JAZZTOPAD 2023

Jazztopad/Autumn Jazz (JTP) stretching across the last two weekends of November into the first wintery days is an annual festival organised by Poland’s National Forum of Music (NFM) in Wroclaw and is curated by its Artistic Director Piotr Turkiewicz.

This form of a festival has other demands and other dynamics of taking in the offered music than a festival that is taking place highly amassed and concentrated in one weekend. The temperature can get higher in the one-weekend case. In the longer spreading case as Jazztopad there is more time to digest, orientate and to make more choices and refocus.

At first sight from outside, JTP seems to be a combination of (well selling) big names and some upcoming names plus some more left-field, rough stuff. But a festival is not just a collection of chosen names and groups put into a certain sequence. A festival has a specific dramaturgy, induces a specific creative atmosphere and offers a specific experiential space to its dedicated and potential audience. It is embedded in a present context as well as in its own historical line, its grown traditions and proven formats.

Jazztopad as a festival is still a youngster. It was founded 20 years ago and has built a highly respected history of remarkable commissions and notable own focus lines keeping the musical flow running along new discovery and reshaping of the handed-down.

Music hall, cellar, salon: meetings and interconnected dynamics

The festival has developed into a three-layer format of musical happenings: there are concerts in concert halls of different seize at the new grand NFM building situated on plac Wolnosci (Freedom Square) opposite to the old opera house. Those concerts are complemented by late night concerts in the basement of the nearby Mleczarnia club and by concerts (in the weekends) in private houses that function as updated salons for music- and art-dedicated people. The layers are connected by re-combinations of musicians from all those layers and sometimes also from outside. There is a core house band taking care for keeping the musical flow running: for quite some years it is the trio SUN DOGS comprising Matteusz Rybicky (cl, sax), Zbigniew Kozera (b), Samuel Hall (dr), an astounding undaunted, perseveringly creatively working unit.

Matylda Gerber, Samuel Hall and Matteusz Rybicky at the Mleczarnia club

A few years ago also the club’s role was upgraded by presenting certain groups of the program in the club. This year it happened with the trio /KRY from Vienna and the solo-concert of US-American electric guitarist Ava Mendoza.

Scope, route, landmarks and memories

For me through the last decade Jazztopad was standing out in a couple of aspects. First of all, the presentation of fascinating music from Korea, Japan and Australia, brought by highly inspiring musicians from that countries itself. Jazztopad was one of the first festivals in Europe doing it in a unique way. Second, Jazztopad’s commissions were of primal quality all through. There wasn't a single one that didn't meet that high level and standard. Doing this with the house own Lutoslawski String Quartet was and still is a completely singular thing. Third, Jazztopad built transatlantic branching’s to New York and Vancouver. Polish musicians/groups were presented there and for example Canadian musicians/groups regularly in Wroclaw or even exceptional US-American-European combinations as a duo of UK-pianist Alexander Hawkins and Esperanza Spaulding.

Fourth, the far reaching residential character of the festival making it possible to experience internationally highly profiled musicians in a variety of situations (concert hall, club, private homes, combinations of it, also informal ones). All appearances of chosen musicians and music always felt as a very typical Jazztopad one and are remembered with a strong trace in one’s memory. It is still virulent in feeding into storytelling about Wroclaw encounters and experiences. Fifth, Jazztopad stands out in its dedicated and careful organisational quality.



This year: the final three days

Craig Taborn & Lutoslawski String Quartet

I experienced three days of the second weekend of the festival, which comprised a concert of Craig Taborn (solo and together with the Lutoslawski String Quartet in the premiere of a commission) in the Red Hall, the already mentioned club concerts of Vienna group /KRY and the solo concert of Ava Mendoza, the Melting-Pot-concert, which, as a kind of transition or intermediary, took place in the huge foyer of NFM, and the concerts of the trio Jakob Bro/Arve Henriksen/Marilyn Mazur and the final concert of the Charles Lloyd trio with pianist Gerald Clayton and electric guitarist Marvin Sewell and Jakob Bro guesting.

Melting Pot Meeting

Melting Pot (MePo) is a longer term recurring transnational cooperation between Jazzfest Berlin, Handelsbeurs Concert Hall Ghent, Nasjonal Jazzscene Oslo, Jazzfestival Saalfelden and Jazztopad Wroclaw. Every year each of these festivals/venues choose a promising young musician to join that year’s MP-ensemble. This ensemble then plays the five places Saalfelden, Oslo, Ghent, Berlin and Wroclaw. This year’s MePo comprised saxophonist Camila Nebbia (Berlin), clarinetist Mona Matbou Riahi (Saalfelden), violinist Tuva Halse (Oslo), electric bass guitarist Louise van den Heuvel (Ghent) and drummer Hubert Zemler (Wroclaw).

Tuva Halse & Louise van den Heuvel

Each year the chosen musicians have to find their way of collaborative work and functioning as an ensemble. As I wrote already in my review of the Saalfelden appearance this year’s installation showed high common spirit and creative affinity that also in Wroclaw led them to exciting mutual supportive processes and highly attractive, exciting outcomes.

Camila Nebbia and Mona Matbou Riahi

The two particularly striking musicians, Mona Matbou Riahi (Vienna, of Iranian origin) and Camila Nebbia (Berlin, of Argentinian origin) acted fully in service of the whole ensemble’s music and brought in their best musical capacities in a fitting way. 

Club concerts

Mona Matbou Riahi, residing in Vienna, is a strikingly energetic and continuously cheerfully provoking musician that I have experience in a couple of different contexts with utmost pleasure. In the club she appeared with the Vienna group /KRY, an astonishing unit of highly kindred spirit of musical action shaping the richness of musical forms with multi versatile drummer Alexander Yannilos and dyed in the wool electric bass guitarist Philipp Kienberger. It manifested itself as fierce lively happening: untameable alternating between rebellious wild pogo on one side and melancholy and lament on the other, from super hectic and loud to fragile. It wasn't just about these contrasts, but also about the inner feeling with which they again and again together hit the momentum and found each other in about turns. It was clearly the impetuous energy of people in their early 30s that poured out there strongly causing a strong encore.

Electric guitarist Ava Mendoza, a bit older than the /Kry members, did not manifest less visceral and energetic with her strong attack refiguring the blues in her solo concert. Howlin’ Wolf said about his 1969 released electric album that he didn’t like it. I am sure he would like Mendoza’s way of re-contextualizing the blues by enforcing it through masterfully played layering of electronic echoes and distortions - among others the flickering of Johnny Winter’s guitar not only enhanced, but also orchestrated in strong cutting edge way with massive overflows and at the same time an admirable clarity and strength keeping to the essence - a performance as expressive as it was impressive. Mendoza hit the cold Wroclaw ground and warmed our souls (Chopin was watching). Every second no nonsense and deeply concentrated, work of a matured artist that makes a mark.

Home concerts

The most original and stand-alone element of Jazztopad are the home concerts. It might have been invented at several places and I have experienced it in other festivals too (Rotterdam, Berlin). Jazztopad however has sticked to it systematically and has cultivated it as part of the festival now for years. Meanwhile Wroclawians are eager to take part in this part of the festival they have to apply for. In a sense it is a contemporary version of the former art of cultural salons.

What is striking of the Jazztopad house concerts, is the great hospitality and the thorough organisation that accompanies it. The houses are always as full as they can be, or even more so when the concerts take place in the late morning and early afternoon in the two festival weekends. In the concerts musicians of the music hall concerts and musicians from the club concert meet at the fully improvised house concerts.

It’s open what happens in these concerts, but I remember memorable meetings in these house concerts.

What was special of this year’s house concerts was that in a variety of line-ups quite often the same type of musical piece or better format was played again and again, was explored, refined and transformed. Starting from making a sound, this sound started to shift slowly and unfolded along intuitive paths and with gradual coalescence, extension, diverting, overlaying, counter and contra movements etc.. In short a strong suction came about that time after time triggered and actualised that virtual pattern. Watching and listening to the last of this year’s session I had to conclude that I had not seen vocalists participating in the house- and club-sessions. It was a short thought that seemed to be heard immediately resulting in an astonishing vocalist joining the session with remarkable verve and effective expressiveness.

Julia Stein and Matteusz Rybicky

Remarkable expressivity strongly impacting the ensemble’s music also showed the violinist Julia Stein. Both were surprising outsiders: the vocalist, an opera singer that wanted to try herself in this improvising context, the violinist also traceable to the classical world and an ensemble that was exploring folk music traditions of Georgia. Stein also participated in house concerts in the afternoon first acting more reticently but in the night her playing rose to full luminous strength.

Finale

Back from the basement shapes and sensations to the NFM concert hall for the concerts of Jakob Bro with trumpeter Arve Henriksen and percussionist Marilyn Mazur and the new trio of legend Charles Lloyd with Bro as guest - a quite stark contrast and a different vibe after the club concerts, the open improvisations of the daytime home concerts and the nightly sessions. Yes, but contrasts are the necessary spice of festivals. Here it was about expressiveness that is realised and manifested in a more sedate floating gait.

Bro, Henriksen and Mazur have a lot to offer. This time they went on a quite gentle, beautifying tour matching the early arrival of the winter cold and the glittering lights in early evening darkness. As usual, Henriksen operating with trumpets, voice and electronics conjured up his signature purifying melodic soundscapes alongside Bro's translucent guitar washes, etherical floating and subtly crackling, and Mazur's circling interplay of bell sounds, gong vibrations, bass drum murmurs and more percussive feeds. For a few moments Henriksen opened darker and wilder Yeti sides by joining with  throat singing and Bro coaxed out harsher sounds, which after a short while blew over. Licking flames died down and gave space to stilled scapes.

Jazztopad has a long connection and rich history with legendary musician Charles Lloyd and this year’s finale celebrated entering his 86th year life circle. He entered the stage with his new bass-less Ocean trio of pianist Gerald Clayton and guitarist Marvin Sewell with its highly intimate essentialist sound that for this concert was augmented by guitarist Jakob Bro as guest. Lloyd started with a very slow blown, substantially emerging piece, and set a tone of pure and warm inwardness. Its vibration indicated an apt match with Bro’s understating translucent guitar approach. It quickly revealed that Lloyd allowed Bro all the space to let the music shine through his, Bro’s very own light. That was an admirable gesture of connectedness and generosity.

For certain pieces it worked but less for others especially gospel-based or -tinged songs. It was captured and compensated by Sewell the second guitarist that has a strong affinity to that vernacular. In the further course Sewell and Bro were alternating in the lead guitar role, which made good sense. But despite of this and some later short bursts, the concert maintained its subdued character. Personally I missed a greater inner fieriness burning from underneath in the music.

Streszczenie/Résumé

The covered part of Jazztopad 2023 again captivated through its liveliness of meetings on its different sid/tes, on its splendid organisation of a greater number of layers inside and outside the venues/stages. Great hospitality cannot only be sensed at many moments and occasions. It is its self-evidence that impresses and comforts most. The program had its very own coherence with lots of productive contrasts and wonderfully shifting shapes as well as a good balance of established musicians/groups and new young forces. Again it also impressed by program-parts of remarkable exclusivity as in the double bill of the Canadian-Swedish ensemble Like The Mind - Walk So Silently and the extraordinary program “Hand To Earth” from Australia. To round it up, it would be nice if the Polish language could be more lively present by offering a little tailor-made and playful multimedia guide for foreign musicians/ visitors/guests.

Further concerts (not covered here):

The Symphonic Music of Wayne Shorter (w/Ravi Coltrane, Danilo Perez, John Patitucci, Terri Lyne Carrington and the NFM Philharmonic Orchestra) - Like The Mind - Walk So Silently - Hand To Earth - Petter Eldh’s Projekt Drums - Marta Warelis & Frank Rosaly: Musical Meditation. The name of the opera singer in the last night session could not be traced yet.

Text and photos © Henning Bolte