Kulpowicz - Sadhana

Polskie Nagrania Muza - LP

Poland, 1989

Spiritual Jazz / Ambient / Fusion

Radiant spiritual ambient jazz from Polish pianist Sławomir Kulpowicz. The missing link between David Wise's Donkey Kong Country OST and Alice Coltrane's Turiya Sings.

Sławomir Kulpowicz is the only Polish composer I know who so fully embraced Alice Coltrane and Pharaoh Anders's spiritual jazz ethos. I know of some other excellent Polish shamanic / ethnic jazz, but it's always rooted, in one way or another, in eastern Europe's folklore. Kulpowicz is uncompromisingly paying tribute to Indian music and India inspired-musicians, like Alice Coltrane in both his 1987 Amarpan LP and this 1989 Sadhana album.

No doubt, there's something tacky about it, but the music is so joyful, whole-hearted and fun that its tackiness doesn't spoil my pleasure. On the contrary, it adds an odd aura that gives the impression that the music was rather composed by an spiritual jazz-playing NPG from a quirky J-RPG than someone from our reality.

That doesn't mean that the music is too cliché or basic. Kulpowicz adopts surprising structures, especially on the opening song "Offering". He mostly avoids overly sentimental motives and offers a varied yet thematically-coherent record. Hearing his warm Polish voice singing Sanskrit-inspired songs like the extremely appeasing "Lokas" is a rare pleasure. Based. (VG+/VG+)