"Like
Rosenwinkel, Sarnecki ventures far beyond the bebop and post-bop idioms of the
past and into a freer - though still chordal - musical language. Sarnecki's
original compositions merge the high-flown lyricism of Polish culture with an
idiosyncratic, thoroughly disarming way of building long and winding musical
phrases. He's clearly at the start of forming an improvisational syntax for
himself, but it already shows originality and daring . . ." - Howard
Reich, The Chicago Tribune
Cat's
Dream is the third album from guitarist/composer Rafal Sarnecki, born and
raised in Warsaw, Poland, and now based in Brooklyn, NY. The album was recorded
in Brooklyn by Michael Perez-Cisneros (known for recording such albums as Kurt
Rosenwinkel's Heartcore and Gilad Hekselman's This Just In). The mix was done
by Dave Darlington at Bass Hit Recording (Darlington is known for mixing such
famous albums as If On a Winter Night... by Sting, Alegria by Wayne Shorter,
for which Darlington received a Grammy Award, and Gershwin's World by Herbie
Hancock).
Cat's
Dream features eight new compositions from Sarnecki, arranged for a sextet
comprised of some of the best and brightest young musicians on the NYC Scene,
Lucas Pino (tenor sax, bass clarinet, flute), Glenn Zaleski (piano), Rick
Rosato (bass), Colin Stranahan (drums) and Bogna Kicinska (voice). Cat's Dream
also marks Sarnecki's first album recorded with American musicians, and the
first time he composed for voice. Sarnecki elaborated; "I wrote the music specifically
for these musicians, and during the composition process I imagined every
musician in the group performing the music and tried to hear how the parts
would sound. We have all known each other for many years so I was able to
feature their unique abilities and strengths within this music. I definitely
felt very privileged to be able to record with such incredible musicians."
Each
composition on Cat's Dream represents a different period in Sarnecki's life,
and also a different stage of his development as a composer. On the album you
can find extended forms ("For Anastazja" or "Plane Crashes and
Conspiracy Theories"), typical short form jazz songs ("Ordovician
Extinction", "Piazza Verdi"), as well as the first song with
lyrics the composer has ever written (the title track, albeit in Spanish,
"Sueño de Gatos"). Sarnecki's music is a result of being influenced
by both traditional Polish songs, and American music he was exposed to on radio
and in American films. Sarnecki explains further, "many American musicians
consider my compositions very European in style, while in Poland and in the
rest of Europe, my music is often described as very American. I like my music
to have an American rhythmic character, and feel that introducing European
melodic elements doesn't necessarily have to make the music groove less."
Sarnecki's
music is fascinating in that many musicians perceive his compositions as being
complex and challenging to perform (perhaps due to Sarnecki having a degree in
Physics). However, the composer actually strives to make his music as
user-friendly as possible, only using odd-meters if he is absolutely certain
that it is necessary, for example. "Nevertheless the music on Cat's Dream
is challenging to perform even for myself. I am really amazed by the ability of
my bandmates to improvise with incredible freedom and expression over the
complex metric structures of these songs," said Sarnecki.
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