Rabble Without A Cause
Wednesday May 5th, 2010 with Bernard Stepien
Polish pianist Mateusz Kolakowski - Chopin vs Monk

Mateusz Kolakowski is one of the musical prodigy of our times. A classical pianist by training, he embraced Jazz early and end up starting to tour the US at age 15. Somehow, during one of these tours he ended up in Kennebunk, Maine and got himself a picture taken with former president Bush, sr. Being Polish of course means studying Chopin to the perfection. The liner notes of Ad Libitum CD (2004) say that he merges Chopin and Monk. This is one of the typical commercial gimmigs of promoters. If you listen more carefully you will notice that the fusion is somewhere else and that is between Jazz standards and Cecil Taylor... His originals though are closer to Chopin. In any case, his music will quickly demonstrate the irrelevance of promoters anxieties.