Jazz Archives

100nka is a 90-year-old contrabass, the drums from 1956 and the guitar with a huge power plant. On their first album entitled "Zimna Płyta" as a guest played Mikołaj Trzaska. Then, on their second, two-disc album "Potrawy Strawy + Kompot Gratis" plays Ziut Gralak. The third album is "Superdesert" featuring an outstanding representative of the New York underground scene, trumpeter Herb Robertson. Crazy, improvised, speed and excellent reviews meant that musicians interested in jazz festivals in Germany, Austria and Hungary. 100nka`s sounds should introduce vibrations into the organisms of even the strongest jazz conservatives. Being fascinated with classics such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman or contemporarily playing Tim Bern, Jim Black, Elery Eskelin, Medeski Martin and Wood, DJ Logic, Yuka Honda they create the world of sounds which combine both modernity with a classic approach to jazz music, contemporaneousness and oldschool.

:::Review by ankh:::

100nka - Zimna Płyta (2004)

1. Rossinboiler
2. Instant
3. Zamaskowany atak stonki
4. Remi
5. Progno zapogody
6. Tatatomka
7. Nagual
8. Wyprodukowano w Polsce
9. 0Mjosa
10. POS 59UT
11. *
12. Mistberget
13. Long Vehicle

Credits
Adam Stodolski - double bass
Tomek Leś - guitar
Przemek Borowiecki - drums
Mikołaj Trzaska - sax (3, 4, 9, 12)

A skillful combination of traditional and avant-garde jazz made TriCity's Milość one of the most important yass scene collectives. The band formed from the ashes of the new wave group Sni Sredstwom Za Uklanianie, and consisted of double-bassist Ryszard Tymański, saxophonist Mikołaj Trzaska, and clarinetist Jerzy Mazolewski, aka Mazzoll. In 1991 Mazzoll left the band and pianist Leszek Możdżer joined the lineup. With the encouragement of success at Krakow's Jazz Juniors Festival in 1992, Miłość, with Jacek Olter on percussion and saxophonist Maciej Sikała, recorded their first self-titled album. In 1994 they produced a mix of avant-jazz and world music for their second release, Taniec Smoka. The same year Miłość's musicians, in cooperation with the preeminent avant-garde trumpeter Lester Bowie, issued the live album Not Two. In 1995, Miłość released the Krzysztof Komeda-linked Astigmatic long-play. In 1997, in cooperation with Tymański's Tymon i Trupy band, they issued a motion picture soundtrack from Olaf Lubaszenko's Sztos. Despite the collapse of the original Miłość lineup in the late '90s, Tymanski toured along with Olter, Trzaska (substituted in 2000 with Mazzoll), and Tomasz Hesse on bass. The second collaboration between Miłość and Lester Bowie was entitled Talkin' About Life and Death and was issued in 2000. Miłość disbanded in 2002 after the death of Jacek Olter by suicide.

:::Info by allmusic:::

Miłość - Taniec Smoka (1994)

01. The Dragon Dance [Taniec Smoka] [12:05]
02. Human Machine [Maszyna Ludzka] [03:49]
03. Lezor i Niutnia [03:17]
04. Your Goatee Gets On My Nerves (Not To Mention The Moustache) [03:26]
05. Cardano [0:07:52.13]
06. Lapping Fluid Helium [Chłepcąc ciekły hel] [07:04]
07. Ordre omnitonique [07:17]
08. Left Side Jass [Lewy Jass] [02:23]
09. The Last Of The Human Dragons [Ostatnie z ludzkich smoków] [08:43]
10. The Dragon Tears [Łzy smoka] [10:30]

Credits
Mikołaj Trzaska - alto, soprano & baritone saxes, flute, vocals
Maciej Sikała - tenor & soprano saxes,saxophone neck, vocals
Leszek Możdżer - piano, accordion, clapping, vocals
Ryszard "Tymon" Tymański - bass, balalaika, horn, vocals
Jacek Olter - drums, percussion, pots, water sound, vocals

Notes
Recorded at Polish Radio Studios,Szczecin on April 17-20, 1994.

After the excellent "Intimate Conversations", Joe McPhee and Mikołaj Trzaska release a new album together, again with Jay Rosen on drums, but now also with Dominic Duval on bass. You might say it's Trio X + Mikołaj Trzaska, and that's correct if you look at the names, but not when you listen to the music. This band does not even touch on the "traditional" Trio X repertoire. McPhee plays sax and pocket trumpet, Trzaska alto sax and bass clarinet.
The album starts with "The Magician", with tribal sounding tones from Trzaska, full of primitive incantations, slowly being joined by trumpet, bass and drums, and developing into a slow, smooth and warm open lyrical exploration. The fit between Trzaska and McPhee is almost perfect, since they have the same attitude to music, one of freedom, respect and authentic warmth. That doesn't mean they don't go wild at times, but the dominant element is careful and reverent. The first track immediately illustrates this range, from tribal over sensitive dialogues to more boppish uptempo steaming improvisations. The second piece is more free form in nature, with Duval playing arco, McPhee delving into the deeper regions of his tenor, Rosen accentuating, and Trzaska's alto adding layers of sensitivity on top. "Sex Toys" is more minimalist and subdued, with the musicians scarcely breaching through the silence, and I think rarely a track has received such an inappropriate name (there isn't even an orgasm of sound to conclude). The first CD ends with "I Remember Max", a luckily not too long drum solo by Jay Rosen, dedicated to Max Roach.
The second CD continues with the minimalist approach, with a long dialogue between the two saxes, interlocking and interweaving calm yet urgent phrases, with McPhee doing some quiet singing while blowing his sax, bursting open into a screaming duel, waking the sleeping dogs of drums and bass in the process.
"Contra-ception" is a bass solo track by Duval, nohting wild, nothing too smooth either, and when he starts using his bow, some shouting brings back the sax for one of the most intense pieces of the album, that shifts mood a little over half-way when McPhee picks up his pocket trumpet: for almost spiritual gospell-like lyricism. One of the most beautiful tracks is the long and slow "Turtles Crossing", a tune that was already on McPhee's Jumala Quintet release with the same name. As the title suggests, there is no need to hurry (from the turtle's perspective of ignorance), but the deep tension of the menace of being crushed is omnipresent, and this horror of course gets articulated musically near the end of the track, but it ends happily.
Again, Trzaska is a perfect fit for this band, who deliver a strong, balanced and varied album of great instrumental power and coherent musical expression, full of emotional depth and moments of fun. Enjoy!
Recorded at Alchemia, Kraków, November 8, 2007

:::Review by stef:::

Joe McPhee, Dominic Duval, Jay Rosen, Mikołaj Trzaska – Magic (2010)

Disc1
1. The Magician
2. War Criminals
3. Sex Toys
4. I Remember Max (Drum Solo)

Disc 2
1. Return of the Terror
2. Contra-ception (Bass Solo)
3. Political Stripper
4. Turtles Crossing
5. A Night in Alchemia
6. Transaction

Credits
Joe McPhee - trumpet, alto sax
Dominic Duval - bass
Jay Rosen - percussion
Mikołaj Trzaska - alto sax