SOME REVIEWS OF FREE SOLO: by Massimo Ricci/ www.touchingextremes.wordpress.com


From about two years ago here is an abbreviated set at just over 28 minutes, quite impelling nonetheless. Traczyk is a skilled craftsman of the double bass, made to sound as if enhanced by processing and/or preparations in infrequent circumstances (though the sleeve does not mention this, so I’ll stick with the idea that everything derives from the lone instrument’s soul and vibrational properties). In particular, two characteristics keep their residence in the memory after several listens. The first is the impression of total allegiance to a type of emancipated expressiveness that shapes the set’s entireness; the second is the constitutional musicality of what is played. This Polish gentleman manages to uncover shards of melodic phrases even when the going gets really tough, executing now rather calm, now seriously aroused designs where regular pitches are now and then supplanted or alternated with strident upper partials or bare percussive suggestions. The configuration of the whole remains continually discernible: tightness is warranted all along, with the plus of a magnificent recording quality ennobling the wooden core of a big-boned growling beast, ultimately led to concordance following a difficult battle against its indocile nature.by Massimo Ricci