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Polka - Worldwide Deluxe Edition

by Wojtek Mazolewski

  • Physical Album
    Compact Disc (CD)

    High quality, 6 panel digifile with a velvety soft-touch laminate finish + 12 page booklet

    Sold Out

  • 12" 2x Gatefold LP - 180 Gram - Limited Edition - SECOND PRESSING
    Record/Vinyl

    High quality, 180 gram, 12" 2x Gatefold LP (3 sides of music - A, B, C, + etched D side with Whirlwind logo mark) - comes with download code containing the digital album in multiple formats

    Sold Out

  • 12" 2x Gatefold LP - 180 Gram - Limited Edition FIRST PRESSING
    Record/Vinyl

    High quality, 180 gram, 12" 2x Gatefold LP (3 sides of music - A, B, C, + etched D side with Whirlwind logo mark) - comes with download code containing the digital album in multiple formats

    Sold Out

about

**Thank you to everyone who supported this release - it is now sold out and discontinued from our catalog, this page serves as a living memory only**


PERSONNEL

Oskar Török - trumpet
Marek Pospieszalski - tenor saxophone
Joanna Duda - piano
Wojtek Mazolewski - double bass
Qba Janicki - drums
Michał Bryndal - drums

ALBUM CREDITS

All songs except London (Intro, Part 1, Part 2) recorded at Radio Gdansk, Poland
Engineer - Piotr Taraszkiewicz
Mixed by Piotr Taraszkiewicz & Wojtek Mazolewski at Nu Wave, Gdansk, Poland London (Intro, Part 1, Part 2) and Theme de Yo Yo recorded at Rolling Tapes Studio, Poland Engineer - Marek Szwarc
Mixed by Marek Szwarc & Wojtek Mazolewski at Rolling Tapes Studio
Mastered by Piotr Taraszkiewicz
Produced by Wojlek Mazolewski
Executive Producer for Whirlwind Recordings - Michael Janisch
Executive Producer for Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet - Bartosz Stawiarz
Original Cover Design - Mateusz Holak
Album booklet/digiwallet design by Sophie Moates
Photos - Cover Photo: Zuza Krajewska
Booklet: 1 - Bartek Barczyk, 2 - Marta Wojtal
3 - Aioha Andrysiak, 4 - Zuza Krajewska
5 - Dorota Koperska, 6 - Lukasz Kohut
Digiwallet Photos: 1 - Lukasz Kohut
2 - Michat Andrysiak

credits

released August 3, 2018

ABOUT THE ALBUM

Whirlwind announces the new release from bassist and composer Wojtek Mazolewski and his quintet: Polka Worldwide Deluxe Edition. Since the release of the full-length album Polka in 2014, the dynamic Polish bassist and his band have broken well beyond the jazz genre’s usual boundaries and have gained international recognition, effortlessly inspiring audiences at some of the world’s biggest rock and indie music festivals as well as appearing in jazz and dance clubs, with some 200 concerts across 21 countries in the last few years alone. Their music has been featured on mainstream Polish TV and climbed the Polish Radio charts while being featured by BBC Radio DJ Gilles Peterson (‘Theme de Yoyo’ – the bonus track here – appeared on Mazolewski’s album of the same name and was one of Peterson’s 50 best records of 2017). Polka went gold in six months and platinum in three years in Poland alone, and the follow-up single London was released in the UK in 2017. Now, for the first time, Polka, Theme de Yoyo and London are presented together in this significant collection.

Vigorously combining tradition and modernity, the analog sound of the quintet harks back to the jazz masters (also reflecting the vibrant Polish jazz scene of the ‘60s and ‘70s), yet is infused with electronica and other contemporary influences. Echoes of Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy, Led Zeppelin, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Nirvana and Aphex Twin are, therefore, all interwoven by the bassist and his dream team of pianist Joanna Duda, tenor saxophonist Marek Pospieszalski, trumpeter Oskar Torok and drummers Qba Janicki and Michat Bryndal. It‘s like listening to history being sonically reworked, with a uniquely contemporary twist.

Mazolewski recalls the album’s beginnings during a visit to London: “I stumbled upon a beautiful invitation to a carnival ball. Inside… was a list of dances for the guests to request; and amongst the styles, I came across a lovely-sounding word – ‘polka’ – which immediately struck me as a great album title. So far from home, I felt many positive emotions and realized that this word can have a number of definitions, even though the polka is a Czech dance. That fascination later became prophetic, as the band features the trumpet of Oskar Torok – a Slovak living in Prague. Furthermore, a wonderful Polish woman, Joanna Duda, plays the piano alongside me. I’m very grateful to fate for allowing me to create music with such a brilliant band. Oskar, Marek, Qba, Michat and Joanna are remarkable musical partners and fantastic people”.

The gentle, awakening aubade of ‘Roma’ and easy-going groove of ‘Grochow’ belie the dizzy heights this band can attain. But then, heralded by ‘PUNK-t Gdansk’s boppish fervor and fast-swinging, jazz-piano-ornamented ‘Polka’, their undulating moods are revealed, complemented by the springlike openness of ‘Paris’ and ‘Berlin’s free-spirited, bass-thrummed improvisations. Ska-like ‘London’ and ‘Sunday’ both stomp assertively, underpinning attractive, punkish sax and trumpet; ‘Bangkok’ is portayed aromatically through waterdrop piano and soft horns amidst shimmering percussion; and ‘Krakow’ meanders to keyboard rivulets and searching tenor.

“I offer you an album full of enthusiasm and emotion”, affirms Wojtek Mazolewski. “This nostalgic, crazy and introspective musical tale is the reflection of my experiences. Music is an abstract message, packed with energy and power, which you can interpret as you wish. Take from it whatever works for you – that’s why it exists.”

PRESS HIGHLIGHTS

​"A musical travelogue of sorts - all but one of the 12 originals on the new collection bear the name of a place. Hearing these city-inspired compositions side by side, listeners can appreciate just how gifted Mazolewski is at capturing place through sound."
★★★★★ DownBeat Magazine

"From the melodicism of 'Paris' and 'Bangkok', through the throbbing, techno-referenced 'Berlin', and on to the dirty rocking funk/free improv collision of the 'London; suite and the James Brown's horn section-meets-Albert Ayler and Donald Ayler 'Theme De Yoyo', Polka (Worldwide Deluxe Edition) is pure pleasure. And not to forget 'Sunday' either, a masterclass in how to build drama and tension with just five musicians."
★★★★1/2 All About Jazz

"​Wojtek Mazolewski is a bandleader and bassist of taste and talent, and a sense of music​ ​that the rest of the world needs to hear​."
Nextbop​

"Mazolewski pulls diverse influences together to quite stunning effect, helped by his skilled, enthusiastic and infectious band... A quite wonderful musical journey."
★★★★★ Kind of Jazz

"Great tunes, infectious beats and rhythms, concise solos... striking ostinatos, lots of call and response and counterpoint in the arrangements, an atmosphere of passion and joie de vivre, and respect for tradition combined with a future-facing vibe. What more could you ask for? An outstanding band? You have one."
★★★★1/2 All About Jazz

"Poland has a rich jazz heritage... Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet are spearheading the latest wave, fusing the influence of electronic music with their organic, acoustic sound."
Clash Music

“A churning, hard blend of jazz and funk.”
Stereogum

"The album is a total stonking blinder... Stunningly beautiful... Utterly sublime. There is not a dud moment during the entire 52 minute playing time."
★★★★1/2 All About Jazz

"Proudly fuses established jazz traditions with more contemporary themes and ideas throughout its duration... The writing, performances and ideas are exceptionally crafted."
UK Vibe 5/5

“It’s melodic brilliance within the context of a very graphic city concept. You actually travel alternately into a sublime Paris, an exotic Bangkok, an almost electronically pulsating Berlin and experience London within a sprawling suite as a metropolis shaped by the music of many cultures.”
Musikreviews Magazine

“Elements of the vibrant Polish jazz scene of the sixties and seventies interwoven with influences ranging from Miles Davis and Eric Dolphy to Led Zeppelin, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Nirvana and Aphex Twin.”
Rhein Main Magazine

"An ingenious combination of traditional and modern forms of jazz... The quintet get fully involved in the nostalgic, often crazy and absurd experiments of their bandleader."
Concerto Magazine

"A dynamic journey through different soundscapes... Sometimes experimental, then straightahead, sometimes dominated by wind instruments then piano however, always strikingly supported by drums and bass."
Hörspiegel

"Reaches the heights of emotional expression... Spiritual, playful and romantic... A new star is born."
Musik an Sich

"Enormously diverse, from gentle ballads through dizzying excitement, homage to bebop to filling the dance floor glow with a high-energy ska number."
Jazzthing

"A combination of compositional brilliance and improvisation, this music blends generations and styles with unbelievable power and vibrancy... Music for the heart and brain."
Jazz Podium

"Mazolewski's acquired and expanded experience is paying off... Listen to this outstanding Polish export without delay."
Jazzthetik

“Remarkable.”
Jazzma

“European cities portrayed through rumbling rock sounds, characterizing rhythms, catchy melodies and urban swinging vitality.”
Hifi & Record

“Sophisticated music delivered in a totally listenable way.”
Kind of Blue

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The Whirlwind Artist Page for bassist, producer and solo artist Wojtek Mazolewski.

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