20 Kintsugi

POKAZ TRIO – KINTSUGI

All of jazz can be heard in the exceptionally versatile combination of the piano trio. It provides wide pitch and dynamic range. It is all encompassing, all embracing, and all-inclusive, it is complete. No matter what genre or style, this perfect permutation provides a pathway for some of the most elegant, expressive and communicative music we know of. In our times, just think Bill Evans, think Keith Jarrett, think Brad Mehldau!

This format proves to be an ideal vehicle of expression for the Ukrainian trio led by virtuoso pianist,
Andrew Pokaz. From bar to bar, Kintsugi manages to be intense, yet comforting, reflective and continually passionate.

The three musicians are equally comfortable performing orchestral classical music as they are with jazz. Multi prize-winning pianist, composer, musical academic, and widely travelled performer, Andrew comes from a long lineage of musicians. His great grandmother taught piano at the renowned Stoliarsky Music School in Odessa. Bassist,
Vitaliy Fesenko is a graduate of the Nezhdanova Music Academy in Odessa. He has performed with numerous combinations of musicians playing jazz and jazz-related styles throughout Europe. Drummer Yakov Taruntsov also has an academic background, in both piano and percussion. He graduated from the Variety Department of the Odessa Musical College and has since toured and recorded with an impressive array of bands and orchestras.

In a journey through Kintsugi, a delicate song may feel as though the trio are breathing together, whilst a fleet-fingered romp may seem as though they are pursuing one another. But always there is a universal sense of harmony, synchronicity and coherence.


Andrew guides us through the tracks with endearing descriptions:

Slavonic Dance
We wish to display here the interaction of Slavonic folk music with the culture of Bessarabia – hence the use of 5/4 time and extended seconds.

Kintsugi
The title track demonstrates the philosophical subtext that we infuse into this album. It is about the trip of humanity through time and dimension.

Elephant
This track concerns the inevitability of time, which we tried to show with a uniformity of bass riff and regularity of pulse.

Easy
The tune represents my personal sense of gratitude for existing in this world.

Spark
Here, we offer a symbolic representation of the impetuous tempo of contemporary life.

Sphere
We present an outside view of Earth; the perception of self's insignificance in a universal scale.

________________________


An odyssey from Odessa, Kintsugi is a most praiseworthy addition to the great tradition of great piano trios.


David Fishel