1		Discovery
2		White Tree
3		Good News
4		Green Water
5		Shadows
6		Shape & Shade
7		Blanka Centauri + It's Only A Dream

Bartłomiej 'Brat' Oleś – drums
Kenny Werner – piano
Marcin Oleś - double bass

According to psychologist Carl Jung, certain aspects of the personality are rarely acknowledged by the conscious mind, but make themselves known symbolically through dreams. One such manifestation, the Shadow, represents attributes that are instinctive and have been repressed. Recognizing the Shadow's presence may help bridge the gap between the Ego and the Self, leading to a greater awareness of one's creative impulses.

Pianist Kenny Werner, whose influential book 'Effortless Mastery' is widely used as a textbook in music pedagogy, has much to add about breaking down the barriers of artistic expression. He believes that an education is a necessary evil that provides the rudiments of technique but also restricts individuality. Mastery offers various methods to eliminate those restrictions, allowing the artist to unmask the secret forces that drive spontaneous creation.

There are no apparent creative obstructions as Werner joins Polish drummer Bartlomiej "Brat" Oles on the latter's recording Shadows, which also features Brat's brother Marcin on bass. Having always wanted to attempt a piano trio album, Brat could not have arranged for a more archetypal proponent of the format than Werner, for whom the trio has long been the group setting of choice.

Brat wrote all of the compositions excluding Marcin's "Green Water," which appeared previously on the bassist's own quartet recording Walk Songs and already sounds like a standard. A fine composer and highly skilled drummer, Brat nevertheless refuses to showboat: Shadows is arguably a platform for Werner, with the Oles brothers providing a typically solid foundation.

This is not to suggest that Werner, a seasoned player who offsets his boundless originality with tasteful restraint, eclipses his bandmates in any way. Few bass players strive for the kind of lyricism with which Marcin performs his solos, and Brat's exquisitely nuanced drumming makes hearing the disc through headphones a must.

A sense of balance between light and dark is maintained throughout the recording; for example, "Good News" navigates a bumpy emotional terrain, but its lively and subdued sections are held together by a sly thematic unity. Whenever the need arises, the group swings something fierce, so it's regrettable that the disc mellows a bit too early; however, this is more a result of track sequencing than of content.

The title of the closing track, "It's Only a Dream," is somewhat ironic given the importance that dreams have to artistic expression; witness surrealism, or virtually the entire medium of cinema. If dreams are where the imagination is free to roam, unbound by the neuroses of the conscious mind, then Shadows is, indeed, only a dream. --Brad Glanden, allaboutjazz.com

O poprzedniej płycie braci Olesiów „Walk songs” nagranej w kwartecie z Simonem Nabatovem i Chrisem Speedem Michał Palkaj w Diapazonie napisał (...) Choć Bracia grają już ze sobą przez dłuższy czas to dwóch nowych muzyków pozwoliło im popatrzeć na siebie jak poprzez wyszlifowany diament mający wiele płaszczyzn. Inny pryzmat padania światła! Inny widok. To wzbudziło nowe inspiracje wobec siebie i, choć niektórzy się nie zgodzą, ten materiał to zupełnie coś nowego. (...).

Późną jesienią ubiegłego roku, na początku gwiazdkowego szaleństwa uważni fani jazzu mogli uczestniczyć w kilku wyjątkowych koncertach, na zaproszenie braci Olesiów do Polski przyjechał Kenny Warner, jeden z wyżej cenionych pianistów jazzowych (można go usłyszeć na najnowszej płycie z wytwórni Blue Note: Nigel Kennedy „Blue Note Sessions”, gdzie występuje wraz z innymi tuzami jazzu Joe Lovano, Ronem Carterem i Jackiem DeJohnette). Były t

o niezapomniane wieczory, pełne niewymuszonej wirtuozerii, ogromnej muzykalności członków zespołu i wielkiej kultury muzycznej.

Konsekwencją koncertów była sesja nagraniowa w studio, podczas której trio Oleś / Werner / Oleś nagrało osiem jazzowo spełnionych kompozycji. ---wsm.serpent.pl

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01. Echoes (M.Oles) [05:32]
02. Una Muy Bonita (O.Coleman) [04:28]
03. Windows (M.Oles) [03:40]			play
04. Lonely Women 1 (O.Coleman) [02:24]
05. Shapes (M.Oles) [04:17]
06. Blessing (O.Coleman) [03:26]
07. Lonely Women 2 (O.Coleman) [01:59]
08. Soap Suds (O.Coleman) [03:37]
09. Law Years (O.Coleman) [04:16]
10. Humpty Dumpty (O.Coleman) [03:43]
11. Questions (M.Oles) [04:22]
12. Lonely Women 3 (O.Coleman) [02:49]		play

Marcin Oles - double bass

...countless musicians have been examining, interpreting and saluting the work of Coleman, who in his originality was seen as a "wild man" of jazz, when he first recorded in 1958. Oles may be the first bassist to record a whole solo CD of Coleman themes. But considering many of the heads harken back to the country blues string band tradition, a bull fiddle would seem to be ideal for the task.

You'll certainly believe that once you're heard the Krakow-based bassist traverse the tunes. For instance on "Humpty Dumpty", he speeds up the tempo a bit, yet here and throughout the disc he allows the basic song-like quality of Coleman's themes to come out. At times as well, his vibrations are such that plucks and the echoing malleable harmonic tones almost sound like two basses.

"Blessing", on the other hand, is focused on relaxed pizzicato stylings that range all over the strings. Using a mellow tone, Oles never loses sight of the melody, even when double-stopping. For a climax he downshifts to barely audible plucks, then revs up to a more swinging pulse. "Law Years" gets a dramatic polyphonic reading with fricative broken cadenzas. Furthermore, his concentrated pizzicato slaps and his harsh arco runs are so convincing that any need for Coleman's alto saxophone stating the head are negated. Oles is comfortable enough with the music to create his own variations as well, adding a "Pop Goes the Weasel" interlude to "Soap Suds" after repetitive staccato bowing to give more color to the proceedings. He also performs three short versions of "Lonely Woman" -- the saxman's most famous composition -- each substantially different. One turns the piece into a slap-bass showcase, with the variations preceding the overly familiar theme that's signaled with flat-picking strums. More straightforward, the second features a throbbing ostinato from the lower strings; while the third and final atmospheric bowed version brings out the impressionistic menace buried within the tune. - Ken Waxman

Marcin Oleś - Ornette On Bass Ta niezwykła płyta może stać się wydarzeniem na skalę międzynarodową. Może, ale nie musi. To zależy od tego czy informacja o tym nagraniu wykroczy poza nasze krajowe opłotki.

Jeden z najciekawszych polskich kontrabasistów odważył się na nagranie solowej płyty, ba i zmierzył się przy okazji z kompozycjami Ornette'a Colemana. Nagranie solowej płyty nie jest być może sztuką samą w sobie. Ale skupienie uwagi słuchacza przez ponad 45 minut, proponując przy okazji spójną koncepcję muzyczną, jest sztuką najwyższych lotów. Oleś wybrał oczywistą na pozór formę konstrukcji płyty. Każdy utwór gra inaczej, przechodząc od piccicata do gry smyczkiem, zmieniając dynamikę i rytmikę. Napisałem na pozór, bo nie jest to płyta efekciarska. Każda zmiana techniki wynika z konsekwentnie zrealizowanej myśli przewodniej wykonawcy, zarazem autora 4 zarejestrowanych kompozycji. Pozostałe należą do najbardziej znanych utworów Ornette'a Colemana: "Blessing", "Una Muy Bonita", "Humpty Dumpty" i "Lonely Women". Ten ostatni utwór Marcin wykonał aż trzy razy, za każdym razem całkowicie inaczej.

"Ornette On Bass" to bardzo dobra, ale zarazem wyrafinowana płyta. Ma ponadto rzadką we współczesnej muzyce cechę. Może się podobać zarówno wytrawnym znawcom, jak i rozpoczynającym słuchanie trudniejszych nagrań. Pod warunkiem, że jedni i drudzy okażą wrażliwość na piękno. --- Andrzej E. Grabowski (Diapazon.pl)

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1. Evil's Eyes
2. Green Water
3. In Progress	play
4. Wise Guy
5. Q Square
6. Walk Song I	play
7. Walk Song II
8. Long Day
9. Seven Days

Musicians:
Marcin Oles - double bass
Chris Speed - tenor sax
Simon Nabatov - piano
Bartlomiej Brat Oles – drums

All compositions by Marcin Oles except Long Dat and Q square by Bartlomiej Brat Oles.

Oles brothers, Marcin on bass and Bartlomiej on drums, form one of the best and most creative rhytm sections in polish jazz these days. This album comes as second album for Marcin Oles as a leader and is featuring two foreign musicians whose play is of stellar quality. Since in my country guests always come first let us focus at the beginning on Chris Speed playing on tenor saxophone and Simon Nabatov on piano.

Chris Speed, born in Seattle, USA in 1967 is musician whose bio simply astounds especially when taking into account his relatively young age. He played in such a renown groups as Dave Douglas Sextet, Erik Friedlander's Chimera, John Zorn's Bar Kohba or Tim Berne's Bloodcount to name just a few. Further he is now a member of excellent Jim Black's Alasnoaxis (both Seatlle compatriots although living in New York) and John Hollenbeck Claudia Quintet. He also leads his own groups of remarkable renown and significance like Human Fell (Andre D'Angelo and Kurt Rosenwinkel), Trio Iffy (Ben Perovsky, Jamie Saft) or Pachora (Jim Black, Skulli Sverrison, Brad Shepik). On top of that he also runs very interesting Skirl Records company!!! Well, we shall not be very much puzzled that in the meantime (???) this guy likes to travel abroad and discover swhat Middle East and East European folk and jazz music have to offer for him. In one of such a journeys he apparently dropped in to Poland and recorded this awasome album, for the benefit of Oles Brothers and, most importantly, jazz audience in this country. Thanks Chris :-)

Simon Nabatov is no less interesting story. He was born in Moscow, Russia in 1959 where he received excellent musical education. Being 20 he benefited his jewish origin and managed to emigrate with his whole family to USA via Italy, where in Rome he started to play jazz accompanying Chet Baker and Art Farmer. He soon relocated to New York, a city of dreams for every jazzman and still a challenge for any musician trying to survive there making for his living as an artist. He was fortunate to be able to study in Juilliard School and struggled to establish his name as jazz musician. He then moved back to Europe however and is living in Germany now playing both jazz with the likes of Paul Motian, Steve Lacy , Arthur Blythe or Mark Helias and classical music of Russian composers. Truly unique personality in European and world jazz.

To record his own album with such musicians is great achievemnt for Marcin Oles and make us curious who is he to be able to persuade artis of that calibre to cooperate with him? He was born in Sosnowiec in 1973 and his musical eduction was conducted by his father, himself double bass player as well. What is exceptional in his brilliant jazz career is that he started to play succesfully with creme de creme of young, unorthodox polish jazz players (Adam Pieronczyk, Mikolaj Trzaska and Andrzej Przybylski) but also that he very early displayed great potential as leader and seeker of innovation in jazz. This creativity together with excellent musicianship was soon realized by players in Poland but Marcin also showed extraordinary persistence in drawing to him the great foreign personalities in world jazz. Inn result he may now boast to have recordings with such artist as Theo Jorgensmann, Jean-Luc Capozzo, David Murray, Ken Vandermark, Erik Friedlander or Herb Robertson.

What is true for Marcin Oles is also true for his twin brother Bartlomiej who plays on drums since they usually play together. I shall write about Barlomiej more extensively on another occasion just not make this post too long.

And how about music? In my opinion it's simply excellent, higly recommendable. All compositions are by Marcin Oles except Long Day and Q Square which are by Bartlomiej Brat Oles. They are as good as one can expect and I simply see no weak points in this recording. By this album Marcin Oles convinced me of his exceptional talent and I shall wait for his next recordings with impatience. He is new and significant force not only in polish jazz but in european as well.

Bracia Marcin i Bartłomiej Brat Oleś jako jedni z nielicznych polskich jazzmanów niestrudzenie wyprowadzają polski jazz na światowe sceny. Ich spotkania z „wielkimi” współczesnego jazzu przyniosły bodaj najbardziej elektryzującą muzykę ostatnich lat w Polsce. Nie jest tajemnicą, że wielką chorobą rodzimej sceny jazzowej jest jej hermetyczność. Bracia Oleś pokazują, że konfrontowanie się z najlepszymi musi w efekcie przynieść artystyczny sukces.

Najnowsza płyta „Walk songs”, która właśnie się ukazała, nagrana została z Simonem Nabatovem (w Polsce znanym z występu w Poznaniu w 1996 roku w kwartecie z Arthurem Blyte’em czy z ostatniego koncertu kwartetu Oleś/Nabatov/Speed/Oleś na Festiwalu Pianistów Jazzowych 2005 w Kaliszu) i Chrisem Speedem (członek zespołów Pachora, Trio Iffy, yeah NO, AlasNoAxis, wielokrotnie współpracował z muzykami tej miary co John Zorn, Tim Berne, Mark Dresser, Steven Bernstein, Uri Caine, Jim Black).

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1. One [12:32] 
2. Uncle B. [05:53]
3. Ideas (part one) [09:43]
4. Ideas (part two) [06:56]
5. Still Up [06:45]
6. Layers [08:35]
7. West Coast [04:42]
8. Tightrope [02:59]		play
9. Drumsax County [04:16]	play
10. Sonus [05:29]

Musicians:
Ken Vandermark - tenor & baritones saxes, clarinet
Marcin Oles - double bass
Bartlomiej Brat Oles – drums

Our first contact with Ken Vandermark was just a handshake - at one of the concerts in Poland of the DKV formation. Marek Winiarski, the boss of NotTwo Records, introduced us to each other. Some time passed until we had the chance to play together for the first time. When the Vandermark Five gave a concert, at the Cracow music club Alchemia,we got together after and jammed. The idea of recording an album together was with us before the evening had ended. We had prepared original compositions for the recording session, but we talked before going into the studio, and after Ken Vandermark's suggest we decided for the recording to be one of the free improvisation. We normally work in different musical fields and despite that, or maybe just because of that, every meeting like this brings about a new experience, even a kind of journey into the unknown... ---Marcin & Bartlomiej Brat Oles

Najpierw trio z braćmi Olesiami (nagrane i wydane w Polsce! - hymny pochwalne dla Marka Winiarskiego i jego Not Two pozostawiam na kolejne recenzje z płyt tego wydawnictwa - zapewne już niebawem). "Ideas", blisko 70 minut kolektywnych im-prowizacji tria (wbrew wczesnym sugestiom braci Ken nie chciał grać gotowych kompozycji przez nich przygotowanych) i zapewne całkiem ciekawa konstatacja, iż od pierwszej do ostat-niej minuty tego nagrania słychać, że jest to płyta braci Oleś (!). No właśnie - to Vandermark poskromił swój gorący temperament i poszedł wedle linii olesiowych, raczej wyciszonych, często kameralnych improwizacji. Zatem "Ideas", jak każda płyta Marcina i Bartłomieja, wymaga skupienia, wsłuchiwania się w każdy dźwięk. Dla wytrwałych nagroda jest duża. I taka myśl na koniec - to z pewnością najlepsza pozycja w dorobku braci, choć z pewnością nie najważniejsza w dyskografii Kena. Cóż z tego wynika - posłuchajcie i skonstatujcie sami. ---Andrzej Nowak

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