Customer Reviews
Incredible - By: Jazz4, 13 Mar 2008 
This album is an experience, I just recently came across Stanko & I'm glad I did.
amazing music.
Matchless magic - By: degrant, 01 Oct 2006 Much has been made of the radical new sound of this release. As it is unmistakeably a Tomasz Stanko quartet release & followsin the footsteps of Soul of Things & 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 & Suspended Night both effectively comprised a dozen or so variations on a theme. By comparison, on Lontano the lengthy improvisations (Lontano I, II & III no less) are interspersed with Stanko compositions & 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 & soulful than on Soul of Things & Suspended Night. The songs evolve & 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 assuredin 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 musiciansin their pre Quartet days). The musicianship of the quartet on this song is of the highest order & 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 & 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 & play & notin any token solo way either. The empathy on Lontano III for example is breathtaking - an almost perfect mix of texture, atmosphere, melody - & all the more so for being an improvisation. Wasilewski is much feted & rightly so & his sound is reminiscent of Bobo Stenson'sin much of this album. As I have mentionedin reviewing Suspended Night,in my opinion, the real star live is Miskiewicz & he & bassist Kurkiewicz do not suffer by comparison.
In short, this is Stanko's seventh recording for ECMin the last eleven years. This is arguably the best of an excellent crop & is unlikely to be bettered by a jazz album for the remainder of the year.
