Tuesday, August 23, 2005

In a Polish way

I think I first heard the name Tomasz Stanko from former boss, jazz fan and good guy John Rumbach at The Herald in Jasper, Ind., and I recently picked up his CD "Suspended Night" from ECM. (Stanko's, Rumbach doesn't have a CD out that I know of.)

The CD started out reminding me of Miles Davis in his second great quintet. (See "In a Silent Way" and compare the ethereal licks and the use of space.) But Stanko is really more like Italian trumpeter Paolo Fresu, whom I first heard, and was quite impressed by, at the Duc des Lombards, a wonderful jazz club in Paris. (Stanko, from Poland, has been around a lot longer so maybe Fresu actually sounds like him.) You could toss in a little Lester Bowie as well. In any event, I can see why Stanko's received a lot of international attention in recent years. Quite a fine, atmospheric disk.

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