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]

Maestro Trytony is a musical undertaking by Tomasz Gwincinski, a composer, improviser, guitarist, a leading personality of the "Music from Brain" scene based in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The idea of the "Music from Brain" production is its modern classical chamber music overtones in moder jazz area. Maestro Trytony album Enoptronia" is a turning point in the record collection of the scenes. This recording, inspired by jazz noncomformists (John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman) as well as rock avant-garde composers (Fred Frith, Frank Zappa), combines improvisation with the modern classical form. Doing so, it retains the rock energy, improvisational freedom and wit, the idiosyncratic features of jazz. The recorded music flavors of the Polish soft romantic lyricism so characteristic in the works of Krzysztof Komeda. The quest star is Andrzej Przybielski, nestor of the Polish non-mainstream jazz.

:::Review by mozg.art.pl:::

Maestro Trytony - Heart Of Gold (2004)

1. O.R.G. (4:30)
2. Van Worden In Serra Morena (5:01)
3. Jocasta (11:24)
4. Snowboarding Alchemysta (5:12)
5. Heart Of Gold (5:26)
6. Tax Collector (0:47)
7. Magic Tiara Part 1 (7:27)
8. Magic Tiara Part 2 [Cherub. Wand.] (6:23)
9. Nanotechnology (4:39)
10. Epilogue (1:05)

Credits
Tomasz Gwinciński - guitar, electronics, leader
Tomasz Pawlicki - flute, keyboards, spinet, piano prepared
Patryk Węcławek - bass
Rafał Gorzycki – drums

Guests
Małgorzata Skotnicka - spinet
Jacek Majewski - percussion
Łukasz Gorewicz - violin
Martin Franken - gamelan

Maestro Trytony was founded by Tomek Gwinciński – drummer of Arhythmic Perfection and Łoskot; guitar player of Trupy and Czan. ‘Enoptronia’ is sort of a sound poem. It blendes motifs of contemporary chamber music (Bartok, Strawiński, Ives) with experimental New York avantjazz scene and peculiar polish soft lyricism a'la Komeda.

MAESTRO TRYTONY is a musical undertaking by TOMASZ GWINCINSKI, a composer, improviser, guitarist and drummer, a leading personality of the "Music from Mózg" scene based in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The "Music from Mózg" and its Gdańsk equivalent, the jass scene (MIŁOSC, ŁOSKOT, KURY, TRUPY and other bands) became notorious artists involved in the making of the most creative and original Polish music throughtout the 90s. The evidence of this notoriety can be seen in the approval that the two scenes receive from both the conservative jazz press and the rock media. This results in the growing number of festival presentations: Warsaw's "Jass Jam Nights '96",a satellite of the Polish famous Jazz Jamboree, a "Music from Mózg" Jass block of concerts during the Poznań Jazz Fair Festival' 96 and Cracow's "The Jass Days'96 " all of them filmed for the 2nd program of Polish TV. Unfortunately the music that the both scenes generate is still poorly documented on records because of the malfunctioning of the Polish phonografical market dominated by big foreign corporations. The experimental, creative proceedings of the artists engaged in the both scenes might be compared only to that of the modern New York underground including JOHN ZORN, BILL FRISELL, FRED FRITH, ELLIOT SHARP, DON BYRON or that of the Quebec scene with its RENE LUSSIER, JEAN DEROME, ANDRE DUCHESNE. The Bydgoszcz Mózg (Brain) Club, a base for jass activities, is sometimes called the Polish Knitting Factory. It is the only place in Poland where avant-garde, or improvised music is regularly played, FRED FRITH, RENE LUSSIER, NICK DIDKOVSKY,CHRIS CUTLER, ZEENA PARKINS, JOEY BARON being among the star performers. The original facet of the "Music from Mózg" jass production is its modern classical chamber music overtones, the feature well represented in the music of TOMASZ GWINCINSKI. MAESTRO TRYTONY' s "Enoptronia" is a turning point in the record collection of the scenes. This recording, inspired by jazz noncomformists (JOHN COLTRANE, ALBERT AYLER, ERIC DOLPHY, ORNETTE COLEMAN) as well as rock avant-garde composers (FRED FRITH, CHRIS CUTLER, FRANK ZAPPA), combines improvisation with the modern classical form. Doing so, it retains the rock energy, improvisational freedom and wit, the idiosyncratic features of jass.The recorded music flavors of the Polish soft romantic lyricism so characteristic in the works of KRZYSZTOF KOMEDA. The personnel of MAESTRO TRYTONY consists of both musicians of the two scenes and classically trained performers. The quest star is ANDRZEJ PRZYBIELSKI, nestor of the Polish non-mainstream jazz. TOMASZ GWINCINSKI, the leader and composer for MAESTRO TRYTONY , is an artist appearing in the line-ups of both the "Music from Mózg" and jass bands. Towards the end of the '80 he was a quitarist with the Gdańsk-based MIŁOSC band, today the best Polish acoustic jazz group. Then he founded TRYTONY trio with which he recorded two CDs:" Tańce Bydgoskie" (1993) and "Zarys matematyki niewinnej" (1995) .MAESTRO TRYTONY continues and develops the musical ideas of TRYTONY. GWINCINSKI is also a drummer with the most notorious group from the "Music from Mózg" scene MAZZOLL & ARHYTHMIC PERFECTION . The band released three albums: two of them were issued in 1995 and 1996, the third one is about to come out in 1997. GWINCINSKI and MAZZOLL make improvising duo under a name of "THE VOICE OF THE BLACK HOLE".GWINCINSKI's other projects are TELE ECHO group and the GWINCINSKI- RICHTER- SKOLIK trio, the latter having recorded music material for CD which will be released soon. The chamber music score for a string quartet and an improvising trio written for the "PERE UBU" play performed by the Polish Theatre in Bydgoszcz sets a beginning for the classically oriented composer works from GWINCINSKI.

:::Review by mozg.art.pl:::

Maestro Trytony – Enoptronia (1997)

1. Intro 0:47
2. Kalambury 6:08
3. Electric Mandala 3:36
4. Enoptronia 6:30
5. Planiergerat 1:32
6. Jestem UFO 12:22
7. Herbatka Yassowa 2:17
8. Tulku 14:11
9. Columbo 4:44
10. Opus Hokus 1:18

Musicians
Tomasz Gwincinski: guitar, leader
Renata Suchodolska: cello
Tomasz Pawlicki: flute, keyb.
Tomasz Hesse: bass
Rafał Gorzycki: drums