On April 22 Jazzkaar arranged a meeting of Polish Zbignew Namyslowski and Estonian Tõnu Naissooo – old friends from the Tallinn-67 Jazz Festival. I have heard that it was the first biggest International festival held in Soviet Union. I have also heard the story about Charles Lloyd playing at Tallinn-67. On Saturday’s concert I experienced the feeling of being at the festival myself.
The distinct musical mindset and different attitude towards music were visible from the very beginning. The repertoire mostly consisted of the same tunes from the year 1967. kept in the memories of Namylowski and Naisoo. The concert created very familiar atmosphere and sent us back 50 years with traditional sounds of classical jazz and musical dialog between Polish saxophonist and Estonian pianist on famous jazz standard ‘’All the things you are”. The musicians also presented Charles Lloyd compositions from Tallinn-67 concert, which sparked a change in musical mind of young Estonian jazzmen 50 years ago.
The frames of the musical journey became wider when when Tõnu Naisoo Unity played the composition Landscapes Unlimited. While interviewing Tõnu Naisoo, he mentioned that this composition was an attempt to combine every major musical influence that he has experienced. For instance, muted trumpet improvisation on electronic background immediately gave you association with Miles Davis album Aura; recognising Keith Jarrett in the piano intro of the composition or Jan Hummer’s style of playing keyboards from Mahavishnu Orchestra period.
After the concert and interview I had an impression that I’ve known Tõnu Naisoo for 50 years, from a 16-year old boy, attempting to prove that classical jazz is not the only way of playing to the 66-year old experienced musician who knows that “You can’t really create distinctively individual and original music today, because everything is already done… The main thing for you is to find right people for playing with, who have the same way of thinking, feeling and breathing with music”.
“Tribute to Tallinn -67” Zbignlew Namyslowski Quintet (Poland) & Tõnu Naisoo Unity (Estonia)22nd April, 17:00pm at Vaba Lava (Tallinn)
Tõnu Naisoo Unity:
Tõnu Naisoo – Piano, Rhodes, Moog
Allan Jarve – Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Danel Arjo – Soprano and tenor saxophone
Tolvo Unt – double bass
Ahto Abner – drums
Zbidnlew Namyslowski quintet:
Zbignlew Namyslowski – soprano and alto saxophone
Jacek Namyslowski – trombone
Slawomir Jaskulke – piano
Andrzej Swles – bass
Grzegorz Grzyb – drums
Check out photos from the concert.