Tomasz Stańko New York Quartet: “Wisława” at Wrocław’s All Souls’ Jazz concerts

The music on “Wisława” is perfectly suited to the atmosphere of the All Souls’ Jazz concerts, dedicated to the memory of artists who have died. Released by ECM, this double album is inspired by Wisława Szymborska’s poetry and dedicated to her memory. As Stańko says: “Encountering Wisława Szymborska’s poetry moved me deeply and inspired me enormously. Meeting the Poet on stage and having the opportunity to improvise to poems she read gave me an even greater creative impulse. The resulting music is something I would like, with the deepest admiration, to dedicate to the memory of Wisława Szymborska.” The album was recorded in June last year in New York, a city that has become almost a second home to the outstanding Polish trumpeter over the past decade. He bought an apartment there five years ago and has since divided his time between the United States and Warsaw. As he says, in New York he composes, absorbs the atmosphere of the local arts scene and follows the latest musical trends.

This is another encounter between Tomasz Stańko and Szymborska’s work. In 2009, the Kraków Opera also hosted one of the Nobel laureate’s final literary evenings, during which Stańko improvised to new poems read by the poet herself. Some inspired compositions on the album: Tutaj – Here, “Assassins” (Zamachowcy), Mikrokosmos and Metafizyka. Faces and A Shaggy Vandal, meanwhile, refer to the poem Myśli nawiedzające mnie na ruchliwych ulicach. The moving, ballad-like title track appears twice, opening and closing the album. It could just as easily have appeared on Stańko’s ECM debut and sits firmly within the most characteristic strand of his work.