Grzegorski/Ślusarczyk/Białowolski/Adamczak/Skolik - To Muniak With Love (2021)

This is an album by Polish Jazz quintet co-led by saxophonists Tomasz Grzegorski and Marcin Ślusarczyk with a rhythm section comprising of pianist Tomasz Białowolski, bassist Maciej Adamczak and drummer Arek Skolik. The album presents ten Jazz standards and one original composition by Białowolski, which is both the title track and a bonus track. The album is dedicated to the memory of the legendary Polish Jazz saxophonist/composer Janusz Muniak, who was a Father figure to many younger Polish Jazz musicians. The album was produced by Sławomir Majewski, Polish Jazz activist and a great connoisseur of classic mainstream Jazz.

The albums holds no surprises, exactly as intended, and is meant to be listened to by lovers of conventional, well known Jazz tunes, which are amicably played by professional musicians. This type of unpretentious, good time and somewhat nostalgic mainstream Jazz is relatively not so easy to come by in Poland, where the new generation of musicians and apparently also listeners tend to prefer much more complex and advanced Jazz explorations, which often distances older and more conventional Jazz connoisseurs from the contemporary scene.

The music offers a nice blend of ballads and up tempo numbers, which should keep the listeners happy and the beautiful piano/saxophone duet closing the album is an appropriate gesture to commemorate one of the most beloved figures in Polish Jazz history.