Tomasz Stańko - TWET (1974)

Dark and skronky free jazz from Eastern Europe at its most inspired.  Tomasz Stańko assembled a great band here with American bassist Peter Warren, Finnish percussion wizard Edward Vesala and fellow Polish jazz avant-gardist Tomasz Szukalski on saxes and bass clarinet.

The first of two lengthy tracks, Dark Awakening features Warren either clunking ominously or bowing a deep drone, whilst Vesala adds several odd sounds (and even occasional vocals) to his unique drumming style, giving the horn players the perfectly bizarre backing to take flight against.  The title track is in a similar vein; loads of space, especially for Szukalski to bounce off of Stańko, and Warren mostly sticking to an ominous upward plod like a jazz Geezer Butler.

There's lighter material on TWET too, with Mintuu Maria featuring Stańko at his sweetest and most melodic for this period, and the closing Night Peace featuring little bell sounds from Vesala.  In between those is Man From North, another lengthy exploratory vehicle.  All in all, one of the most satisfying albums of Stańko's early career.  He'd land his first ECM date not long after with almost the same lineup - that's coming up next week.

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pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
Jazzmessage From Poland
Purple Sun
Freelectronic in Montreux
Bluish
Bosonossa And Other Ballads
Matka Joanna 

Wolność W Sierpniu - Freedom In August
Dark Eyes
Wisława
Polin