Jazz breaking news: Charles Lloyd premieres Wild Man Dance suite exclusively at Poland’s Jazztopad Festival
Thursday, November 28, 2013
For the finale of an adventurous final weekend at the Jazztopad Festival in the western Polish city of Wroclaw, a svelte 75-year-old Charles Lloyd (pictured left) added the occasional little shimmy to his performance.
In the city’s Philharmonic Concert Hall, the shamanic post-Coltrane reedsman led a new ensemble for a world premiere of Wild Man Dance, a suite commissioned by the festival for its 10th anniversary – the week previously had seen exclusive commissions by the likes of William Parker and Tony Malaby. Lloyd’s compositions stuck to the familiar dreamy post-bop nirvanas of his ECM output in spite of the addition of more exotic instrumental colours from both ancient Hungarian and Greek cultures – cimbalom player Miklos Lukacs and lyre player Socratis Sinopoulos. But at least Sinopoulos conjured up some excitement and context in his diverting solos, as did the effervescent American rhythm section of pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Gerald Cleaver.
It was part of a festival growing in stature, one that would rather set a fresh artistic and collaborative challenge to a big name musician than offer a convenient stop off for their current touring European band. Another focus was on a series of showcases from the local new jazz generation with an emphasis on the intense, progressive side of the modal-into-free jazz era, an area traditionally a focal point for Polish jazz. Among the most storming sets was by a Polish-Norwegian ‘Take 5 Europe’ quartet led by saxophonist Maciej Obara, although a more patient, melody-building contemporary piano all-improv trio, Stryjo, also made an impact.
Another focus on music from the Far East ranged from Tokyo-based clubby crowd pleasers Quasimode through to the haunting phenomenon of Australian drummer Simon Barker’s duo with Korean vocalist Bae II Dong – in the Pansori tradition – he had built up his primal roar practicing in solitude all day for years by a waterfall in the mountains.
The festival artists hung around for the jams as well as loft-style spontaneous improv ‘happenings’ in apartment living rooms across the city. It was never less than stimulating even if some of the diverse pairings inevitably didn’t work out. If the festival’s example can be followed in 2016 when Wroclaw is the Capital of Culture, it will be one to remember.
– Selwyn Harris