**** Tubis Trio  The Truth Challenge Records
CR73445 Maciej Tubis (p); Pawel Puszczalo (b); Przemek Pacan (dr). February 2016.

The first two entries in “Polish Jazz Recordings and
Beyond” were “Music for K” by Tomasz Sta’nko Quintet
and … “Spelnienie” by Maciej Tubis. I have thus a sentimental
relation to Maciek’s art. In the recent ten years Maciek
was practically totally quiet  – he was a teacher, a father
and so on. But, he matured in this period and came out
with the excellent new album in 2017. After the ten years
of silence, Maciek has defined his new
sound.

I was listening to “The Truth” s½imoltaneously with the
recent album of Aaron Parks, who is a newborn star of the
ECM label. Aaron’s “Find the Way” was recorded with
Ben Street on bass, and Billy Hart on drums. Amazingly,
the comparison with “The Truth” is extremely positive.
Both Aaron and Maciek are the masters of cantilena.
They develop melodies in an incredibly easy and yet
complex way. Both trios have very good rhythm sections.
It was in fact a surprise for me that Pawel Puszczalo
represents such a high level of creativity, so that he compares
with Ben Street very well, if not surpasses him.

The situations is of course more complicated when we
compare the drums: Billy is one of the unquestionable
living giants of the jazz drumming, Przemek is one of
the best drummers on the Polish scene. The point I want
to make is, however, not really related to this obvious
difference of experience and quality of drumming. Billy keeps the rhythm, but essentially plays a drums solo
all the time. It is not only the question of syncope, but also changing
the rhythms and expanding them all the time, and so on.
Przemek in contrast plays practically all the time simple structures.

If one compares Tubis Trio to The Bad Plus or E.-S. T. the similar conclusions
come to mind. The world best trios do allow the drummer
to play in a more complex way than just required by the
tune. I know very well, that Przemek is capable of doing
this —  it is only the question of changing the concept. I
would evidently welcome such a change!!! “The Truth” gained quite a popularity in Poland and abroad. Tubis Trio has now a lot of faithful followers and fans — I am sure that they will also accept and like more complex music from the trio

Having expressed my critics, I must admit that “The Truth” is a
great album. It starts “Monday of my way”, a typical
Maciek’s “fast” tune. “2.31” is another example of the
trio’s fast tune. The thrill comes with “Peloponnese”, a
slow ballad with an extra-ordinary melodic line. “Seven
Heavens” is another track in the Bad Plus style – fast, but
slow, loud but quiet. I dig “I forgot the plot”  maybe
for a more complex work of the drums? “Tokyo” is
another fast track with the slight Bad Plus connotations,
but the clear independent insight. My favorite is “It’s
a beautiful winter here”  the most beautiful ballad on
the record, with the most touching melody. “Diminished
world” is interesting for the melodic line, which is highly
non-trivial, reminding me of the best Ornette Coleman
compositions. “Augmented Reality”, on the other hand,
makes impression to be nice and simple, but is noit,
by no means. The set ends with “Triceratops”,  an
excursion toward the Keith Jarret’s lands and
minimalist sound spaces. At the very end, it is an
ingenious, excellent record with very many absolutely
outstanding fragments.

 

Maciej Lewenstein