Hi-Fi News & Record Review

June 98

Jan Kopinski
GHOST MUSIC ASCCD19

On holiday from his non-pareil avant-funk band Pinski Zoo, saxophonist Jan Kopinski brings in the family: Stefan Kopinski on bass and Nina kopinska on viola. He retains the Zoo's keyboard-wizard Steve Iliffe. Though the sweat and drive of the classic quartet have gone, the programmed rhythms are cunning. Atmospheric and sinister, they avoid the cloddishness cyber-beats are heir to. 'Cemetery' is a haunting opener, Kopinski's sax drifting with gothic grace over the bar-lines. Occasionally the melancholia feels a little too constant: Kopinski's lyricism springs from Ayler and he can take greater challenges as an improvisor. Nevertheless, Ghost Music will convince doubters that Kopinski is one of Britain's few authentic voices on saxophone. Unfussy yet ambivalent, this music speaks a unique, pungent emotionalism.

Review by BEN WATSON