Die Hochstapler

Kapela Irka Wojtczaka Band
Rom Tom Dada
Fundacja Sluchaj FSR 17/2021

A variation on Back to the Future, two Northern European quartets create POMO tweaks on traditional genres which the members open up for informed improvisations. Taking his cues from folkloric melodies collected in the 19^th Century from Parzęczew, a small village near where he was brought up, is the essence of Polish saxophonist Irek Wojtczak’s Rom Tom Dada. Wojtczak, who has worked with Joe Fonda, fills out his own band with trumpeter  Tomasz Dąbrowski, bassist Max Mucha and drummer Jan Młynarski, then finds ways to mate these traditional suggestions with contemporary improv. With 25 (!) tracks on Beauty Lies compared to a mere nine on the other, Beauty Lies takes its inspiration from variants of Cool Jazz and Bop that were cutting edge around 1959, Die Hochstapler takes apart and reassembles these motifs with a mixture of reverence and ridicule. Less homogenous than the other, the quartet consists of trumpeter Louis Laurain and saxophonist Pierre Borel from France; German percussionist Hannes Lingens; and Italian bassist Antonio Borghini.

More Bartok than Bacewicz, the peasant melodies on Rom Tom Dada have an expressive lilt and joyousness that link them to Klezmer and Eastern European dances like polkas. But while not destroying the freylekhs and processional aspects of the ditties, Wojtczaka’s arrangements open them up enough for Jazz soloing. Both variants of “Mazur” for instance emphasize interplay between soprano saxophone and trumpet. On the longer version the melody is repeated and extended enough so that individual bite and peeps are prominent. The briefer version come across as a rondo, driven  by Mucha’s string strums and slaps and Młynarski’s drum patterns. On top of the swaying exposition Dąbrowski’s bent note portamento crosses bobbing honks from Wojtczaka. Slower tunes such as “Chodzony” on the other hand bring out the trumpeter’s melancholy side and the saxophonist’s equivalent. Yet as the narrative moves from andante to presto and back again, with Młynarski sounding as if he’s playing a doumbek, it’s the soprano peeps which calm the program. Could there even be an Afro-Cuban tinge to the conga and junkeroo-like beats that the drummer produces on “Ober”? Other than that, as a nasal soprano saxophone lead, woody bass strums and brass harmony moves through the tunes with a stop-time, march tempo, wedding dances and a literal polka are exposed. Confirming Polish roots, the final “Łęczycok” follows bitten off reed slurs from Wojtczaka and some duck-like brass honks with a field-recorded savory fiddle and primitive  vocalizing of a traditional village song.

Meanwhile the tradition Die Hochstapler follows is more attuned to Basie and Bop. With some of the tunes as concise as four seconds, sometimes the quartet members barely get space to express a single motif divided among a powerful walking bass line, beboppy slides and slurs from the trumpeter, swinging drum pops and slippery reed story telling.  Concentrating on the straight-ahead, one of the disc first highpoints come with “Rien Nul” . With its  andante Cool Jazz exposition the piece depends on intertwining muted trumpet blats and high-pitched reed twitters buoyed by cymbal clanks and propelled by a loping bass line. Played at breakneck speed the subsequent “The Genius of Modern Music” has more Laurain-Borel back-and-forth tone-trading spurred on and backed by Lingens’ cymbal clanks and martial drum rolls. All and all the band appears to have built up its strength to reach the mid-point “Anesthesia”. More than 10 minutes long, or almost as lengthy as 10 other tracks together, it moves at a leisurely pace. Unrolling with stop-time emphasis, the piece  combines plunger trumpet work, mewling and growling reed vibrations, drums rolls and arco bass string squeezes. Reaching a crescendo of altisssimo upsurges the exposition alternates between andante and adagio emphasis before concluding. Finally climaxing with enough capacity for sonic elaboration in the third-to-last track “The Great Wars”, which is more swinging than soldierly. Although Lingens occasionally slips into march tempo, the theme soon fragments into  repeated riffs as the horns accent various patterns. Borghini’s bass line is a strong presence throughout, ensuring even the briefest motif doesn’t vanish into inconsequence and the drummer’s few instances of vibraphone emphasis offers inventive coloration with metallic echoes on some of the sequences. Even vibe tinctures, a reed obbligato and double bass pumps can’t save “Napoleon” however. On it Laurain vocalizes in a cracked Chet-Baker like whimper, making simpering bird calls also heard also sound less bothersome. He’s a fine trumpeter and should abandon singing.

Despite this faux pas Beauty Lies offers insight into how Die Hochstapler constructs its post-modern program, matching contradictions and affiliations. For its part, Rom Tom Dada is good clean folkloric fun.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Rom: 1. .Kujon 2. Chodzony 3. Ober 4. Chodzony 5. Mazur 6. Polka 7. Mazur 8. Ober 9. Łęczycok#

Personnel: Rom: Tomasz Dąbrowski (trumpet); Irek Wojtczak (soprano and tenor saxophones); Tadeusz Kubiak (voice and violin)#; Max Mucha (bass) and Jan Młynarski (drums)

Track Listing: Beauty: 1. Time Machine 2. Loop 3. Le 34 4. Parade 5. When you play the Jazz 6. Bells 7. Squid Pro Quo 8. Rien Nul 9. The Genius of Modern Music 10. How Many Hairs 11. Anesthesia 12. Loop 13. True Love 14. J & B 15. Hochstaplacy 16. Napoleon 17. Banana Cage 18. Beauty Lies Within 19. Two Kinds of Blues 20. Loop 21. Der Bürokrat 22. Hochstaplarker 23. The Great Wars 24. J & T 25. Loop

Personnel: Beauty: Louis Laurain (trumpet and vocals); Pierre Borel (alto sax, cymbals and bird calls); Antonio Borghini (bass) and Hannes Lingens (drums and vibraphone)