Photo of Komeda Project

Komeda Project

Komeda Project Radio

Music

FEATURED SONG
Night-Time, Daytime Requiem Part3
  1. Play
  2. Play Next
  3. Add to queue
Night-Time, Daytime Requiem Part3
Album:
Released: Jan 1, 2009
Label:

General Info

  • Genre: Acoustic / Jam Band / Jazz

    Location Union, New Jersey, Un

    Profile Views: 26354

    Last Login: 7/20/2011

    Member Since 8/4/2005

    Website www.komedaproject.com

    Record Label WM Records

    Type of Label Indie

  • Bio

    The new album ..REQUIEM.. is now available. Click the button below to purchase from CDBaby and Amazon... ...... ...... .... The group's previous album ..CRAZY GIRL.. is also available on CDBaby and Amazon for purchase and download. Click the link below to purchase... ...... ...... .... “An innovator with a complex of tradition, romanticist expressing himself in the contemporary idiom, poet of piano – this was Krzysztof Komeda, one of those musicians who have widened the essence of jazz”*. ....In his short life (until untimely death after a tragic accident in Hollywood at the age of 38), Krzysztof Komeda (1931-1969) wrote music for more than 60 films, including classics of the Polish cinema by the Academy Award winners Roman Polanski and Andrzej Wajda. It was Polanski who gave Komeda his first commission in 1957, and used his music in almost all of his films over the next decade; inviting him to Hollywood in 1967 to score his American film debut, “Rosemary’s Baby.” According to Polanski himself, the popular and critical success of “Rosemary’s Baby” owed much to Komeda’s empathy and creative imagination. ..Even though Komeda’s film scores quite often made use of Jazz and improvisation, it is the music he wrote to perform and record as a pianist with his own jazz groups, especially 1965 recording of “Astigmatic,” that helped to develop a uniquely European (in structure and lyrical content, especially) style in jazz composition. His compositions are often kept in an “open”, arc–like, form and are eminently suitable for various performing styles. .... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ....Plenty has been written about European musicians approaching the American jazz tradition; it's far rarer to hear about American musicians bringing their heritage to distinctly European projects. Capitalizing on the critical acclaim for its debut, ..Crazy Girl.., pianist/composer/arranger Andrzej Winnicki and saxophonist Krysztof Medyna - the driving force behind Komeda Project - bring trumpeter Russ Johnson back for ..Requiem... What makes ..Requiem.. different, however, and a significant evolution over ..Crazy Girl.., is the enlistment of über-bassist ..Scott Colley.. and equally ubiquitous drummer, ..Nasheet Waits... .... Like ..Crazy Girl.., ..Requiem's.. primary focus is to bring the music of the late, legendary Polish composer/pianist Krysztof Komeda into the new millennium with fresh arrangements, but this time the approach is far more open-ended. Sacrificing the "comfort zone" of a group familiar with the music, Winnicki and Medyna opted, instead, for the first encounter "sound of surprise" that comes from working with master musicians like Colley and Waits. ....Born and raised in Poland, ..Andrzej Winnicki.. and ..Krzysztof Medyna.. have been playing together for over thirty years. They bring both a European classicism and melancholy Slavic melodism to music that's heavily refracted through the prism of the American tradition. Before moving to the United States in the late 1980s, they spent years touring Europe with the award-winning group Breakwater. Medyna was also a member of In/Formation, which featured Michael Urbaniak alum Czeslaw Bartkowski on drums, touring extensively on double bills with ECM recording artist/Polish trumpet legend Tomasz Stanko - Komeda's closest musical associate and a member of the pianist/bandleader's ensembles from 1963-1968. Winnicki and Medyna formed Komeda project five years ago, after releasing ..In the Bush.. in 2001 with a reformed Electric Breakwater that also featured bassist Mark Egan and drummer Rodney Holmes. ......Russ Johnson.. has performed with a who's who of jazz heavyweights, including Kenny Wheeler, Bill Frisell, David Liebman and Joe Lovano, in addition to leading his own groups and touring with Lee Konitz's latest nonet. Lyrical and economical with open ears and mind, Medyna describes him as "a poet of the trumpet. He is so sensitive, he can paint, and he can create a picture, making it easy for us to build something from nothing." .... ..Scott Colley.. has become one of modern jazz's most in-demand bassists, playing with everyone from Pat Metheny, Jim Hall and Joe Lovano to Herbie Hancock, Kenny Werner and Brian Blade. Ever-inventive, with an innate ability to always find the right note, the perfect phrase for any context, this ..Down Beat.. "Rising Star" winner from 2002-2004 has been an invaluable partner on countless sessions where finding the essence of the music, with little-to-no preparation time, is a true testament to expansive talent. .... ..Nasheet Waits.. has, with a résumé that includes work with Fred Hersch, Geri Allen, Steve Coleman, Stefon Harris, Andrew Hill and The Mingus Big Band, emerged as one of his generation's most important drummers. Like Colley, Waits' deep roots in the tradition are what give ..Requiem.. its edge - a record of unmistakably European jazz played with the swing and unmistakable conviction of an American rhythm section. Winnicki adds, "We came into this project knowing, from the get-go, that if we were going to do another record, we wanted to make it with great players at the level of Russ, Scott and Nasheet; and to have a real American rhythm section that could come in, even without any knowledge of Komeda or Stanko, and play their hearts out." .... And play their hearts out they do. On ..Requiem.., everyone plays their hearts out, on a program of boldly thematic and challenging charts that still possess the underlying freedom required to encourage unpredictability, even within the most scripted of arrangements. With ..Requiem.., Komeda Project ups the ante on the promise of ..Crazy Girl.., paying reverent homage to one of the 20th Century's great composers while bringing modernistic edge, reckless abandon, and unmistakable swing to this profoundly moving set of starkly beautiful music. ....“He expanded the range of expression in jazz by adding a dramatized lyricism – its force reaching the intensity of ecstatic and mystical experience.”* It deserves not to be forgotten. .. .. ..*from Adam Slawinski’s liner notes to Krzysztof Komeda “Astigmatic” .

  • Members

    Krzysztof Medyna - saxophones; Andrzej Winnicki - piano; Russ Johnson - trumpet, flugelhorn; Jeremy Pelt - trumpet, flugelhorn; John Bailey- trumpet, flugelhorn; Scott Colley - bass; Drew Gress - bass; Sean Conly - bass; Michael Bates - bass; Nasheet Waits - drums; Rudy Royston -drums; Dave Anthony - drums

  • Influences

    Krzysztof Komeda

  • Sounds Like

    .. .. .. .. .. .. .... .. Performance of Krzysztof Komeda's "Kattorna", featuring trumpeter Jeremy Pelt. .... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .... This tribute to Krzysztof Komeda is lovingly handled by compatriots Andrzej Winnicki and Krzysztof Medyna, who have assembled a top-notch, freewheeling crew in bassist Scott Colley, trumpeter Russ Johnson and drummer Nasheet Waits. ... compelling, emotionally charged...Bill Milkowski/..JazzTimes.. .... With the magnificent Requiem, pianist Andrzej Winnicki and saxophonist Krzysztof Medyna solidify and enhance their reputations as the prime promoters of the essential music of the Polish pianist and composer Krzysztof Komeda…The band’s playing, individually and as a group is superb … essential. ..Budd Kopman/..allaboutjazz.com.. .... Among music fans, jazz people typically possess an exaggerated need for new stimuli. To hear something that has not been heard before is their endless quest. They are hereby directed to "Crazy Girl" by the Komeda Project. My admiration for the album continued to grow as I listened to it. I think it is one of the strongest albums I have heard this year - and I get a LOT of albums in the mail! ..Performance: **** ..Thomas Conrad/..Stereophile.. .... ... a contemporary jazz journey that will captivate its listening audience with its boldness, daring, and discreet sense of verve and style. The performers are excellent, and all solo work is remarkably strong, fulfilled, and imaginative. ..Lee Prosser/..jazzreview.com.. .... The Komeda Project at Cornelia Street Cafe was electrifying, bringing the music of Krzysztof Komeda vividly to life. THE CORE, THE EXCITING, THE VERY ALIVE ESSENCE OF KOMEDA HIMSELF JUMPED FROM THE STAGE. ... living, breathing, completely alive music that did not sound dated in the slightest. The reason is that Komeda's compositions are Art and, as such, are timeless. ... hearing this music live was a fantastic experience ... .. Budd Kopman/..allaboutjazz.com.. ....Even amongst the many engaging, skillfully-executed projects that cross our desk, it's rare to discover something as unexpectedly compelling as this. On the group's latest release, arrangements of Komeda's works are sophisticated and engaging ... and the entire group's musicianship remains exceptional throughout. .. Michael Gallant/..Keyboard.. .... While best known for his haunting soundtracks to Roman Polanski films, the Polish pianist and composer made plenty of music that commands full engagement. This quintet explores that rich musical terrain... Nate Chinen..New York Times.. .... The quintet’s musicianship is beautifully applicable and natural, with a certain organic recognition of the composer’s intent ... making it a compelling musical offering that stands apart from the typical, standard quintet fare. .. C.Michael Bailey/..allaboutjazz.com.. .... A further introduction to Komeda's music can be heard on many other recordings, but the Project has done his sound proud on this vital, exciting, and seminal offering that cannot come more highly recommended. .. Michael G. Nastos/..All Music Guide.. .... "Crazy Girl" by the Komeda Project is a very exciting project. ... a wonderful introduction to the musical world of Krzysztof Komeda. Highly recommended. .. Budd Kopman/..allaboutjazz.com.. .... ... updating Komeda's music within a contemporary hard bop context ... that would not have been out of place on a Blue Note album. .. Stuart Nicholson/..Jazzwise../UK .... The five musicians of Komeda Project have chosen a somewhat stronger approach than Stanko ("Litania", ECM), who foremost emphasized the lyrical side, but both do superb justice to the great talent of Komeda, which was silenced so tragically. ....Jazzenzo../Holland .... A beautiful tribute.....Jazz&Tzaz../Greece .... It is perhaps due mainly to Medyna's intense and powerful tenor solos, that the music reminds us of John Coltrane, stylistically. That is a very good, even natural direction, where the Komeda's themes could be taken. Of course, each one of these instrumentalists has a distinctive personality; each one offers something uniquely his own, musically. And yet, at the same time, they have succeeded in preserving that certain overall mood that looms large over the whole record and determines its distinctive quality and originality. ..Ryszard Borowski/..Jazz Forum../Poland

Videos

00:00 | 0 plays | Jan 1 0001

You have no videos.

Comments

Post a comment...

Login

Forgot password?

Need an account? Sign up