Piotr Schmidt Quartet - Saxesful vol. II – Premiere July 28 2021 (SJR056)
Exclusive 180g heavyweight double white VINYL edition will be available from November 19! Presale from November 6!
Adam Baruch - Piotr Schmidt – "Saxesful 2"
It’s not a secret that when recording an album, the producer often “thinks ahead” and takes the opportunity of the studio sessions already in place to record much more material than actually needed to complete one album. This is exactly the case with the recording sessions for the album “Saxesful”, which took place in 2018, recorded by Polish Jazz trumpeter, composer, bandleader, record label owner and producer Piotr Schmidt.
Following the hiatus of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent passing of Piotr’s Father, Prof. Andrzej Schmidt, an iconic figure on the Polish Jazz scene, whom I had a great pleasure to meet many a time, Piotr decided to return to the unreleased material from the “Saxesful” sessions and release a follow up album with that material, among other things to commemorate his Father’s memory.
The concept of “Saxesful” was to present a series of Polish Jazz saxophonists, each playing on a different track. This second volume does exactly the same, presenting six classic Jazz standards, each performed by the core quartet and featuring a different saxophonist. The list of the saxophonists reads like the who's who of Polish Jazz and is also an obvious tribute to Polish Jazz itself. With their ages ranging from Jan "Ptaszyn" Wróblewski (born 1936), Zbigniew Namysłowski (born 1939), Henryk Miśkiewicz (born 1951), Maciej Sikała (born 1961), Adam Wendt (born 1962) and finally Grzegorz "Grzech" Piotrowski (born 1974), i.e. four generations of Polish Jazz players, they represent the incredible power and stylistic versatility of the scene. The core quartet is by no means less impressive, featuring Schmidt on trumpet, pianist Wojciech Niedziela and Poland's top rhythm section comprised of bassist Maciej Garbowski and drummer Krzysztof Gradziuk, all of which have a most impressive list of achievements under their arms.
My Grandmother loved to quote the Polish proverb, which says: ”Those, who eat the leftovers are smooth and beautiful” (In Polish: “Kto zjada ostatki, ten jest piękny i gładki”). The meaning of this proverb is, that leftovers are as good, if not better, than the original food and should not be discarded, which applies exactly to the music on this album in every sense, and it would have been a shame to leave this music unreleased.
Once again we have here a feast great classic Jazz music and first rate performances, which is a tribute to the genre itself, Polish Jazz history and tradition and a great listening experience. Enjoy!
prof. Adam Baruch, July 2021
Piotr Schmidt - trumpet
Wojciech Niedziela - grand piano
Maciej Garbowski - double bass
Krzysztof Gradziuk - drums
feat:
Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski (track 02)
Zbigniew Namysłowski (track 05)
Henryk Miśkiewicz (track 01)
Maciej Sikała (track 03)
Adam Wendt (track 04)
Grzech Piotrowski (track 06)
I dedicate this album to my father.
Piotr Schmidt
