Roman Babik & Atom String Quartet - Might Be Spring (2023) [Official Digital Download 24/88]

It is not new that jazz people sometimes make a foray into chamber music. Solo piano plus string quartet doesn't really happen that often. What is the appeal of this connection? Let's look at it this way: When the saxophonist or trumpeter plays their solo in a jazz quartet, the piano gives them a safe, inspiring sound chamber in which they can develop freely. And what does the pianist do if he wants to play in such a sound chamber? The best thing he can do is go on a journey with a string quartet. But, correctly, in this case it is the pianist who went on the journey. Roman Babik traveled to Warsaw with his Bully and was in the studio there for two days with the Atom String Quartet. The result is finally available in this great and very special album.

The real art is not to conceive the quartet in the sense of a collage of two worlds, but rather to let it become a jazz-like whole. Roman Babik proves that this is exactly what he wants right from the first track, “Might Be Spring”, where the first string sounds come as a backbeat, so to speak. A clearly romantically written jazz waltz. Wasn't it Bill Evans who loved jazz in triple meter so much? Isn't one of his most beautiful albums called "You Must Believe In Spring"? Well, it's hard to imagine a more worthy homage from a young pianist. With this, Roman Babik sets the bar high and confirms, piece by piece, that the placement is correct.

The special quality of the four poles, which goes beyond the sound world of a conventional quartet, is the rare ability to create a sound that is truly typical of jazz. When the solo violin begins to solo in the same first piece, the singing tone has an individuality that does not exist in the classical discipline. Jazz is not just about the groove and sound, but also about its own, unmistakable sound, and the four poles probably do that better than any other quartet that ventures into the jazz world.

Roman Babik knows how to use the romantic gravity of the world in a minor key, into which only a late romantic string sound can lead him. But of course the rhythmic quality of Babik also needs the other end of the rainbow. And the dancing pizzicati in Turning Point create an atmosphere that is a little reminiscent of Sting's Englishman in New York, but it's a Wupperman in Warsaw. The sound quality of the album meets the highest standards. Let's take a pizzicato again, the cello in "Clear Confusion" is so cleverly miked that you can locate your own ear directly at the bridge of the instrument.

Tracklist:
01. Might Be Spring
02. Turning Point
03. Noah
04. Clear Confusion
05. November Walk
06. Pardon, My Steps
07. So Far
08. Talk to Me


Thanks to the Original customer!