Track Listing

1. Lontano I
2. Cyrhla
3. Song For Ania
4. Kattorna
5. Lontano II
6. Sweet Thing
7. Trista
8. Lontano III
9. Tale

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25444 in Music
• Released on: 2006-09-04
• Number of discs: 1

Irish Times, (Ray Comiskey), August 25, 2006
(5 stars)...the group retains its absorbing, focused intimacy and its capacity to remain fresh and surprising.

The Times, (John Bungey), September 23, 2006
(4 stars) Amid the shimmering cymbals and gentle piano chords, the trumpeter weaves melancholic magic.

Jazzwise, (Stephen Graham), September 2006
(4 stars) It soothes the spirit...Stanko's best album since Leosia.

Customer Reviews

Incredible
This album is an experience, I just recently came across Stanko and I'm glad I did.

amazing music.

Matchless magic
Much has been made of the radical new sound of this release. As it is unmistakeably a Tomasz Stanko quartet release and follows in the footsteps of Soul of Things and Suspended Night, I think that this claim has been a little overplayed. That said, there is more organic feel to this fantastic new recording. That it is a freer might seem odd given that Soul of Things and Suspended Night both effectively comprised a dozen or so variations on a theme. By comparison, on Lontano the lengthy improvisations (Lontano I, II and III no less) are interspersed with Stanko compositions and one cover of a Krystof Komeda track whose music will be familiar to those who have heard Stanko's Litania recording of the late 1990s.

Implausibly (given his sustained excellence), Stanko's playing has never sounded better. The trumpet is less busy than before but the tone is exemplary - more breathy and soulful than on Soul of Things and Suspended Night. The songs evolve and develop more than on previous releases, most noticeably the lengthy three piece suite Lontano but also the composed self-standing songs such as Cyrrhia. As befits these songs, the Quartet manages to be more hesitant, suggestive yet assured in its playing which is the mark of true ensemble musicianship.

The least successful track is Kattorna, the Krsytof Komeda composition from 40 odd years ago (and apparently covered by Stanko's backing musicians in their pre Quartet days). The musicianship of the quartet on this song is of the highest order and says something about the remainder of the album but the more up-front jazz (with little signature blasts of trumpet reminiscent of Suspended Night) does not impress as much as the other more contemplative tracks.

The most successful track is Tale which closes the album and sounds nothing like the original version recorded 30 years ago on Stanko's ECM debut, Balladyna. Where the original is jerky, the version on Lontano is luscious, in no little part to the addition of piano, played with great sensuality by Wasilewski.

In fact, one of Stanko's greatest attributes is giving his fellow musicians space to breathe and play and not in any token solo way either. The empathy on Lontano III for example is breathtaking - an almost perfect mix of texture, atmosphere, melody - and all the more so for being an improvisation. Wasilewski is much feted and rightly so and his sound is reminiscent of Bobo Stenson's in much of this album. As I have mentioned in reviewing Suspended Night, in my opinion, the real star live is Miskiewicz and he and bassist Kurkiewicz do not suffer by comparison.

In short, this is Stanko's seventh recording for ECM in the last eleven years. This is arguably the best of an excellent crop and is unlikely to be bettered by a jazz album for the remainder of the year.