Piotr Schmidt International Sextet - When The Light Of Imagination Goes Out - Komeda Unknown 1967

Recorded on Love Polish Jazz Festival in Tomaszów Mazowiecki on 18th of September 2021

Jazz TV Production!

Piotr Schmidt International Sextet
Komeda Unknown 1967

When The Light of Imagination Goes Out by Krzysztof Komeda
arranged by Piotr Schmidt

Płyta CD już dostępna na www.sjrecords.eu!
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Piotr Schmidt - trumpet
Kestutis Vaiginis - tenor sax, soprano sax
David Dorużka - guitar
Paweł Tomaszewski - piano
Michał Barański - double bass
Sebastian Kuchczyński - drums

Mixed by Robert Jurowicz

Krzysztof Balkiewicz:
My Sweet European Homeland vol. 2

In October 1967 in Baden-Baden, Germany, Krzysztof Komeda recorded the jazz and poetry project Meine Süsse Europäische Heimat – My Sweet European Homeland. It would soon prove Komeda’s final European creation - in a sense, the composer’s farewell to Europe.

The album was released when Komeda was already in Hollywood, working on the score to Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby. Letters between Komeda and the album’s producer Joachim-Ernst Berendt made it clear that more tracks were recorded than were finally released on the album. In one letter, Komeda asked Berendt to swap some tracks. Berendt refused, arguing that certain poems better demonstrated the album’s European character than others. And that was all that remained of the extra tracks…

It seemed that these unknown compositions were lost until, during a meticulous archival research at the National Library in Warsaw, a true treasure was found: the manuscripts of six of Komeda’s compositions from the My Sweet European Homeland project, all six the original cast-offs.

These are the six lost compositions:
1. Jonasz (Jonah) - written for Zbigniew Herbert’s poem Jonasz;
2. Kiedy gaśnie lampa wyobraźni (When the Light of Imagination Goes Out) - written for Adam Ważyk’s Poemat dla dorosłych;
3. Klasyk (The Classic) - written for Zbigniew Herbert’s prose poem Klasyk;
4. Jan Cherubin - written for Mieczysław Jastrun’s poem Jan Cherubin;
5. Ich dwoje (Just the Two of Them) - written for Bolesław Leśmian’s poem – Dwoje ludzieńków
6. Miserere - written for Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński’s poem Miserere

Komeda, though known for a self-effacing attitude to his own artistry, called My Sweet European Homeland the best work of his life. Meanwhile, Joachim-Ernst Berendt wrote: “We have never yet had a poetry album with such beautiful, rich and emotional melodies!”.

After over half a century, the unknown, hitherto missing part of Krzysztof Komeda’s My Sweet European Homeland will finally be heard by fans of the great jazz composer.
Interpreted and arranged by Piotr Schmidt, Komeda’s manuscripts have become extraordinary music, uncannily faithful to Krzysztof Komeda’s spirit.

What a wonderful homage to Krzysztof Komeda on the 90th anniversary of his birth, from Piotr Schmidt & friends. Our European homeland seems to have been waiting for this music…

Krzysztof Balkiewicz
Chair of the Society for the Protection of Krzysztof Komeda’s Legacy

More about Piotr Schmidt on:
www.schmidtjazz.com and www.sjrecords.eu