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Skerebotte Fatta: Appaz

By Mark Corroto
October 15, 2021
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Most AAJers, be they writers or readers, probably don't speak Polish. Reading over the composition titles listed on Appaz by the Polish duo

Jan Malkowski

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Jan Malkowski and

" data-original-title="" title="">Dominik Mokrzewski one might think they are just more words from a foreign tongue. They are, but its language is semordnilap, in other words, names spelled backwards. The title track "Appaz" is for

Frank Zappa

guitar, electric
1940 - 1993

" data-original-title="" title="">Frank Zappa. Opening with gentle phrases from Ma?kowski's tenor saxophone and brief scraping cymbals, the music builds from its quiet genesis into a ferocious storm fueled by the heavy pulse laid down by Mokrzewski. If you want, you can play connect-the-dots here. "Appaz" has a sound coming very much from that of the

Peter Brötzmann

woodwinds
1941 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Br?tzmann school which is recognized with "Retep Br?." Here, Br?tzmann's lung-bursting sound is heard alongside what can best be described as a

Hamid Drake

drums
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Hamid Drake-like pulse.

Captured in studio November 2020 during the pandemic, Appaz is the duo's second release, and it follows Riders from the Ra (Creative Sources Recordings, 2018). The pair can also be heard on the excellent New Ghosts (Fortune, 2014) by the Infant Joy Quintet.

Yes, this duo has the holy spirit of 1960s' fire music burning in their souls. "Relya," of course for

Albert Ayler

saxophone, tenor
1936 - 1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Albert Ayler, splutters notes with that chest thumping, paint peeling sound associated with jazz's holy ghost.

"Dyar," draws deeply from the blues, much like

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane favored with

Elvin Jones

drums
1927 - 2004

" data-original-title="" title="">Elvin Jones's pulse on the tubs. Ma?kowski draws lengthy and patient lines here and on "Not Xarb" (

Anthony Braxton

woodwinds
b.1945

" data-original-title="" title="">Anthony Braxton). The

Charles Lloyd

saxophone
b.1938

" data-original-title="" title="">Charles Lloyd inspired "Dyoll" is an exalted prayer that reaches for higher and higher altitudes. The duo concludes with a tribute to

Han Bennink

drums
b.1942

" data-original-title="" title="">Han Bennink with "Kinneb." Jan Ma?kowski opens on alto and finishes with soprano saxophone, but mostly lays out for Mokrzewski's animated and barely contained solo. In any language, backwards or forwards, fire music lives.

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Track Listing

Retep Br?; Dyar; Relya; Appaz; Not Xarb; Dyoll; Kinneb.

Personnel

Jan Malkowski

saxophone

Dominik Mokrzewski

drums

Album information

Title: Appaz | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: Fortune Productions

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