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Lontano | 
| Artist: Tomasz Stanko
Label: Ecm
Category: Music
List Price: £14.99
Buy New: £13.98
You Save: £1.01 (7%)
New (16) from £9.25
Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 40940
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 000715202
UPC: 602498773802
EAN: 0602498773802
ASIN: B000GKH246
Release Date: September 4, 2006
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 6 to 10 days
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| Tracks:
| • | Lontano I | | • | Cyrhla | | • | Song For Ania | | • | Kattorna | | • | Lontano II | | • | Sweet Thing | | • | Trista | | • | Lontano III | | • | Tale |
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| Customer Reviews:
 Interesting, but not fully developed December 26, 2008
There is a post-Miles Davis school of trumpet players, just like there is a post-Bill Evans school of pianists. The post-Miles trumpet sound is somewhat forlorn, lonely, and it is following the principle that less is more. (Which I, by the way, think is usually true in music.)The playing of Polish trumpet player Tomasz Stanko on his ECM releases is, I think, well characterized that way. His accompanying trio of piano, bass and drums is competent, though not revolutionarily imaginative. The music on this album varies from intellectual abstraction (in a Paul Bley, Evan Parker, Barre Phillips kind of way) to neo-romantic minimalism. At times, the more abstract pieces conjure up street life in a metropolis: People are moving alone, minding their own business, not even communicating, each one headed in their own direction; yet together they form a street scene that makes complete sense. The romantic pieces strike me as typical ECM stuff, for better or worse. They get boring easily, as far as I am concerned.
At times I find myself thinking he should have chosen one or the other, romanticism or abstraction, because he fails to connect the two styles in a meaningful way. Then again, that might have turned out wearisome (in the case of abstraction) or boring (in the case of romanticism).
All in all, not a must have release, but an interesting CD that has some very nice moments on it and doesn't get dull after repeated listens. 3,5 stars, which I'll make 3 officially to voice my criticism.
 Incredible March 13, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This album is an experience, I just recently came across Stanko and I'm glad I did.
amazing music.
Matchless magic October 1, 2006
39 out of 40 found this review helpful
Much has been made of the radical new sound of this release. As it is unmistakeably a Tomasz Stanko quartet release and follows in the footsteps of Soul of Things and Suspended Night, I think that this claim has been a little overplayed. That said, there is more organic feel to this fantastic new recording. That it is a freer might seem odd given that Soul of Things and Suspended Night both effectively comprised a dozen or so variations on a theme. By comparison, on Lontano the lengthy improvisations (Lontano I, II and III no less) are interspersed with Stanko compositions and one cover of a Krystof Komeda track whose music will be familiar to those who have heard Stanko's Litania recording of the late 1990s.
Implausibly (given his sustained excellence), Stanko's playing has never sounded better. The trumpet is less busy than before but the tone is exemplary - more breathy and soulful than on Soul of Things and Suspended Night. The songs evolve and develop more than on previous releases, most noticeably the lengthy three piece suite Lontano but also the composed self-standing songs such as Cyrrhia. As befits these songs, the Quartet manages to be more hesitant, suggestive yet assured in its playing which is the mark of true ensemble musicianship.
The least successful track is Kattorna, the Krsytof Komeda composition from 40 odd years ago (and apparently covered by Stanko's backing musicians in their pre Quartet days). The musicianship of the quartet on this song is of the highest order and says something about the remainder of the album but the more up-front jazz (with little signature blasts of trumpet reminiscent of Suspended Night) does not impress as much as the other more contemplative tracks.
The most successful track is Tale which closes the album and sounds nothing like the original version recorded 30 years ago on Stanko's ECM debut, Balladyna. Where the original is jerky, the version on Lontano is luscious, in no little part to the addition of piano, played with great sensuality by Wasilewski.
In fact, one of Stanko's greatest attributes is giving his fellow musicians space to breathe and play and not in any token solo way either. The empathy on Lontano III for example is breathtaking - an almost perfect mix of texture, atmosphere, melody - and all the more so for being an improvisation. Wasilewski is much feted and rightly so and his sound is reminiscent of Bobo Stenson's in much of this album. As I have mentioned in reviewing Suspended Night, in my opinion, the real star live is Miskiewicz and he and bassist Kurkiewicz do not suffer by comparison.
In short, this is Stanko's seventh recording for ECM in the last eleven years. This is arguably the best of an excellent crop and is unlikely to be bettered by a jazz album for the remainder of the year.
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