JAZZPOSPOLITA
Six years into their career, Jazzpospolita has become one of the
most interesting phenomena in alternative music. So far, they have released
four albums and played about 200 gigs all around Europe. With the band’s
line-up unchanged from the beginning – guitar, bass, keys, drums – they have
established their own and distinguishable sound. The strength of Jazzpo, as
called by fans, lies in the unique compositions that place the band on the edge
of jazz, post-rock, and electronic music. Combination of jazz harmonies,
overdriven guitars, and electronic sounds enabled the band to attract a widely
varied audience as well as to perform at jazz clubs and major popular
festivals.
Debut EP (2009)
Wojtek Oleksiak (drums) and Stefan Nowakowski (bass) founded the
band in 2008. At that time, they decided to move on from jamming and clubbing
and started a regular band. Michał Załęski (piano, keys) and Michał
Przerwa-Tetmajer (guitar) joined the group in early 2009 – in this line-up,
they released their first EP. Enthusiastic reviews and listener’s acclaim
resulted in more than a dozen gigs that earned Jazzpospolita a status of one of
the most interesting new bands with no album released.
Almost Splendid (2010)
Soon after the first tour, musicians signed the contract with
Ampersand/Isound Labels. The label, one of the leaders of
alternative/nu-jazz/indie niche, is responsible for Polish distribution of
artists such as: The Cinematic Orchestra, Jaga Jazzist, Bonobo, Tortoise, or
Mogwai. Jazzpospolita’s first album Almost Splendid was released in 2010 and
proved to be one of the best acclaimed Polish debut albums of last years with
its first edition sold out before the end of the tour. A review in major Polish
daily, ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’, claimed the album to be:
“(…) a great thing for nu-jazz fans and those who search for more
ambitious alternative rock.”
Impulse (2012)
The second album titled Impulse revealed much more improvised side
of Jazzpospolita, exceedingly-lively and psychedelic. The idea was to reflect
the live concert’s atmosphere on a studio recording. Despite the aesthetic
change in their music, the album met with a great support from fans and
critics. ‘Polityka’ weekly wrote of it:
“[their music is] intensive, uncommon, full of imagination, and
free from routine.”
Until 2012 the band was on tour almost non-stop. Jazzpospolita
played concerts in Poland (for example supporting Bonobo Live Band Polish
Tour), UK, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Romania, Estonia, Czech Republic, Russia
or Bulgaria, on festivals such as: Heineken Open’er Festival, London Jazz
Festival, Match & Fuse, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, and Comblain La Tour Jazz
Festival. Polish Radio Channel no. 3 named Jazzpospolita a “concert discovery of
the year 2011.” Finally Jazzpo’s concert on Męskie Granie (the biggest Polish
rock’n’roll tour featuring top bands) brought an audience of 10,000.
RePolished Jazz (2012)
From the very beginning Jazzpospolita was keen on experiments with
electronic music. After intensive 2012 tour, the band released their third
album RePolished Jazz in a rare format of double EP. Side A includes six
remixes, while side B is a re-edition of the very first EP from 2009. In the
field of collaboration with electronic music producers, working with the duet
Bueno Bros turned out to be the most successful, having brought a couple of
remixes as well as live project Jazzpo + Bueno.
The band’s passion for good sounds as well as fans’ multiple
requests, have led Jazzpospolita to release their full dicography on LPs in
co-operation with an audiophile label Audiocave Records. Instrumental and
hypnotic character of Jazzpospolita’s music has been eliciting the associations
with cinematography from the very beginning. The videos for Laszlo and Cousins
and Czerwona Flaga (ale ja się kąpię) reflect the band’s imagery and cinematic
inspirations. In 2011, Jazzpospolita was awarded by the audience for the best
music composed and played live to a silent film at 9th Silent Film Festival in
Warsaw.
Jazzpo! (2014)
It took them 1,5 year to prepare and record ‘Jazzpo!’. The album
summarises their three previous releases, but at the same time, surprise the
audience with freshness and incorporates Jazzpospolita’s newest inspirations.
This is how 11 brand new original pieces came about and were recorded live in a
renowned studio. No editing was ever made; all the compositions sound just the
way they were played during the session.
‘Jazzpo!’ is a well refined album; starting from carefully
polished compositions, precisely chosen sounds and vintage instruments, through
the unconventional recording method, finishing with beautiful art work. Fans
and journalists have unanimously regarded the new album as the best piece in
band’s history.
UNDER THE RADAR
'one of the best and brightest bands to play on the upcoming
Tallinn Music
Week. This new blend of tunes comes from Poland’s Jazzpospolita
who, as the name
implies, throws a dash of jazz into their delicious post-rock
tunes'
THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE
‘Very unique voice on the Polish scene, filling a niche for the
young generation of music lovers, who are not really into Jazz proper on one
hand, but who are bored with the contemporary Pop and Ambient scenes on the
other hand. this music is fresh, exciting and sophisticated, which by itself is
already quite rare.’
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