Tracklist:
01. Domino [8:06]
02. Litania (Part One) [2:41]
03. Stone Ridge [8:00]
04. ... Y Despues De Todo [3:59]
05. Litania (Part Two) [2:06]
06. Quintet's Time [6:48]
07. Pantronic [3:07]
08. The Lark In The Dark [6:41]
09. Love Theme From Farewell To Maria [6:21]
10. ... From The Green Hill [7:46]
11. Buschka [7:10]
12. Roberto Zucco [2:57]
13. Domino's Intro [1:03]
14. Argentyna [6:49]

Recorded August 1998 Rainbow Studio, Oslo
Engineer: Jan Erik Kongshaug
Cover Photo: Jan Jedlicka
Liner Photos: Roberto Masotti
Design: Sascha Kleis
Produced by Manfred Eicher

Personnel:
Tomasz Stanko - trumpet
John Surman - baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Dino Saluzzi - bandoneon
Michelle Makarski - violin
Anders Jormin - double-bass
Jon Christensen - drums

QUOTE

Jazz music has a long history as a social and cultural force in Eastern Europe. As documented so thoroughly in the novels of Josef Skvorecky, during the long twilight of Soviet rule, the vibrancy and freedom of jazz was seen as a threat by the governing authorities. For the powers that be, nothing good could possibly come out of music associated with African-Americans, libidinal impulses, and free experimentation with established rules. Which is precisely why jazz proved to be so attractive to those who wanted to escape from a regime that wanted to become, in the memorable words of the title of one of Skvorecky's novels, an "engineer of human souls." One of the most celebrated jazz musicians from Eastern Europe during the Soviet era was the Polish composer Krzystof Komeda. His life cut tragically short, Komeda is best remembered for the scores he wrote for Roman Polanski's films Knife in the Water and Rosemary's Baby, and for the 1965 album Astigmatic, one of a handful of albums in the history of jazz that the editors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD have accorded a five-star rating. It was on Astigmatic that the current giant of Polish jazz, Tomasz Stanko, made his debut. Already displaying the fierce determination and energy that would characterize his playing over more than three decades, it is doubtful that Komeda's album would have become a masterpiece without the presence of Stanko's fiery trumpet. Stanko's latest release, From the Green Hill, is a remarkable album that is in many ways haunted by Komeda's musical ghost. In line with much of Stanko's other work, From the Green Hill has the feel and sound of a cinematic soundtrack. Two of his projects from 1991, Tales for a Girl and Bluish, experimented with improvisation within the fixed set of codes offered by narratives like those find in fiction, poetry or film-the classical tone poem for adopted to jazz. The twelve fragments of Tales for a Girl felt especially like the theme music for twelve scenes of an unnamed (and probably non-existent) film. The long-simmering link between Stanko's music and cinema was finally made explicit in his last album, Litania (1997), which re-worked the jazz and film music of his mentor, Komeda. The "Litania" theme re-appears on From the Green Hill, as does music from Stanko's score to Polish director Filip Zylber's A Farewell to Maria, but far from seeming like stand-alone pieces, these become elements in the production of a new cinematic landscape-once again, to a film that has yet to be filmed. Were it become a film, the wonderfully evocative music suggests that the screenplay to From the Green Hill would have been adapted from an Eastern European novel of ideas and filmed by Emir Kusturica as a neo-noir. It would have Kusturica's baroque blend of Slavic and gypsy, modern and traditional culture, but would perhaps be more sombre and serious than is usual for films from the Serbian director. From the Green Hill brings together the noir moodiness of Miles Davis' soundtrack to Louis Malle's Elevator to the Gallows or Jerry Goldsmith's title track to Polanski's Chinatown, with a kind of French cafe jazz that sits somewhere halfway between Stephane Grappelli and Edith Piaf. Stanko's trumpet, Anders Jormin's double-bass, and Jon Christensen's drums push the cut and thrust of jazz through the rich, Slavic romanticism of Michelle Makarski's classical violin and Dino Saluzzi's haunting bandoneon, while John Surman goes both ways, plunging into jazz with his sax and into traditional melodies with his bass clarinet. This radical confrontation of different musical styles probably shouldn't work, but it does, and brilliantly so. Icily contemplative and emotional stirring at the same time, Stanko defines himself here as the rightly heir to Komeda's throne. (by Imre Szeman, PopMatters) From the Green Hill is Tomasz Stanko's ECM follow-up to the deservedly acclaimed Litania - The Music of Kryzsztof Komeda. The Polish composer and trumpeter (and former Komeda sideman) teams up with countrywoman Michelle Makarski, ECM stalwarts saxophonist John Surman, bandoneon king Dino Saluzzi, drum god Jon Christensen, and bassist Anders Jormin. The set is comprised mainly of Stanko originals, but there are also compositions by Surman, and two by Komeda, including "Litania." This chamber jazz sextet draws heavily on European jazz influences naturally, but also from Eastern Europe's folk traditions. In this way, Komeda's influence is clearly felt throughout the recording, even on Surman's "Domino." But it is also fair to say that Stanko was there with Komeda at the beginning, and his devotion to the folk traditions of his region had an equally big impact on the late composer though both men were firmly committed to the jazz idiom as the only means of expression for their kind of music. Both men sought to identify the music their group played with their homeland and Eastern Europe. Interestingly, this notion brings out the international aspirations of each musician on the date. On "Litania," Saluzzi moves the interval enough to shift the melody to make it an Italian funeral song. With "Stone Ridge," that follows, Makarski opens Surman's piece with a wistful Hungarian lilt in her violin line, before Stanko's muted trumpet and Surman's bass clarinet wind around each other in a slower than slow counterpoint that brings in Saluzzi's bandoneon with the melody. It's an old modal-sounding piece, which is narrow in its dynamic range but rich in texture and nuance before it turns itself into a gypsy polka. Surman tries his hand at some Dave Tarras klezmer lines on the big clarinet, and the piece evolves again into a post-Miles jazz vamp. Christensen is without doubt the greatest drummer in ECM's regular stable -- yes, that includes Paul Motian. His style is one of the unobtrusive percussionists. He plays like crazy, elegantly weaving and sweeping through the band's changes and never once stutters or, as so many drummers are wont to do, draws any attention himself. His humility is truly remarkable for a percussionist of his caliber. On Stanko's "Love Theme From Farewell to Marie," a blues tune in A minor, Stanko plays with the rhythm section for a bit before Makarski weaves her way in a knot at a time, and Jormin creates a harmonic bond with her. When Saluzzi starts to fill out the changes, he shifts the architecture of the tune so that when Surman slips in, the tone and mode -- let alone the rhythm of these blues -- has become darker, deeper, and mellifluous in its timbral richness and harmonic elegance. Over 14 tunes, Tomasz Stanko reveals once again why he is a bandleader of great authority and integrity. This is an ensemble of powerful individuals and no less than three composers among them. Stanko's arrangements are carried out with equanimity and grace as well as precision and musicality. The result is an album that, while not as attention grabbing as Litania, is as musically inventive and challenging as its predecessor, and wholly more satisfying than most of what comes from Eastern Europe in the name of jazz at the end of the 20th century. (by Thom Jurek, AMG)

SPOILER!

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