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Nostalgic Journey / Tykocin
[2008 Polskie Radio S.A. / 2009 Summit Records]
"In my deep conviction Nostalgic Journey : Tykocin Jazz Suite is one of the stops in the human's pilgrimage - the place of relaxation...and reflection of ourselves and the world"
Włodek Pawlik
"(...)The piece is varied, highly melodic, and full of exciting solos for both trumpet and piano. The balance of the jazz trio/quartet against the orchestra is handled beautifully. The orchestra is top flight, having been named the State Philharmonic for Poland, and an institution of national culture. Randy's previous album was Randy in Brasil, and this time it's Randy in Poland, achieving one of the finest mixes of jazz and classical one could hear."
John Henry - Audiophile Audition
> Video Tykocin (YouTube)
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Anhelli
[2005 5Line]
Anhelli - romantic poem by Juliusz Słowacki (1809-1849) that portrays the tragic story of Poles exiled in Siberia after the November Uprising (1830).
"Anhelli is the literary work I turn to as a refreshing source of cosmic energy to develop my imagination. (...)contact with great art becomes a delight of communicating with a world of secret and powerful, maybe even dangerous, beings. But they have an exceptional ability to release me from immediate problems, disputes, more or less obvious questions and frequently unnecessary answers. I enter a world which has no objective existence and which nevertheless exists within me - the world of transcendence, of history, of the imagination..."
Włodek Pawlik
"This album will be remembered along with the most important records in the history of Polish jazz like the legendary Krzysztof Komeda's 'Astigmatic', Zbigniew Seifert's 'Kilimanjaro', Zbigniew Namysłowski's 'Winobranie'."
Adam Ciesielski, Życie Warszawy
"(…) I have no hesitation in writing that the biggest star appeared first. (...) Włodek Pawlik showed how it's possible, drawing on different sources, to create an impressive, cohesive artistic work, suited even for the demanding setting of the Sala Kongresowa. His Trio is an example of ideal mutual understanding and creativity between musicians. (...)This was music of the highest calibre, taking the listeners by surprise and forcing them to participate actively. (...) The audience rewarded this performance witth a standing ovation."
Marek Romański „Jazz Forum”, review of the concert at JVC Jazz Festival Warsaw 2005
> Video 'Anhelli' (YouTube)
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Turtles / re-edition
[1995/2008 Polonia Records]
"(...) I have a feeling that this album stands the test of time thanks to the selection of repertoire, the way of interpretation, and the high standards of the recording's process. (...) "Turtles" is not an album of a lead star and an accompanying band in the background, alternatively, it displays the mutually complementing and merging creativity of all the musicians, which I consider paramount. (...) I have met very few musicians with such great artistic, imaginative, and creative potential as Randy Brecker."
Włodek Pawlik
"Pawlik's Turtles is marked by the collective assurance of the musicians, the mix of Americans (Brecker, tenor saxophonist Trent Kynaston, bassist Thomas Knific) and Poles (the pianist, drummer Cezary Konrad) having benefited from working together in Polish clubs just before their Warsaw record date. On a program of originals, Brecker gets ample feature space: His creative impulses are decisive and his commitment to the music total (as on Thanks A Million). Soloist Kynaston injects surprise into some of his lines, especially effective when revealing an edgy desperation on "Not Samba." Pawlik is an intelligent pianist who listens carefully to his colleagues; he shares a tough sort of sensitivity with Brecker on their duet "...Sailing," and he quietly and skillfully conjures complex feelings on "Moontide." Worthy of note, also, is the bracing, alert manner in which Konrad breaks up the time on "Not Samba" and the title track.
A large part of the album apeal comes from the way the players' considerable facility and complicated turns of thought are so readily translated into high-quality modern jazz."
Frank John Hadley, Down Beat ****
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Dedicated to people - Orange Jazz
[2004 Liberty Records]
Released in Ukraine compilation with music of 14 artists paying tribute to "Orange Revolution".
"Let us pray that our 'orange' dreams will soon be more than dreams".
Evgeni Utkin (CD commentary)
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Włodek Pawlik Trio and Richie Cole - Live at Birdland
[1993 Polonia Records]
"Sound of Peace"
""Recorded on November 11th 1989 in Hamburg. (...) It happened that two days earlier the Berlin wall was destroyed. It happened also that exactly at the same time Włodek Pawlik met one of the greatest saxophone players - Richie Cole. It happened also that the place of their joint concerts was Hamburg. Due to the coincidence of these elements, the concert which took place at the "Birldand Club" that night, was a specific signum temporis. One can feel the unusual atmosphere of the concert while listening to the record, which comprises the first part of it. The concert remains in our memory as one of the most humorous jazz meetings. Richie Cole plaits various quotations into his improvisations, the entire quartet juggles with the music."
Marcin Trzęsiok
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Quasi Total
[1987 Poljazz]
Włodek Pawlik's debut solo album released on LP.
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Strings in the Earth
[2011]
Music to the poems by Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz
[2011 Pawlik Relations/Polish Radio]
'I hope, I wouldn't diminish the value of Iwaszkiewicz works saying - 'WHAT A JAZZ!'.'
'To sing Iwaszkiewicz's poems? What a great idea.. One may say that his poems sing
themselves, whether performed by swinging jazz trio or spoken by Robert
Więckiewicz with exact tonal balance and rhythm, almost like an another
antonomous instrument.”
Janusz Majcherek (from CD booklet)
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Grand Piano
[2009 ARMS Records]
"The album you are about to hear was conceived as a result of conscious decision to record a unique process of live music making. I decided to dispense with any prearranged repertoire or character for the album and simply followed pure imagination and intuition. (...) The grand piano, for me the closest medium, gives me an irrational feeling of communicating with a most devoted friend who understands and expresses my aesthetic desires...."
Włodek Pawlik
"There is nothing more pleasant than writing about music that absolutely doesn't conform to the widely-held stylistic and formal ideas...(...) The newest 2-CD album of the excellent pianist breaks with the convention of jazz. These CDs are far from jazz cliches. (...) In the end it's really hard to describe this music because each of the 25 indexed tracks creates a separate story. The intimate, sometimes quivering, vibrating, elsewhere so calm that the delicate swoosh produced at the moment when the piano hammers touch the metal strings becomes equal in value to the sound. This "something" intimate, almost erotically sensual is like a touch of the finger tip with the skin of the beloved. There is a mystery and reflection in it. A couple of times the silence takes the floor and, who knows, perhaps it becomes even more important than the sound itself."
Piotr Iwicki, CD review Jazz Forum *****
> Video 'Grand Piano' 1, 2, 3, 4 (YouTube)
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Standards Live / re-edition
[1996/2008]
Two-CD album containing live interpretations of well-known jazz standards. The material was recorded during two concerts held in October 1996 at no-longer existing Akwarium Jazz Club in Warsaw. The album released at first in 1996 had its special, limited re-edition 12 years later by Polonia Records.
"It's their debut at a major International jazz festival and very rightly so: this Polish trio of highly accomplished musicians delivers outstanding renditions of the standards. The romantic attitude -as if Chopin has Been standing around the corner- has resulted in a soft-touched swing. The profound honesty makes the musicians go deeply into the music. If there is a deeper truth behind the notes -and in some music there is-: they have found it. Therefore the listener will hear these standards for the first time. This trio sets new standards. The rhythm section provides a melodic context. Bassist Wegehaupt seems to replace Pawlik's left hand, giving the pianist more freedom to explore the higher register. The heartbeat of drummer Konrad keeps the music floatihg. Pawlik has released a large number of albums in Poland already a. o. a chamber jazz-like The Four Seasons (induding Hava Nagila and -in the winter sequence, of course- music from Polanski's Rosemary's Baby). ' When someone asks me if I am a jazz musician, I answer that I am simply a musician. I profit from everything that is happening in the modern world of sound. In my vievv, the categories and distinctions with which we are used to reflect on music will soon no longer apply.' Mr Pawlik can be equally described as the Vladimir Horowitz of jazz or the Oscar Peterson of classical music. In other words: he is completely his own man and everybody should hear him play....)"
Eric van't Groenewout, Who's Who at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Hague
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Live in Kyiv / re-edition
[1999/2007 Polonia Records]
The CD contains fragments of Włodek Pawlik Trio's concerts recorded in 1999 at two jazz clubs in Kyiv : "Dynamo-Lux" and "Buddy Guy". The material comprises four jazz standards and two leader's originals.
"Wednesday night regulars at Dynamo Lux were given a special treat this week, as the Polish Cultural Centre had invited Poland's most popular jazz trio to give two performances in Ukraine. Piano, drums and bass made the atmosphere very romantic and slightly sad. The tunes inspired some guests to take to the dance floor, where they danced in an unusual style, mixing oriental and medieval elements: ' It's one of the best jazz concerts I've ever heard in Ukraine, enthused Alex Stasko, one of Kyiv's most devoted jazz fans, "I think that the Polish musical school is one of the most promising in Eastern Europe." The trio gave a second very successful performance at the Buddy Guy club as well. The Polish jazzmen have helped to change the commonly held belief in Ukraine that jazz is a black style of music and that the only place to listen to the real thing is New Orleans. Nowadays appreciation of jazz is becoming an indicator of good taste and many Kyiv venues are trying to attract more jazz bands. Polish Trio certainly set a great example of the sound of quality jazz."
Marina Suponina
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The Waning Moon
[1999 Universal Music Poland]
"The music on this recording represents the perfect combination of influences to celebrate the conclusion of this century. At once we have the nostalgic, the cerebral, the intimate, and the universal. Włodek Pawlik's perspective, powers of observation, and sheer joy of music making, allow him to represent his nations cultural history in this unique manner. Simultaneously, he transforms the music through the creative process of jazz as well other world music idioms. (...) With the affirmation of the influence of jazz in the music of our time, Pawlik indeed brings us back to the future."
Tom Kniffic (album notes)
"The Wlodek Pawlik Quartet has released The Waning Moon (Mercury 546739-2), featuring the leader's compositions as well as his piano, with Trent Kynaston on tenor and soprano saxes, Tom Knific on bass, and Tim Froncek on drums. Pawlik's compositions cover a wide range of moods and influences, drawing on a variety of Polish folk music sources, but also on Chopin and Monk. The complex compound folk rhythms of the pianist's native land are used to good advantage on "Pieniny" (a mountain range) and "Polish Folk Dance;" the visiting Americans handle these difficult tunes with ease. The delicate ballad "Almost Nothing" reminds one of another Polish composer-pianist, Krzysztof Komeda, and Kynaston even recalls somewhat Bernt Rosengren, the Swedish tenor man who performed and record often with the famous film score writer. Both saxophonists share an admiration for Stan Getz. Knific also shows his perfect taste and intonation on a lovely solo on this ballad.
The musicianship on The Waning Moon is first rate, and the compositions are superior...."
Piotr Michalowski, Semja Update
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