Kinga Glyk’s band, a quintet with two keyboard players, also features saxophonist Hailey Niswanger, whose name is worth remembering.
Visually, the stage presence is dominated by a keyboard battery, and the electronic sound is not surprising.
After a lyrical introduction, the Polish funk bass diplomat heats up the band and audience with a fat bass vamp. The composition, urgent and rousing, has a lot of muscle and offers Hailey Niswanger on the Aerophone the first opportunity to show off her skills. This can be fun!
In any case, there is no lack of good humor on stage. The band is well-rehearsed and offers a fresh fusion variant that is audibly inspired by formations like the Yellowjackets, Spyrogyra or Weather Report. Flashbacks regarding the latter band quickly arise when Niswanger plays the soprano: Wayne Shorter would have enjoyed it, the author freely claims.
Her elaborate playing with aerophone and sax delights bandleader and audience alike. Glyk plays the jazz bass appropriately and confidently: growling sound, hearty slapping, subtle muting, chordal playing and brilliant solos work well even without testosterone.
Drummer Nicola Viccaro can drum his way through all heavy funk patterns, but also, as in the title Unseen Bruises, uses felt mallets and brooms sensitively. Arek Grygo and Michał Jakubczak on the keyboards, the heroes of the envelope curves, contribute pads, smacky funk patterns and gripping solos, occasionally throwing balls to each other.
If only Glyk didn’t have that bell-like jingle behind every announcement… but we don’t want to be picky. A successful evening comes to an end.
Kinga Glyk and her musicians are very young. It will be exciting to see what direction their further development takes.
