Think of jazz violin and one recalls sprightly swing fiddlers such as Joe Venuti or Stephane Grappelli, or maybe the proggy electric explorations of Jean-Luc Ponty or Michael Urbaniak. Polish violinist Adam Baldych must thus be commended for developing a completely new vocabulary for the jazz violin. He usually starts songs pizzicato, playing clawhammer style like a folk guitarist – and when he does use his bow, he often uses it to create whispery, distorted effects. He’s also good at strong, sturdy melodies: the prairie-wide Dreamer nods towards Charlie Haden, the country waltz Karina recalls Keith Jarrett, while the 5/4 puzzle that is Mosaic sees him spitting out notes like Wayne Shorter. Pianist Helge Lien, a Lyle Mays to his Pat Metheny, proves a stronger foil than Baldych’s previous accompanists. If there’s a problem here it’s that Baldych’s improvisational style – a silky, smooth, undisrupted flow of notes – slips down so easily that you barely notice that anything’s happening. - John Lewis / theguardian.com
Bałdych builds bridges
The virtuosity of Polish violinist Adam Bałdych enables him to pass with astonishing ease through all kinds of borders: the boundaries of his instrument, the barriers between genres, the seams between composing and improvising. These dividing lines fall away as his playing coalesces with that of his fellow musicians. These attributes have led the UK magazine Jazzwise to call him “a refreshingly different European jazz star”. As a player who is “a virtuoso and capable of delivering high emotion” (Fono Forum) with his "dervish-like intensity" (Jazz thing), he uses the tradition as the point of departure for new and exploratory journeys up and away beyond jazz. Bałdych was born in 1986. His talent was spotted early, and earned him the designation of 'Wunderkind'. After an extended stay in the US, where he pursued studies at the renowned Berklee College in Boston, and then in New York, it did not take long for his international breakthrough to occur. Following a highly acclaimed appearance at the Berlin Jazz Festival in 2011, the German newspaper FAZ declared him to have “doubtless the greatest violin technique in jazz among players alive today.” His debut on the ACT Label in his own name, “Imaginary Room” earned him an ECHO Jazz Award. The follow-up on ACT was “The New Tradition”, a duo with the pianist Yaron Herman. That CD was assessed by the Süddeutsche Zeitung as follows: “people who want to know where the next Debussy, the next Grieg or Stravinsky is coming from would do far better to look around in jazz than in contemporary classical music." That evaluation rings equally true for Adam Bałdych's new album “Bridges,” where the opening of the first track is enough to demonstrate it clearly. A soft, lyrical melody becomes enriched with tonal colour. At the same time, the listener becomes aware of harmonic voicings that recall not just Slavic but also Scandinavian sounds. That is because, alongside Bałdych's own astonishingly varied range of string sonorities – from gossamer harmonics to a fully weighted tone similar to that of a cello – there is the sound of a pianist capable of a similar degree of variation. On “Bridges” Bałdych has the Norwegian pianist Helge Lien and his trio by his side. “I listened to his last two albums with great interest,” explains Bałdych. “The producer Siggi Loch had given me one of them to start with, and I was impressed by the way this trio makes music together. I had been looking for a piano trio that would play my own compositions in a particular way, that is to say they would make the two musical personalities, mine and the pianist's, coalesce, to make something new from my music.” Helge Lien proved to be the ideal choice for this. His style has undergone continual development over the course of no fewer than eight albums with the trio. That evolution gives Lien the capacity to place his trust implicitly in bassist Frode Berg, who has been a fellow traveller from the start. Drummer Per Oddar Johansen, who joined a couple of years ago, is very different: his tendency is to liven things up. This trio's way is to create melodic shapes which are accessible and perfectly formed, yet never trite. The group's leanings towards the trio tradition from Esbjörn Svensson up to Brad Mehldau are evident, and yet the way they experiment both with the American heritage and Nordic sound- atmospherics is not just their own, it also reaches back into the lineage of the European late romantic classical music, to Debussy, or even to Chopin. These are all antecedents, which the trio have in common with Adam Bałdych, who like Lien is a lyrical musician with a strong focus on melody, and who also loves rhythmic and dynamic development. Another significant facet of Bałdych's music is the way folk influences enter as such a strong element in his music. An example that illustrates this point well is “Polesie.” The title is a clever conflation in of the words "Polish" and "Poesie" (poetry), while the music draws on the Eastern Polish folk tradition to which Bałdych was exposed via his grandparents. Over and above this, however, the four musicians have all found themselves totally at one with the overall theme that Bałdych has given to this album: silence. "With the world around all of us getting ever louder," says Bałdych, many people are finding that they become afraid of silence. They think they have to keep on talking just to feel good. Yet the acquisition of knowledge requires silence, and there are many things that can only ever be expressed in a whisper. In my experience, silence can be curative, so I have sought out sounds that emanate from whispering." As each of the eleven pieces on this album emerges from silence - and almost always returns to it - they cast an almost hypnotic spell. That is what happens in the '100% improvisation' of the title track, in the wildly dynamic "Mosaic, in "Bałdych's poignant "Requiem" for departed friends and role models, in "Missing You," which despite its title is an upbeat swinger, and in “Up,” in which experimental sounds are to the fore, and which takes off several times in surprising directions. The album concludes with a sensational version of “Teardrop” by the UK trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack. “This piece has had a personal significance for me for many years", says Bałdych. "Its wonderful melody is also perfectly suited to the violin, the instrument gives it a folkish undertone. I've played the piece again and again in my head, and so I was determined to have my version of it on the album.” As with the whole album, the bridge Bałdych has built can serve as an inspiration. - challengerecords.com
Latest outcome from Adam Bałdych, incredibly talented and versatile Polish violinist is titled Bridges and it holds to some more complex symbolism.
It is worth to note that he is only 29, which many would fail to guess without knowing and purely judging on sound. As a prodigy child he finished his classical study in the age of 16 as a youngest graduate ever, and he only picked up violin in the age of 9, which is pretty late for anyone considering solo carrier.
Well. Back to the subject. First of all this project is very different from previous duo with pianist Yaron Herman, mostly due to he is such a different personality to Helge Lien. Norwegian pianist has completely different approach to melody. His background roots in Scandinavian folk. So it matches Adam’s temper and his Polish soul in more natural way.
Furthermore, when The New Tradition was an inter cultural dialogue, Bridges instead is all about connection between Soul mates. That gave Bałdych new ability to express his composition more via piano and violin sound universe, followed by carefully listening rhythm section, than fly solo over the trio.
Purely anchored in European Romantic classical music tradition and further influenced by modern Jazz trios, like Mehldau’s or Svensson’s alike it suits violinist’s Slavonic soul very well. With folk music always present in Chopin’s or Debussy compositions, here they build a bridge, one of many. Between Classical and Folk Universe, between Scandinavian and Polish Folks.
Like in pieces Polesie or Karina. Both musicians are simply immersed in sound. Due to the balance between the strings, carefully controlled dynamic it simply is the master class. In addition use of silence in space and Bałdych’s articulation is stunning. As a result the way he plays is nothing but hypnotic. Those who remember Zbigniew Seifert would be able to find how much he learnt from a heritage of prematurely deceased legendary master.
The music is simply sparkling here. Just like a dew in the morning light. Listening to this reminds me the joy of the children’s discoveries in a marvellous garden. It does not happen too often to find music so fresh and involving. But again this delight comes of their joy of playing together. Ability to build the… bridge between performer and listener. Whatever they come with is stunning you with the beauty of the fragile balance and incredible power in the same time.
To challenge you let’s jump to the closing title: Teardrop. This one is far from folk influence as it came from the Massive Attack play-list. Consequently then, here violinist takes original vocal lines and converts its melody to the riff. That one drives the piece, underlined with piano holding harmony and drums putting groove under entire music tissue.
Simply marvellous. And as such, hugely recommended. - jazzpressgpoint-audio.com
Lien's trio have been tottering on the brink of making an album that actually builds on, rather than equals, Hello Troll. Why this hasn't happened is a bit of a mystery, but may have much to do with Lien's musical curiosity in pushing in several directions at once (such as his free jazz outing on Kattenslager or his more recent albums with voice). Certainly exploring different paths is a laudable ambition, but maybe this collaboration with Adam Bałdych has focused minds. Lien is an enormously talented pianist, and a superb accompanist to boot (as he showed when he took over Tord Gustavsen's spot with Silje Nergaard) and this album is one of those collaborations that really works. While the violin has never really been en vogue the very best jazz violinists seem to be able to transcend their instrument with the clarity and originality of their musical thinking. Bałdych is one such, a powerful musical personality who seems a perfect fit for the Lien trio, who definitely up their game and are on their best behaviour here. - Stuart Nicholson / jazzwise.com
Tracks
01. Prelude
02. Elegy
03. Faith
04. Love
05. One
06. Brothers
07. Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
08. Shadows
09. Coda
ADAM BALDYCH violin
HELGE LIEN piano
FRODE BERG bass
PER ODDVAR JOHANSEN drums
Music composed by Adam Baldych, except (7) by Leonard Cohen)
ACT 9591-2 (Germany)