This young woman is an absolute Internet phenomenon. Out of nowhere a real musician emerges, young, attractive, highly talented, with numberless clicks jamming the airwaves and achieves in the world of jazz what others have demonstrated in pop and mainstream music. Kinga Glyk at twenty is not only the first front woman of a jazz band in her native country Poland, but at the moment the greatest jazz sensation on all the social networks across Europe.
Her career actually began at the age of 12 when her father, a drummer who, after discovering her talent, put her in the Glyk family trio PIK. Today, with the release of her third new record "Dream" by Warner Music and with numerous concerts already behind her, she has become a star in Poland and is blazing a trail through the European club and festival circuit.
Though original compositions dominate the titles of "Dream", Glyk offers her duo-version and viral-hit "Tears in Heaven" as well as her rendition of "Teen Town" a bow to Jaco Pastorius, the master of bass guitar. Mostly it's about being in the groove and having fun, but also about building a personal relationship with the listener through the music. "I am trying to share much more with the people than just playing fast and slow notes. I want to write songs that have something to say. Music is a great journey for me. I’m doing what I really love and that’s phantastic. My dreams are coming true quicker than I could ever have hoped!" Is it any wonder she called her new album “Dream”.
“One of the most interesting bassists of the young generation.”
Michal Wilczynski (journalist Jazz Forum)
KINGA GLYK: FEELINGS
ALBUM: 01.11.2019 (CD, Digital), 15.11.2019 (LP)
CD ∙ LP (180g, download-card) ∙ Digital
Feat. Anomalie, Mateus Asato, Bobby Sparks II, Brett Williams, Ruth Waldron
“I can’t sing that well, that’s why I play bass,” says Kinga Glyk. This sounds suspiciously modest considering the hype that has surrounded her for the past two years. And yet with these words, the bass guitarist from Poland succinctly sums up what her new album Feelings is all about. With unparalleled artistry and nonchalance, she lets her bass guitar tell stories. Sensitive and penetrating, rich in nuances and strong in grooves, she summons up feelings. They strike a chord with Kinga Glyk’s listeners, conjure up personal stories and reflect the personality of this hugely talented young woman. Then there is her courage to experiment, to try something new, to become happy against all the rules. “As a child, I was interested in the bass guitar because it gave me an unusually powerful voice that I didn’t have at the time,” Kinga reflects on her beginnings as an instrumentalist. “In the meantime, its sounds have become my actual language in which I can express my feelings much more intensively.” Undoubtedly! But her bass playing is not about going higher, faster, further. Kinga Glyk doesn’t play music for musicians, but for the many tens of thousands of souls she has touched in the course of her still young career with her storytelling on the bass. Her stories reveal her extremely open-minded, loving and compassionate view of the world. In short, the twelve tracks of her new album are intrinsically human. And that is what makes Feelings so unique.
Kinga Glyk describes Feelings as her most personal work to date. A look at the list of authors of the new tracks reveals why: seven songs were written exclusively by her, two she wrote together with her pianist and producer Pawel Tomaszewski. “In contrast to my last album Dream, my band and I didn’t just improvise in the studio,” Kinga describes the creation of Feelings. “Before we started recording this time, I had worked out my compositions in more detail.” Not that Kinga’s music sounds too cerebral as a result. On the contrary, in the opening song “Let’s Play Some Funky Groove” she creates plenty of stirring moments to warm things up. Her fingers hardly hold still, want to snap to the beat in her evocative and organic interpretation of the Minneapolis sound, before the piece segues right in the middle to live drum’n’bass. “Lennie’s Pennies”, originally by Lennie Tristano, becomes a groove monster in Kinga’s interpretation, revealing her trio in its essence: brilliant solos, refreshingly cliché-free improvisation, and tight ensemble playing. Marcus Miller’s keyboarder Brett Williams sets the “Joy Joy” funk on fire together with Kinga, and cracks the whip with jazzy rock’n’roll in “Mercy” (Duffy). The keyboarder and self-proclaimed “dance music artist” Anomalyie, from Montreal, gives funky form to Kinga’s “5 Cookies” with his “Superfreak” (James Rick) riff.
In “What Is Life”, the core piece of Feelings, Kinga Glyk asks: “Who would we be without feelings? They let us experience so much, they teach us, sometimes bringing pain, sometimes joy. Emotions – without them, we would be empty. Words aren’t always able to express our feelings ... but music is.” Her spoken-word intro is followed by the musical version of her experience turned credence. She combines her free approach to jazz with breathtaking narrative moments based alternately on R’n’B and folk. The journey of Kinga’s new album Feelings ends with “Enu Maseti”, a ballad in a fantasy language that once again embodies the uniqueness of this album: big emotions do not contradict improvisation; in fact, they encourage freedom and breaking with convention. For some time now, Kinga Glyk has been a role model in this regard. For about two years she has garnered the attention of fans, TV and radio producers, YouTube users, journalsits and festival and club organisers alike. You literally get goose bumps when she plucks and strikes the steel strings of her bass guitar. And not so much because this hugely talented soloist is a young woman in a male-dominated circle of instrumentalists, but because Kinga Glyk exemplifies autonomy on the bass. And Feelings is the temporary apex of her work.
POSTER
Die Jazzzeitung über Kinga Glyk:
https://www.jazzzeitung.de/cms/2017/11/virtuos-jung-und-erfolgreich-kinga-glyk/
VIDEOS
Joy Joy from Kinga Glyk's new album: "Feelings"
5 Cookies (feat. Anomalie)
Kinga Glyk's album: Dream
Kinga Glyk Trio - Donna Lee
Kinga Glyk Band Live - Hope
Kinga Glyk - Bass solo
On Tour
Unfortunately, some of the current dates have to be postponed. We will try to make up for the concerts before the end of this year. Further information will follow shortly.
20.03.2020 F-Montbrison
21.03.2020 D-Mannheim, Alte Feuerwache
22.03.2020 D-Roth, Rother Bluestage
24.03.2020 D-Regensburg, Jazzclub
25.03.2020 D-Aschaffenburg, Colos Saal
26.03.2020 D-Hameln, Hefehof
27.03.2020 D-Hamm, Kurhaus
28.03.2020 D-Bedburg an der Erft, Schloss Bedburg
23.04.2020 D-Bad Kreuznach, Loge
24.04.2020 CH-Basel, Atlantis
Photos
After clicking on the thumbnail you'll see in the lower left corner of the lightbox a link to the image in high resolution! Copyright images: Kinga Głyk / Photograph Image 1+2: Peter Hönnemann. Please add always the photo credit.
