Anka Koziel Quartet – Tales of the Forest

What is possible in jazz can be heard in the debut CD of Anka Koziel. The young Polish singer (who studied at the Royal Conservatory, the Hague) goes back to the songs she grew up with. Her jazz versions of two songs of compatriot Chopin with texts by the poet S.Witwicki, three Polish folksongs, her own ‘Spring Night’ inspired by Fauré’s ‘Clair de lune’ and her ‘Forest tale’, with its instrumental suggestion of mysterious sounds of woods, fit together wonderfully.

Romantic with pep; as well wild and high-spirited as dreamily enjoying the poetry: The force of spring, a very earthy ‘Red berry blues’ (Czerwone jagody) up to the funnily jumpy ‘Goldfish’ (Zlota rybka). ‘The face I love’, the only standard (M.Valle and R.Gilbert) fits like a glove with its first line ‘Just think of things like daffodils and peaceful sheep on clovered hills’. Koziels well-wrought arrangements guarantee the harmonious marriage of all these elements. Her international trio (Brice Soniano, bass, Oriol Roca, drums, Michal Vanoucek, piano) gets ample room for perfect counteraction with a beautiful role for the Slovak pianist.