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Lontano
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Price: $12.46
Price subject to change!
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0602498773802
Label: Ecm Records
Manufacturer: Ecm Records
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Ecm Records
Release Date: 2006-08-29
Studio: Ecm Records
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Customer reviews of Lontano
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Deep Soul in This One
Comment: This is an exquisite album. The way Herbie Hancock's _Maiden Voyage_ is. The way Keith Jarrett's _Koln Concert_ is.
Let's begin with the sound in the broadest sense: the music is absolutely stunningly recorded (as is typical for ECM)--the 4 instruments of the quartet are beautifully spread out in the stereophonic soundscape. One can hear every detail of Stanko's timbral shifts, every nuance of Miskiewicz's drums is captured crisply. The sound is deep, warm, spacious.
The stylistic features of the music that are most rewarding for me: Stanko's incredibly profound understanding of Miles Davis' trumpet conception--Stanko has thoroughly studied and absorbed two of Miles' great talents: using unusual timbres on the trumpet to convey complex emotions, and using space generously and constantly to avoid tedious, cliched playing. Also, Marcin Wasilewski's powerful voice on piano: his style is richly melodic, with a refined touch (he clearly comes out of the Bill Evans/Herbie Hancock/Keith Jarrett lineage)--burnished, thick chords with a strong, intense right-hand melody.
This music is often "free": in tempo, in harmony, in texture. But there is a constant emphasis on sustained and deep melody, the two main melodic voices being those of Stanko on trumpet and Wasilewski on piano (the latter often steals the show!). Listen to "Kattorna" for a dark, funky groove that owes much to Miles' quintet of the 1960s (and to my ears wouldn't sound out of place on a Dave Douglas CD); listen to the 3 parts of "Lontano" for one of the great examples of "free" playing that is pensive, cautious and soft. Perhaps my favorite passage of the album occurs towards the end of "Lontano, pt. 1" when the quartet settles into a latin-esque, dark modal groove. They seem to be on the verge of really letting loose, but instead reign the music back in, to end quietly--very compelling, seductive almost.
I cannot help but be over-enthusiastic: this is one of the very best jazz albums I've heard in the past 10 years.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Watered-down for the masses?
Comment: It's certainly a pleasant, unobtrusive recording. Knocking off 30% of the reverb would help, but my main gripe is that it's a watered-down version of their live performance. I had the great pleasure of hearing the quartet in Buffalo as part of the superb Art of Jazz series at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Live, Stanko's sparse, plaintive trumpet was countered nicely by Marcin Wasilewski's fiery and inventive piano, supported perfectly by Slawomir Kurkiewicz on upright bass and Michal Miskiewicz on drums. Wasilewski instantly became one of my fave musicians ever, but he isn't given nearly enough freedom and space on the recording. According to Bruce Eaton's pre-concert lecture, Stanko has been playing with these guys since they were teens. The history showed, as this was a supremely cohesive ensemble making great music. Nice recording, but see them live for the big picture.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Extraordinarily beautiful and sublime
Comment: I own approximately 1,000 jazz albums, and this one places right at the top of favorite recordings. I bought this CD about 4 months ago, and cannot stop playing it. I have listened to it at least 100 times, and the more I listen to it, the more I discover. I NEVER get tired of it. The interplay between these musicians is breathtaking and beautiful, and the magic gets better with repeated listenings. For anyone who thinks Europeans can't play jazz, check out this album. The recent trio album by the pianist on this album, Marcin Wasilewski, is nearly as good. The two previous albums by Stanko's quartet (Soul of Things and Suspended Nght) are very good, but this one tops them all. I rarely write reviews for Amazon, but this album is so beautiful and emotional that I felt compelled to write this.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The next Miles Davis?
Comment: Miles's Tone. Few horn blowers ever find it. Tomasz does.His tone was the first thing I noticed.His song writing and band were secondary.They however grew on me and I'm ready to explore more of his work.
Like most Eastern Europeans Tomasz writes and plays with an underlying melancholy.Latenight/earlymorning/grayafternoon music. If you're late to the Tomasz Stanko party ,like me, don't delay... hear his horn.Hear his music.It'll be the best thing you did for yourself today.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Heady yet cool....oh so cool
Comment: 'Lontano' is the third album by the Tomasz Stanko Quartet for ECM. It is a masterpiece which continues the group's ascent into the rarefied, heady, truly sublime section of the jazz world reserved for only the finest ensembles.
Drenched in subtlety and nuance, listening to the group is akin to eavesdropping on a hushed dialogue among kindred spirits, where the natural ebb and flow of the conversation relies as much on that which is stated as is implied.
Comparisons with Miles Davis are inevitable and appropriate. As the reigning king of 'less is more,' Stanko, who is 64 and hails from Poland, has crafted the 'Kind of Blue' for the current generation.
Recorded immediately upon the completion of a tour of the Far East, the foursome's seemingly telepathic interactions are honed to razor-sharpness.
Musically, more than half of the disc is dedicated to the three parts of the title track which clock in at 13, 15 and 12 minutes, respectively.
Serving as a microcosm of the group's full range, the quartet swings on its own terms as segments of ethereal, lyrical beauty are followed by looser, more animated passages marked by a simmering intensity and culminating with a collective pause before the group returns to ruminations which are once again decidedly introspective.
Produced with sparkling clarity, yet imbued with an intimacy that brings the players squarely into your listening space, this is not only quintessential ECM but required listening for jazz fans of all stripes.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Lontano is the third album by 64-year-old Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko to team him with a trio of exceptionally talented young countrymen who started playing with him while still in their teens: pianist Marcin Wasilewski, bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz. Yes, the trio, which has recorded on its own, pushes him with its fresh energy and ideas. But the support team is no less inspired by Stanko's spare, intensely understated approach to melody and harmony, which draws generously from Miles Davis, and his elastic sense of time. More dependent on spatial constructs and free form improvising than its richly atmospheric previous effort, Suspended Night (which some critics called Stanko's Kind of Blue), Lontano doesn't always deliver on the risks it takes. The music sometimes loses momentum. But the trumpeter's pensive lyrical authority and Wasilewski's controlled abandon make for a good combination, especially on a pair of Stanko tunes first recorded in 1965 and 1975, respectively. --Lloyd Sachs
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