Wojciech Majewski Quintet "Grechuta"

Even before the album got to me it has been already said that it's really something. After years of playing own compositions, standard schemes and folk music, polish jazzmen started to appreciate our family tradition. Not only Frederick Chopin, who is known all around the world, but also those musicians known mostly in our country. And it can make a really large profit. While listening to different kinds of remakes I started to wonder, if for example Henryk Wars' songs and those famous Broadway melodies are really so different or much more similar than we expected, whereas Marek Grechuta's music differs so much from the estimated standards...

As many times as I start to listen to such albums, I always have doubts that I might misinterpret it. I am afraid that musicians, in care of bringing in intellectual contribution, might overdo the compositions, so that the material can be so complicated, that it would be very hard to listen to it. And I must say that this time my doubts were dispelled. Wojciech Majewski and other musicians managed to create music full of charm and passion. In this album we can hear that Wojciech Majewski, what makes him an extraordinary musician, how he chose all the elements to create such a unique album. Listening to this album I had a feeling that Wojciech Majewski didn't want to release strictly a jazz album, what we can tell from the simplicity of the arrangement, concentration on the melodies, not on the rhythm simple harmonies and slight interferences in the themes of the compositions.

The same attitude is presented by other musicians working with Wojciech Majewski, what makes this album more interesting for a wider range of listeners, not only jazz fans.

But the main element of this album, that makes is so unique, is the specific atmosphere of it, the nostalgia, which has its roots deeply ingrained in folk music, religion and the inheritance of the Romanticism era. But the atmosphere is being built mostly by musicians. I can't possibly imagine these recordings without the incredibly soft tone of Robert Majewski's trumpet, the yearning phrases composed by Thomas Szukalski or the delicate melodies of Wojciech Majewski. Among all the presented songs, for me, the most interesting compositions were:"Wszystko dla twojej miłości"(everything for your love), which created from the very beginning the outstanding atmosphere, "Będziesz moją Panią"[will you be my lady], "Dzieciństwo moje"[My childhood], which is a composition played by Robert and Wojciech, and for those that are familiar with the music of Marek Grechuta I especially recommend "Ocalic od zapomnienia"[save from oblivion], and "Dni, których nie znamy"[ The days, we don't know]

Wojciech Majewski and other musicians created a beautiful album with very emotional and memorable music.