using the cello to beef up the bowed contrabass or complement the un-bowed one; while the slow trombone and piano give a melancholic mood, but the middle section rise up the ante and energy levels unmatched later on. The Klezmer/Gypsy inspired Gogoszary is a bit hors-de-propos (IMHO) compared with the rest of the album, but it is thankfully the shortest track of the album, though still clocking close to 5 minutes.

Over the flipside (well I‘ve reviewed the CD version), the lengthy suite First/Roost/Teddy starts very calmly with Zbignew’s piano and Cieslak’s trombone, before veering dissonant. By the second Roost movement, the energy returns while the dissonance do not completely disappear. The closing Taj Mahal piece returns to the A-side’s soundscapes and provide a fitting exit to the album.

Btw, this outstanding Winobranie album was released in the CD format in the Polsih Jazz series and it’s the Volume 33, along with at least three of Namyslowski other albums, but I haven’t recognized any of the present album’s other names in the series’ catalogue. Forgive my relative lack of experience of jazzy things Polish, but Winobranie is probably at the top of of mu list with some SBB albums that I’ve explored within the last decade.

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