Jazz Archives

A whole new chapter in Polish jazz music was started by Miłość / Love, a band created in Trójmiasto (an aggregate of the three neighbouring towns of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot) in April 1988. Ryszard Tymon Tymański (guitar) is the leader of this group. Together with other young musicians he contests the so called classical stream of Polish jazz. The band describes its music as yass, referring in this way to the original roots of jazz music. Yass is a combination of new wave, free jazz, modern rock, surrealistic instrumental theatre and poetry. Polish yass questions jazz played in Poland so far, it questions especially its creative value. At the beginning of the 1990's, Miłość had among its members a remarkably talented pianist Leszek Możdżer, and saxophonists Maciej Sikała and Mikołaj Trzaska. Miłość began a creative ferment, it gathered a group of believers, it led to the creation of a new stream in Polish jazz. Today this stream gathers at least over ten musicians, it has its own record company (Biodro Records), its own festival ("Muzyka z Mózgu" / "Music from the brain"), and a number of clubs of which "Brain" located in Bydgoszcz is the most important.
The leading bands of the yass stream are as follows: Miłość (records: "Miłość" / "Love", "Taniec smoka" / "Dance of a Dragon", "Asthmatic", "On Life and Death", "Not Two" - with a famous American trumpeter of the avant-garde stream Lester Bowie); Kury / Hens (record: "P.O.L.O.V.I.R.U.S."); Łoskot / Din (record: "Koncert w Mózgu" / "Concert in a Brain"); Duet Trzaska-Świetlicki / Trzaska-Świetlicki Duo (record: "Cierpienie i Wypoczynek" / "Suffering and Resting"); Arythmic Perfection ("Out to Lunch", "Rozmowy z Catem"); Trytony / Tritons (record: "Zarys matematyki niewinnej" / "An Outline of Innocent Mathematics"); Maestro Trytony / Maestro Tritons (record: "Enoptronia"); Diffusion Ensemble (record: "Azure Excess"); Trupy / Corpses; Niebieski Lotnik / Blue Pilot.
The leading musicians of the yass stream are: Ryszard Tymon Tymański (guitar), Mikołaj Trzaska (saxophones), Mazzoll (clarinet), Tomasz Gwinciński (guitar) Jacek Olter (percussion), Leszek Możdżer (piano during the initial period), and Maciej Sikała (saxophones).

Mózg ("Brain" in Polish) is a performance place (concert, exhibitions and more) in Bydgoszcz aimed at contemporary art. It was established in 1994 by Jacek Majewski and Sławomir Janicki. Mózg and Gdańsk were centers of yass movement.
This compilation was released to celebrate fifth anniverary of Mózg.

Mózg website


V/A - Mózg 5 lat (2000)

01. Marzena Pawlicka, Joanna Czapińska - Habanera Z Opery "Carmen" G. Bizeta [02:49]
02. Mazzoll & Arhythmic Perfection - Andrzej [05:02]
03. Teleecho - Mars Bars [05:06]
04. Trytony - Ostatni raz [06:34]
05. Sylvie Curvoisier, Tomasz Pawlicki - Fragment koncertu [03:52]
06. Zdzisław Piernik, Sławomir Janicki - Dialogi na tubę, kontrabas i taśmę [04:24]
07. Pieces Of Brain 2nd Edition - Ayler's Song [07:34]
08. Maestro Trytony - Wariacja na temat "Ojczyzną naszą dobroć, dobroć, dobroć [06:49]
09. Kazik Staszewski - Mózg [01:00]
10. Masło - Venus in Furs (The Velvet Underground cover) [06:15]
11. Tomasz Gwinciński, Peter Gonzales, Tomasz Pawlicki, Grzegorz Daroń, Phillipa & Hariert - The Identity of Relative and Absolute [03:02]
12. 4 Syfon - Be be cia cia [05:40]
13. Caridad De La Luz - This Love is Not Good For Me [02:48]
14. Barondown - Unleashing the Dobermans [03:03]
15. Tymon Tymański - Lies [02:20]
16. Fred Frith - Fragment koncertu [05:22]