PHOTOS/REPORT: Algorhythm (from Gdansk) at Jazz Cafe Posk

By ljazzn on 29 April 2018 • ( Leave a comment )

Krzysztof Slomkowski and Piotr Checki of Algorhythm
Photo credit: Monika S. Jakubowska

Algorhythm are a young quintet from Gdansk in Poland. They performed at Jazz Café POSK on Saturday 21 April. Peter Kaczmarski (*) explains some of the background to complement Monika S. Jakubowska’s photos:

Szymon Burnos and Emil Miszk of Algorhythm
Photo credit: Monika S. Jakubowska

Gdansk is a town with a brutal history and is home to the famous Gdansk shipyard which was the birthplace of the Solidarity movement. The music of Algorhythm very much reflects their home town’s past. The cycle of destruction and renewal paved the way for Emil Miszk on Trumpet and Piotr Checki on Tenor Sax to destruct, improvise and rebuild while pianist Szymon Burnos interjected with rhythm and harmonies.

Szymon kicked the evening off by firing off a multitude of electronic samples consisting of mangled percussive sounds and atmospherics setting the scene for what was to come.

The group featured tracks from their current second CD Mandala, released in March 2017 and nominated for a 2018 Frydyrik Award – the main Polish music awards – in the jazz category. The title track is a gentle number featuring drummer Slawek Koryzno. Jasmine Vines was also a more relaxed and flowing exploration between Szymon’s piano and Emil’s trumpet. Taco Taco kept Slawek busy on drums with many stops and starts with time and tempo changes. Krzysztof Slomkowski on double bass kept a solid and reliable backbone throughout the evening and would often set the scene effortlessly blending in between the energetic exchanges of the band.

Slawek Koryzno of Algorhythm
Photo credit: Monika S. Jakubowska

I ventured around the crowd during the break and received more than a few raised eyebrows after the first set which one could describe as Mathcore Jazz (a play on Metal Mathcore) as the band performed with many rhythm and tempo changes. One of our regulars expressed a great uneasiness at what he had just heard, stating that in his 50 years of listening to jazz, this was an aggressive and intense attack on the genre; however he felt compelled to stay and indulge his now somewhat fragile emotions into the second set!

The band played two solid sets of ambitious and diverse jazz with many twists, stops and turns with each performance culminating in rapturous applause, and judging by the amount of CDs signed and selfies taken after the gig, the crowd were more than happy to take a memento of their experience home. The band will be returning to the studio soon to start work on their third CD and we hope to invite them back to London in the near future.