Jacek Niedziela-Meira - Burrellhouse (SJRecords 039) 

Jacek Niedziela-Meira’s latest album, “Burrellhouse”, premiered on 15th February. The leader is accompanied by Kajetan Galas on the organ and Łukasz Żyta and Grzegorz Pałka on drums.

The superlative bassist Jacek Niedziela-Meira has over 40 albums to his name, is a five-time Fryderyk Award nominee and a seven-time Jazz Top winner as Double Bassist of the Year. Here, he shows a brand new side to his art: he plays the guitar.

His fascination with the instrument goes back to his childhood and first came to the fore in his son, Gabriel Niedziela, a renowned young guitarist and the Grand Prix winner of the International Jarek Śmietana Jazz Guitar Competition.

Having focused for several years on writing and academia (with the publications of “Jam Session”, the manual “Jazz Double Bass” and the novel „Modrzewie siwieją na rudo”), Jacek Niedziela-Meira returns to the stage with musicians perfectly picked for the task: Kajetan Galas, and Łukasz Żyta alternating with Grzegorz Pałka. What is the task? The guitar trio, with a Hammond organ and drums, after the fashion of Jimmy Smith, who in the 1950s and ‘60s popularised the organ with his distinctive, strong, highly communicative bop you could dance to; electric - but not rock’n’roll; bluesy - but not traditional.

Jimmy Smith was among the artists who first attracted the young Jacek Niedziela-Meira. His other find, in his pianist father’s musical collection, was Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski’s band Mainstream, with Wojciech Karolak on the organ, Marek Bliziński on the guitar, and Czesław Bartkowski on drums.

The character of “Burrellhouse”, especially that of the eponymous track, or Detroit Booga-Loop (both penned by Niedziela-Meira), draws on the Detroit school, and in particular on the work of Kenny Burrell, Jimmy Smith’s long-standing guitarist (b. 1931) who also collaborated with John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Billie Holliday and other stars.