Katharsis

“Katharsis” presents pianist, composer, and theorist Leszek Kułakowski at the height of his “between musical worlds” aesthetic — a figure long recognized as one of Poland’s foremost exponents of the Third Stream tradition, where jazz language meets classical form without compromise to either. Composed as a cycle for jazz trio and string quartet, the album brings Kułakowski’s piano, Jacek Niedziela’s bass, and Marcin Jahr’s drums into dialogue with a full string quartet, weaving improvisation through textures drawn from Romantic expressivity, modernist harmony, and chamber‑music clarity.

A professor who heads the jazz department at the Gdańsk Academy of Music and founder of the Komeda Jazz Festival, Kułakowski has always stood slightly apart from prevailing jazz fashions. His work tends to unfold on its own terms — architecturally conceived, emotionally direct, and grounded in a belief that jazz and classical idioms can coexist not as hybrids but as equal partners. “Katharsis” embodies that stance: the trio moves with rhythmic elasticity and improvisational freedom, while the strings provide counterpoint, color, and structural weight, shaping the music’s dramatic arc.

In the context of the Not Two catalog, “Katharsis” stands as a reminder that the label’s early years were never confined to a single aesthetic. While much of the imprint would become associated with free improvisation and avant‑garde fire, Kułakowski’s work points to another lineage: one in which Polish classical tradition, jazz modernism, and personal compositional vision intersect. The result is a recording that feels both rigorously constructed and deeply expressive — a cycle of tension and release, reflection and transformation, true to its title and unmistakably Kułakowski’s own.