Adam Pieronczyk
Komeda-The Innocent Sorcerer
Jazzwerkstatt 104
www.jazzwerkstatt.eu
By George W. Harris

Polish saxist/composer Adam Pieronczyk comes up with the intriguing concept of arranging the music of movie score composer Krzysztof Komeda (Bergman/Polanski) with the insight of forward thinking jazz. It works alarmingly well here, as he teams up with Gary Thomas/ts, Anthony Cox/b, Lukasz Zyta/dr-perc and, most importantly, classical guitarist Nelson Veras for a collection of songs that are long on pastoral sublimity and expressiveness without devolving into mindless atonality.

Songs like “Wicker Basket” and “Kattorna” mix rich saxophone harmonies with spacious guitar caresses, and the openness of the delivery without any piano accompaniment gives a Northern Light illumination to the songs. “Sleep and Safe and Warm” features the intriguing mix of Veras’ lithe guitar with Zyta’s use of a typewriter for supporting rhythm in a way that is both clever, original and yet perfectly suited. The band gets a bit frisky on the boppish “Roman II, and then comes back full circle with the leader’s lonely soprano figure skating with Veras on the reprise of Kattorna. Smart without being pedantic, and melodious without being self-indulgent, this is free and European jazz at its zenith.