Tomasz Stanko "Litania" live at JazzFest Berlin 2011

Tomasz Stańko trumpet
Mark Turner saxophone
Joakim Milder saxophone
Marcin Wasilewski piano
Sławomir Kurkiewicz bass
Michał Miśkiewicz drums
recorded live at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage, November 3, 2011

1. Litania (Krysztof Komeda)
2. Sleep Safe And Warm (Krysztof Komeda)
3. Svantetic (Krysztof Komeda)
4. Ballada (Krysztof Komeda)

Tomasz Stańko was 20 and a graduate of the Cracow Music Academy when he formed his first band, the Jazz Darings, with pianist Adam Makowicz in 1962. Inspired by early Ornette Coleman and the innovations of Coltrane, Miles Davis and George Russell, the group is often cited by music historians as the first European group to play free jazz, but for the trumpeter its importance was eclipsed by the invitation to join Krzysztof Komeda’s quintet the following year. Stańko toured for five years with Komeda, appeared on eleven albums with him, and also made contributions to all of the films scores that Komeda realized in Poland.
In 1970, Stańko joined Alex Schlippenbach’s Globe Unity Orchestra, which brought him into contact with all the key figures of the European jazz avant-garde, and also formed a quintet, with violinist Zbigniew Seifert. The following year he collaborated with Krysztof Penderecki and Don Cherry. His most important work of the 1970s, however, may have been with Finnish drummer Edward Vesala.
During the 1980s Tomasz Stanko explored many approaches to improvisation and when many Polish musicians left the country in the late eighties he kept true his roots. From his Polish homebase he went travelling to India, worked extensively with Cecil Taylor and, together with the crop of the Scandinavian scene, did recordings for ECM – amongst them the album Litania (1996).
The JazzFest Berlin 2011 edition will see an updated version of this Komeda-tribute, with members of Stańko’s ‘house band’, the Wasilewski Trio, and Joakim Milder from the original cast.

Mark Turner, Larry Grenadier, Jeff Ballard: Fly live at JazzBaltica 2010

Mark Turner, tenor saxophone

Larry Grenadier, bass

Jeff Ballard, drums

recorded live at Große Konzertscheune, Salzau, July 2010

1. Lady B (Jeff Ballard)

2. Super Sister (Mark Turner)

3. Emergence/ Resurgence (Larry Grenadier)

4. The Fruit (Bud Powell)

5. Fly Mr. Freakjar (Mark Turner, Larry Grenadier, Jeff Ballard)

6. Brothersister (Mark Turner)

7. Child´s Play (Jeff Ballard)

8. State Of The Union  (Mark Turner)

Fly is a leaderless collective comprised of three influential American jazz musicians Mark Turner, Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard are all powerful individual voices in the jazz community (One, both or all have graced the performances and recordings of Chick Corea, Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Pat Metheny, Charles Lloyd, to name just a few.) who have created a cohesive unit that expresses each part while creating an uniquely realized whole. In other words, they celebrate the group, without sacrificing the individual. In the era of individual "star" instrumentalists, the idea of a truly collective trio can be a difficult concept to fathom. Yet collectivity is what the FLY trio strives for; and collectivity is what they so unabashedly and unquestionably achieve. Ballard, Grenadier and Turner - all very sought-after session-musicians/side-men - represent three rather distinct musical personalities -- simultaneously complimentary and contrasting. "Because we've all been sidemen a lot, the idea of playing in a collective band--it's completely inclusive of everything we've done. All the experience of all the different bands we've played with is absorbed in this group." "Sky & Country" is the ECM debut for Fly, a Fly provides the context in which all three players get to spread their wings as composers, "bringing together many musical elements, traditions, histories and mysteries," says Turner. The music is unique; it can be harmonically rich or very bare bones and often just simply beautiful.  

SFJAZZ Collective live at Jazzclub „Unterfahrt“ Munich 2010

Miguel Zenón (Alto Saxophone, Flute)
Mark Turner (Tenor Saxophone)
Avishai Cohen (Trumpet)
Robin Eubanks (Trombone)
Ed Simon (Piano)
Stefon Harris (Vibraphone)
Matt Penman (Bass)
Eric Harland (Drums)

recorded live at Jazzclub Unterfahrt, Munich/ Germany, March 10, 2010

1. "Senor Blues" (Horace Silver)
2. "Sister Sadie" (Horace Silver)
3. "The mystery of water" (Miguel Zenón)
4. "Suite for Ward Martin Tavares" (Avishai Cohen)
5. "Cape Verdean Blues" (Horace Silver)
6. "The Lady from Johannesburg" (Horace Silver)
7. "Brother Sister II" (Mark Turner)
8. "Song for my father" (Horace Silver)

The SFJAZZ Collective is an all-star jazz ensemble comprising eight of the finest performer/composers at work in jazz today. Launched in 2004 by SFJAZZ—the West Coast’s largest nonprofit jazz institution and the presenter of the annual San Francisco Jazz Festival—the Collective has quickly become one of the most exciting and acclaimed groups on the American and international jazz scenes. As The New York Times hailed the Collective upon its debut: “A serious jazz band rises in San Francisco.”
In addition to its outstanding line-up, the SFJAZZ Collective has been praised for its innovative approach to repertoire. Each year, the ensemble performs an entirely new list of compositions by a modern jazz master and new pieces by the Collective members
After exploring the work of Ornette Coleman (2004), John Coltrane (2005), Herbie Hancock (2006), Thelonious Monk (2007), Wayne Shorter (2008), and McCoy Tyner (2009), the Collective takes on hard-bop composer and pianist Horace Silver for its 2010 season. The co-founder of the Jazz Messengers (with Art Blakey), and the leader on countless classic Blue Note sessions, Silver stands as one of the singular voices in jazz history.
Each program has been released on CD, available from SF Jazz.