Having spent their fifth LP Arctic Riff recording with famed jazz sax god Joe Lovano, pianist Marcin Wasilewski, bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz return to their natural state for En attendant. In some ways, the Polish trio embodies the popular perception of the so-called “chamber jazz” that ECM has championed over the decades. Wasilewski can certainly be meditative in his playing – check his beautiful ballad “Glimmer of Hope,” his cover of Carla *Bley’s “Vashkar,” which also prominently features Kurkiewicz, and his luminous take on J.S. Bach’s “Variation 25,” part of the composer’s celebrated Goldberg Variations, and a showcase of the leader’s classical training. But the band sits equally comfortably on the couch marked “spontaneous composition,” as evidenced by the three-part “In Motion.” The group’s telepathic interplay, seeded by a quarter century of playing together in various ensembles besides their own, allows them to kick up a raucous dust storm on “Part 1,” sail deep into the cloud of enigma on the shimmering “Part II,” and combine the two approaches on the magnificent “Part III.” The trio’s collective will even manages to find new melodic depths in the Doors’ turgid “Riders On the Storm,” and if that’s not a testament to their musicianship, lyricism and internal communication, it’s unclear what else would be.
