Jacek Niedziela-Meira - Partyturism. Premiere on 21.07.2020 (SJRecords 050) 

Jacek Niedziela-Meira - Partyturism

Partyturism is a double album which brings together Jacek Niedziela-Meira’s two musical projects from a distance of 23 years: Sceny z Macondo and Sketches for Bass and  Orchestra.

The projects share the aesthetics of symphonic jazz: a jazz trio/quartet is joined by a chamber orchestra with a single section of woodwinds in both compositions. Each lasts around 40 minutes and teems with multifarious sounds, themes and modes of expression. The additional similarity is the participation of the same three musicians in both projects: Wojciech Niedziela, Marcin Jahr, and Jacek Niedziela-Meira.

The bandleader and composer, now nearly 60, keen to complete his myriad musical achievements, has decided to breathe new life into music recorded in 1997 which was shelved at the time by the commissioning record label.

Sceny z Macondo was inspired by the Colombian Nobel Prize winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 1967 literary output.

The album has been remastered and reviewed:

Joe Lovano:

...He's a wonderfull composer. The orchestrations were beautifully written and played. This was ambitious project that he should be proud for his lifetime !!!

Skip Hadden:

These masterfully crafted comositions and performances are a true reflection of the writings which inspired them... brilliant!

Kamil Erdem:

Combining symphonic sound & jazz components with such surprising influency proofs Jacek Niedziela is true master as a contemporary composer

Sketches for Bass and Orchestra was written specially for the Bass Fest in Banská Bystrica in Slovakia, where it was first performed in September 2019. While the double bass is ostensibly the dominant, virtuoso element of the project; imaginative composition and the orchestra itself play equal roles in the overall effect. The piece has been recorded with the participation of the renowned Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra.

In these two sessions, Jacek Niedziela-Meira dazzles with structural beauty and impeccable interpretation whilst also sharing with us a composer's expertise and  erudition and an artist's eloquence. With consistently developed sound and mood, Niedziela-Meira paints a unique musical landscape in which the realms of jazz and symphonic music do not race against each other, but rather mould precisely into an artistic stigma. This is an important album - also for musicians and composers planning similar projects.

Dionizy Piątkowski, Era Jazzu
 

Adam Baruch writes in his review:

The continuous, nearly-40-minute-long composition encompasses a classical piano trio, double bass solos and parts for the orchestra, and is based on highly melodic motifs, perfectly interlocking and woven into a coherent fabric; fast-flowing and switching moods and ambience very naturally. (...) It is not only perfectly thought-through, but also impeccably performed with an obvious bravado and with elegance, but most of all with good taste and clear aesthetic vision. Thank you, Jacek, for undertaking this gigantic task!

Jacek Niedziela-Meira – "Sketches For Bass And Orchestra"

Musicians have been crossing swords between Classical Music and Jazz for ages, which is hardly surprising. After all many Jazz musicians / composers often originate from Classical Music education, and some Classical musicians are curious or even genuinely interested in Jazz, the freedom it offers and its elusive element of improvisation. The result of such amalgams vary dramatically, producing over time some brilliant pieces of Art, but sadly more often than not a whole bunch of schmaltzy kitsch. To be able to find the thin line that connects these two seemingly incompatible idioms is indeed an Art in itself.

The music presented on this album, which was composed, orchestrated, conducted and performed by bassist / composer / author / educator Jacek Niedziela-Meira is not only able to illustrate the ability to magically combine the two idioms, but also demonstrates the incredible diversity of the Polish Jazz scene, which by the turn of the Millennium became a fountain of youth as far as Polish Culture is concerned. Of course the seeds were secretly planted during the dark days behind the Iron Curtain, but the incredible explosion of talent occurred when Poland regained its Freedom and the new generation of Polish Jazz musicians, faithfully educated by the bearers of the torch, Jacek Niedziela-Meira among them, took over the stage.

The continuous, almost forty minutes long piece of music, which involves a classic piano trio, bass soloing and orchestral parts, is based on highly melodic themes, intertwined, meshed and weaved into a coherent fabric, which flows swiftly and completely naturally changes moods and ambiences. The solo bass parts often introduce the themes, which are then picked up and expanded by the orchestra and then suddenly, but almost expectedly, switch into swinging piano trio or solo bass parts, those in turn falling back into the orchestral setting. All of the above are not only brilliantly conceived but also exquisitely executed, with obvious panache and elegance, but above all good taste and clear aesthetic vision.

This music is not specifically targeted for any genre oriented audience. It can and most probably will delight listeners, who simply love good music, regardless of its idiomatic associations. One can only hope this reaches as many appreciative people, who are able to tell great music from rubbish, as possible. Thank you Jacek for undertaking this mammoth task!

Adam Baruch, June 2020

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