JAZZ SERVICES……………………………………………..PRESS RELEASE

JAN KOPINSKI’S REFLEKTOR
MIRRORS
(JSLCD005)
Release date: 1st September 2011

" ... Kopinski is one of Britain's few authentic voices on saxophone." - Hi- Fi News & Record Review.

"Kopinski has a sensitivity to visuals as reflected in other scores he's performed for silent movies. … using his own family in the band Kopinski evokes the intimate, inexplicable binds/bonds of family life …..he evokes Slav folk music, melancholic and lost to an irrecoverable past, but Iliffe's broken chords also reflect the equally lost world of discordant modernism" - Jazzwise.

Jan Kopinski was commissioned by Opera North Projects to develop Mirrors, a mixed-media project combining music and visual imagery, with his collective outfit Reflektor (who specialise in works linked to projected visuals). Collaborating with video artist Jim Boxall (Joy of Box) in live performances of the work, using visual footage that Kopinski has collected over 20 yrs of visiting Poland, Mirrors uses jazz and improvisation to create a highly personal reflection on themes of displacement, loss, identity, belonging and diffused memory. The darkly atmospheric suite-like piece is inspired by folk, religious, jazz and contemporary Polish music.

Whilst Mirrors is determinately based on Polish impressions, it is not a travelogue and transcends the particular to explore those moments of hovering reality, in and out of sleep, when emotions, fears, nostalgia and sentiment speak very clearly. In the sleeve notes the composer speaks of his attempts to connect with the stories and cultural roots of his ancestors as ‘those experiences that we all discover when searching for bonds with people we perhaps never had relations with but know so well. In my case, it became a much more empathetic understanding of situations and emotional charges when I started to visit Poland. It is so personal and yet, like reflections, removed and not touchable’.

Mirrors is a passionate and exhilarating cross-genre musical journey, a dreamscape bound up with personal history and intimate present connections on which he is joined by family members viola-playing daughter Janina Kopinska and bassist son Stefan Kopinski, long-time collaborators and Pinski Zoo members Steve Iliffe on piano and Patrick Illingworth on drums, plus the haunting wistful vocals of Melanie Pappenheim.

This recording has been made possible through the Jazz Services Recording Support Scheme.

Composer and saxophonist, Jan Kopinski follows a determinedly personal path in improvisation, drawing on late Coltrane jazz and influences from Eastern Europe and contemporary music. Leading the critically acclaimed and influential power fusion group Pinski Zoo, also Ghost Music, and Reflektor, he has toured the UK, Europe and USA, playing at major festivals, arts venues and jazz clubs. He travels regularly to Poland, for research, touring and recording projects and has recorded 13 albums.

Melanie Pappenheim has an international reputation for her original voice and singing techniques, performing regularly in the UK and abroad with a cappella group The Shout, of whom she is a founder member. She works with many leading contemporary music groups, experimental theatre and dance companies and her vocals can be heard on many TV and film scores including Kubrick’s Eye's Wide Shut, Gangs of New York and Doctor Who.

Steve Iliffe, co-founder of Pinski Zoo and Reflektor, is an elusive pianist with a distinctive style and has collaborated with Jan on their recordings and tours of Poland and Europe for more than 20 years. He composes solo works for piano and regularly performs his original scores with Jan to silent film throughout the UK.

Janina Kopinska studied viola at the Royal College of Music and performs in many contexts, from string quartets and full orchestras to film sessions, pop and jazz groups, including L’Ensemble Intercontemporain under Boulez, Capetown Opera, Viva and pop multimedia group Gorrilaz. She also recorded with her father on Earth and Ghost Music.

Stefan Kopinski is the regular bassist of Pinski Zoo, and now Reflektor. He has recorded on several of his father’s albums and helped shape Pinski Zoo’s latest CD, ‘After Image’. He is also a professional digital illustrator and collaborates with Jan and Joy of Box on the visual aspects of Mirrors.

Patrick Illingworth is an exciting drummer working not only in the UK jazz scene (Hugh Masekela, Zoe Rahman) but also with mixed media and groove outfits (Jerry Dammers Spatial AKA Orchestra, 808 State, Cinematic Orchestra). He has played at major festivals in the UK, Tokyo and Brazil.