Jakub Klimiuk Quintet, Music Spoken Here, The Marr’s Bar, Worcester, 31/10/2024.

Jakub Klimiuk – guitar, Simeon May – tenor saxophone, Cody Moss – keyboards, Huw V Williams- double bass, Adam Merrell – drums

Jakub Klimiuk is a Polish born guitarist, composer and bandleader based in London. He began learning the classical guitar at the age of nine before acquiring an electric guitar in his teens, with which he experimented with rock, metal and blues before becoming interested in jazz. Blues guitarists such as BB King and Stevie Ray Vaughan were early sources of inspiration, with the music of musicians such as Miles Davis and John Scofield later helping to steer Klimiuk down the jazz route.

He studied jazz at a music college in Gdansk before moving to London in 2020 to further his studies at The Guildhall, graduating in 2023. Klimiuk enjoyed living in London so much that he decided to stay, quickly establishing himself on the capital’s jazz scene and helping to organise the regular Whirlpool Sessions for young jazz musicians at the city’s Vortex Jazz Club.

As the leader of his own quintet Klimiuk has released two recordings to date, the 2022 EP “Reluctance” and the full length album “(un)balanced” (May, 2024). Both recordings feature the core of tonight’s line up with Simeon May on tenor sax, Cody Moss on keyboards and Adam Merrell at the drums. The bass chair on both recordings is filled by the mysteriously named Kinzan (aka Harry Pearce), who is currently pursuing solo projects, hence the recruitment of the estimable Huw V Williams, a musician already familiar to me following his days based in Cardiff.

Two tracks on the “(un)balanced” album feature the talents of guest Mark Lockheart who appears on tenor saxophone as May switches to bass clarinet.

Here’s what the Quintet’s Bandcamp page has to say about their music in general and the “(un)balanced” recording in particular;
https://jakubklimiukquintet.bandcamp.com/music

“Jakub Klimiuk Quintet combines modern jazz with influences from Scandinavian improvised music, Eastern European folk and contemporary classical pieces. The resultant repertoire, consisting of original compositions, is a highly energetic mix of scripted forms and free improvisation, drawing from various genres but at the same time staying deeply rooted in the jazz tradition”.

“The album tells the story of seeking balance in today’s reality, manoeuvring through the overwhelming deluge of information and striving to discover inspiration in everyday routine.
Jakub’s writing reflects the titular state between order and chaos. The pieces blend harmony with disorder, dissonance with consonance, free improvisation with structured forms. In line with the counterbalance implied by the title, the compositions combine challenging structures and rhythmic intricacies with melodic themes. Drawing inspiration from contrasting influences ranging from traditional jazz to the Scandinavian improvised scene and contemporary New York jazz, the musicians create a sound full of exciting tension.
The pieces are linked by a series of solo and duet improvised studies, which bring the listener closer to the personal experiences and styles of each instrumentalist. These musical expressions can be perceived as intros and outros to the tracks, enhancing the relationship between musicians’ distinct individual voices and Jakub’s compositions. Studies serve as a reflection on human instincts, emotions, and intentions.”

Items from both recording were featured this evening as were unaccompanied solo episodes that formed the equivalent of the “Study” pieces from “(un)balanced”. It was common for one or more compositions to be segued together, often with one of the individual improvised episodes functioning as an intro or a link.

It was good to see such a young band attracting a decent sized crowd to the Marr’s Bar and to see the audience really getting behind what was sometimes some pretty complex music. As can be seen from the above Klimiuk’s compositions are episodic and embrace a myriad of twists and turns. Each musician seemed to have a veritable ream of sheet music to negotiate in addition to having to be able to function effectively as an improviser. This was challenging but accessible music that was rich in terms of melody, colour, rhythm and texture.

The quintet commenced with “Absence of Colour” from the “un)balanced” album, which began quietly and lyrically with May’s airy tenor sax melodies underpinned by Merrell’s brushed drums. The pastoral mood became less pronounced as the music gradually gathered momentum, with both Klimiuk and May delivering fluent and increasingly powerful solos. As a guitarist Klimiuk favours a clean, almost orthodox jazz guitar sound but for all that his playing still sounds very contemporary with Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell and particularly Kurt Rosenwinkel also cited as significant influences.

The first segue of the night followed, commencing with “Apart” a tune from the “Reluctance” EP.
Introduced by sax and keys this featured a more angular sound centred around a 6/8 meter and also incorporated near free jazz improvised episodes. More conventional jazz solos then followed from May on tenor and Moss at his Nord Stage 3 keyboard, deploying an electric piano or ‘Rhodes’ sound.
A passage of unaccompanied guitar provided the link into “Casio”, a composition sourced from the recent full length album. Influenced by Latin and Brazilian music this piece represented a conscious attempt by Klimiuk to write a “happy tune”, but despite its generally upbeat feel it also included free jazz episodes, with May briefly deploying extended saxophone techniques. The excellent Williams was featured with a dexterous double bass solo as Moss provided counter melodies from the keyboard. Moss then delivered his own solo, before handing over to the leader, who soloed in appropriately joyous fashion on guitar.

“Distance”, the closing track on the “(un)balanced” album was involved in the conclusion of the first half. In a performance that differed significantly to the recorded version a delicate sax led theme, that introduced an elmentof of Loose Tubes style quirkiness, led into a keyboard solo from Moss. Like many of Klimiuk’s compositions this was a piece that developed through a series of distinct phases as a blues and funk element was introduced that suggested the acknowledged influence of Scofield. Increasingly powerful rhythms fuelled May’s strident tenor sax soloing as the music continued to gather momentum.
Williams’ use of the bow at the close helped to provide the link into “Illusion” another tune from the latest album. With its odd meter funk grooves this displayed even more of a Scofield influence and rounded off the set in rousing fashion with an impassioned tenor solo from May and a searing guitar excursion from the leader, hitting the distortion pedal for the first time. A great way to end an absorbing and entertaining first set.

Set two commenced with “Sceptical”, one of the pieces from “(un)balanced” that features Mark Lockheart. Even without the presence of the quintet’s illustrious guest and with May handling tenor duties this still sounded good as the piece was introduced by an improvised dialogue between sax and guitar. May and Klimiuk then delivered more conventional jazz solos as the second half got up and running. Klimiuk informed us that it was a possibility that Lockheart might able to join them in the fuure on selected gigs. It was a shame that he couldn’t be here tonight, but this piece worked just fine in the quintet format, a sign of the strength and adaptability of Klimiuk’s writing.

Klimiuk explained that “Episode”, an appropriately titled tune from the “Reluctance” EP, was the first piece that he had ever written for the band. With its lilting tenor sax and guitar led theme this was a gently lyrical composition that incorporated melodic solos from Williams on double bass and Moss at the keyboard. There was also a neatly constructed drum feature from the excellent Merrell towards the close. At first I thought that this might be the link into another piece, but I was mistaken.

The predominately mellow mood continued into the next item, a segue of the tunes “Dualism” and “Wait”, which are actually sequenced together on the “(un)balanced” recording.  Dualism” is a genuine ballad and was ushered in here by Moss at the keyboard, subsequently joined by guitar, double bass and brushed drums as May temporarily left the stage. Gently lyrical solos followed from guitar and keyboard before May returned for the more upbeat “Wait”. This re-introduced some of the earlier funk leanings and featured powerful and lucid solos from May and Klimiuk, with the guitarist deploying a spattering of extended techniques.

There was a return to the EP repertoire for the closing item, “Beach”. Introduced by the leader on guitar this was a complex piece that again revealed something of a John Scofield influence. Moss took the first solo at the keyboard but the piece was really a tour de force for Klimiuk who really rocked out on an extended solo that saw him deploying his full range of guitar effects.

This high energy performance helped to elicit a deserved encore, a rendition of an as yet unrecorded composition called “Deptford”. Designed to capture something of the edgy atmosphere of that part of south London this was another energetic, uptempo piece that included hard hitting solos from May and Klimiuk plus a suitably dynamic drum feature from Merrell.

Although Music Spoken Here promoter Dave Fuller admitted that he’d taken a bit of a chance by booking the Klimiuk Quintet ‘unseen’ it proved to be a gamble that paid off handsomely. This was a memorable night at the Marr’s Bar with the five young virtuosos being given a great reception by an attentive and appreciative audience. Klimiuk speaks impeccable English and his warm and informative presenting style also helped to endear him to the Worcester crowd.

More importantly he’s a hugely accomplished guitarist with a formidable technique and also a composer of impressive maturity and vision and his recorded output is highly recommended. There seems to be something of a ‘buzz’ building around the Jakub Klimiuk Quintet and the group’s reputation as band to look out for is very much deserved.

My thanks to Jakub, Cody, Simon and Huw for speaking with me at length during the interval and after the show and to Jakub for the gift of the excellent “(un)balanced”, a genuinely impressive piece of work.

I commented to Jakub that his group’s music, with its guitar / sax frontline and the frequent use of complex rhythms sometimes reminded me of Partisans, so it didn’t come as a total surprise to learn that he had been tutored by Partisans guitarist Phil Robson.

But the conversations weren’t just about music and I was pleased to introduce Cody and Simeon to the delights of the locally brewed beer Wye Valley HPA (Hereford Pale Ale). Cody was so impressed he even took a couple of bottles home with him!

Seriously Jakub and his bandmates are genuinely nice guys and hugely talented musicians. It’ s good to see them beginning to make their mark on the UK jazz scene and we were very privileged to see them in Worcester.

IAN MANN

Dave Fuller of Music Spoken Here has written the following account of this event;

Jakub Klimiuk Quintet delivered the goods!

Thanks to everyone who came down Thursday for Jakub Klimiuk Quintet - a much better turnout this time, more than twice what we had for Wild Card at the beginning of the month (although there is always plenty of room for more of you - don’t be shy)!

Guitarist Jakub Klimiuk, who also composed all the pieces performed, was joined by Simeon May on sax, who I discovered has worked with quite a few musicians from the Birmingham scene. The rhythm section comprised Cody Moss on keys, Huw V Williams on bass and Adam Merrell on drums.

The set featured music from Jakub’s debut album (un)balanced, released in May this year, which includes seven full compositions, interspersed with brief studies from each of the players. The set opened with the pleasingly mellow and melodic Absence of Colour, the third track on the album. This gave both Jakub and Simeon lots of space to improvise, each with beautiful tone.

An introduction to the band was then followed by Apart, a piece from their 2022 Reluctance EP that, while centred on a 6/8 meter, broke into free passages of syncopated improvisation mainly led by Simeon and Cody, before falling back into the groove and a sweet electric piano solo from Cody on his Nord Stage keyboard. A solo guitar passage segued into the lively samba / calypso feel of Casio - which Jakub intentionally wrote as a “happy tune” and hit the mark, also featuring Huw with a delightful bass solo. The first set closed out with Distance, the final track of the album, which sold a few copies on CD during the break - always a good indication of appreciation from the audience.

The band returned to open the second set with Sceptical, the track recorded on the album as a sextet featuring Mark Lockheart (who incidentally is the uncle of saxophonist Dan Lockheart, who opened our Autumn program in September last year). On the recording, Simeon played bass clarinet on this piece, an instrument that seems to be making an appearance at a few of our gigs, including Jingu Bang last year and Hejira in the summer. As Simeon had travelled on the train for this gig, he had brought only his tenor sax, but the piece was done more than justice by the quintet nonetheless.

This was followed by Episode, which Jakub announced as the first composition the band had played together, also from the Reluctance EP. It was another mellow, melodic piece which included a brief feature from Adam, as well as giving Huw another stretch on the fingerboard of his upright bass. Dualism and Wait are adjacent towards the end of the album and one played into the other in this performance, with the set ending on Beach, the third tune of the evening taken Reluctance, indicating a decent repertoire of original compositions that young Jakub has already got in the bag. The audience had already been prepared for this moment, and with calls for “Więcej!” (Polish for “More”), the band returned for a delightful encore.

Most of the bands I book for our program I already know, or have seen before. I took a punt on Jakub and his quintet, not least as he was, shall we say, “on the ball” in following up with me throughout the year. I’m sure all present will agree, it paid off!

DAVE FULLER

 

 

 

blog comments powered by Disqus