Culture
Ideas conveyed by
sound
WŁODEK PAWLIK, an outstanding pianist, composer, the first, and so far the only Polish Grammy winner in the jazz category, talks to “Polish Market’s” Maciej Proliński.
After the concert with representatives of the Inglot company, the sponsor of the concert.
At the end of May you played two concerts at the legendary Blue Note jazz club in New York. Is jazz played differently in New York than in Warsaw, Wrocław, or the suburb of Podkowa Leśna? No, it’s not. After all, you’re the same person and musician. But emotions, and I say this without a hint of exaggeration, at the Blue Note, are quite unique. It is a temple of jazz. The Blue Note of the 1950s and 1960s is one of the most important places, who knows, maybe the most important, where you could hear Monk, Davis, Coltrane and all the other jazz giants. From this perspective, performing there with my trio - with Paweł Pańta on the double bass and Cezary Konrad on the drums, and our friend we won the Grammy together with - the great American trumpeter Randy Brecker - was something absolutely special to us. It is worth noting that Randy is an icon of the PM
72 polish market
New York jazz scene and he first performed in his city with Polish musicians. These two concerts were a great artistic, emotional and symbolic experience. There, I just feel the spirit of jazz, the music that has shaped me - my way of life and artistic personality. And what is played today in New York jazz clubs such as the Blue Note? The concept of jazz in the past few decades has probably evolved there, too… The Blue Note primarily plays host to the greatest stars of American jazz, so their music is naturally associated with black cultural heritage. It is very rare for someone from outside America to appear there. I am more than happy that those in charge of the club decided to invite my band. It was a great honour for us. Jazz was born in the United States. Its roots are blended with blues, gospels, negro spirituals. PM
America is the homeland of ragtime, Dixieland, swing, funk, R&B, fusion, soul, rock, hip-hop, etc. Clubs like the Blue Note have had a huge impact on creating the most important phenomena and showcasing artists from the whole spectrum of jazz music. But when it comes to broadening the sphere of jazz, I just think that the further away from tradition, the worse it is. At the Blue Note itself, the programme is fairly conservative from the European point of view. They tend not to spotlight musicians who represent radical trends. In the United States, jazz is a music blended with its everyday reality. Jazz standards are played on the streets, in hotels and in shops. Jazz is everywhere, because it is the music code of North America. New York jazz clubs determine what is the most important and most valuable in jazz and is associated with the spirit of swing derived from the tradition of black blues. It happens especially in Europe that musicians create hybrids - experiments with elements of improvisation - which are far removed from jazz tradition. In such cases, it is cheap gimmickry and it has nothing to do with the spirit of jazz, with the spirit of blues. The slogan "improvisation" is a convenient excuse for many so-called avant-garde musicians, to be associated with a popular genre of jazz at all costs. I am thinking above all about performers who represent what’s known as European free jazz, which is deeply rooted in Germany and where it developed. This fairly abstract approach to jazz, can also be found in the music of many Polish musicians. When it comes to me, music has seduced me in a very natural, intuitive way, through my sensitivity, and not through pseudo-intellectual speculations. Jazz is noble and very emotional. It also requires musical knowledge and even virtuoso skills, derived from very specific melodic-harmonic-rhythmic methods, which are left behind by the masters of this genre. Various eccentricities and extravagances are, in sum, an insignificant complement to the mainstream, but add additional colour to the whole phenomenon.