Bartosz Hadala Group: Three Short Stories
Bartosz Hadala

The road's been particularly long and winding for jazz pianist Bartosz Hadala. As a prodigiously talented teen in Poland, he was awarded a scholarship to study at Berklee, which he followed with further study at educational institutions in the Ukraine and Michigan. Taking up residence in New York, he played with figures such as trumpeter Randy Brecker and drummer Antonio Sanchez before relocating to Toronto in 2010 (the two joined Hadala for his debut album, The Runner Up, that same year). With many local musicians involved, the pianist's latest release, Three Short Stories, is very much rooted in Canadian soil, though American bassist Michael Manring and Portuguese accordion player João Frade also make respective appearances on two of the twelve tracks.

The cuts featuring them are certainly memorable, but the project's grounded in the playing of Hadala, alto saxist Luis Deniz, guitarist Eric St-Laurent, bass guitarist Brad Cheeseman, and drummer Marito Marques, plus soprano saxophonist Kelly Jefferson, a guest on two tracks. They're an adept and adaptable crew capable of handling whatever stylistic challenges the pianist throws their way, from mainstream acoustic jazz and intimate balladry to Latin-funk and jazz-rock workouts.

While an influence here and there creeps into the album, the material, all of it composed by the pianist, cumulatively forms a flattering portrait. Apparently one of his heroes is Chick Corea, and to that end one hears a little bit of the pianist's influence (Pat Metheny's also, perhaps) seeping into the elegant jazz meditation “Longing,” especially when Hadala follows an adventurous solo by St-Laurent with a breezy one of his own. “Monk's Unfinished Symphony” isn't as distinctive compositionally as a tune by the late pianist (how could it be?), but it's nevertheless memorable for its loping groove and the leader's turn on electric piano.

With Jefferson and Cheeseman uniting on a rather Shorter-esque theme, “Once Upon a Time” inhabits the kind of zone Weather Report sometimes flirted with when synthesizers were set aside for an acoustic jazz excursion. An epilogue iteration of the tune is distinguished by the kind of theme Zawinul often wrote for the band, with in this case electric piano sweetened by Frade's accordion and relaxed groovesmithing not unlike the kind Pastorius and Erskine famously brought to the outfit.

Elsewhere, the episodic “True North X” bolsters its muscular blend of Latin, funk, and fusion with swinging solos by the leader, Deniz, and St-Laurent (the latter trading off in scintillating manner) and tight rhythm support; in a related vein, “E.S.T.” sees the ensemble exuberantly digging into intricately structured jazz-funk. Presented in both prologue and full-band forms, “Slow to Anger” sounds wholly different when presented as a virtuosic solo showcase for electric bassist Manring and later as a reflective ballad. Three Short Stories is a serious project, but that doesn't mean moments of levity don't arise, the most obvious example the “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider Blues,” four minutes of quirky irreverence.

One of the album's major pleasures comes from simply hearing musicians of high calibre expressing themselves and working together. Three Short Stories thus proves satisfying whether one focuses on ensemble interactions or attends to individual players, each one a distinguished talent in his own right. Certainly one of the project's draws for this listener has to do with Cheeseman's involvement, given the lasting impression made by the bassist's 2017 release The Tide Turns. Not surprisingly, his playing on Hadala's outing is unerring, but the same could be said for that of Marques, Deniz, St-Laurent, and, of course, Hadala himself. Being as strong and wide-ranging a statement as the recording is, it's a wonder he isn't a better known quantity. Perhaps that's something Three Short Stories will help change.

April 2020