"Lumière" with success in Japan!

2013-03-11

I have to say: LOVE YOU JAPAN!
Why? Look below… down the page… album on the bottom… nr 5 :)
My Jazz Best Album 2012

“Jazz Best Seller” in the biggest across the World music store Disk Union in Tokyo!

"Lumière" reviewed in Japan (the walker's, jazz life)

2012-12-14

THE WALKER’S VOL.29
Very nice review of our new album “Lumière” in “he Walker’s Vol.29

A rough translation:

Beautiful Piano & Bass Duo from Poland

It sounds like the feeling of Japanese wabi-sabi*… the exquisite timbre they create from piano and double bass seeming to understand this aesthetic. On listening to this album, you will see the cover artwork reveal itself almost as a beautiful and historical Japanese-style drawing with special Indian-ink.
“Lumiere” is an album by duo “Opalinska & Whates” which takes film music as its theme. Featuring Polish pianist Mira Opalinska and British double bassist Douglas Whates, I was not only drawn to this album by its arrangements of two pieces from my favourite film “Cinema Paradiso”, but also by the fantastic sound. I was equally fascinated by the appearance of to two pieces from the Japanese films “Rikyu” and “Tokyo.Sora”. The duo’s sound is beautiful and explores the tension between stillness and motion. A really nice duo which I hope to see and hear live.
On my list of great recommendations, this album is currently under preparation for release in Japan in Japanese edition.

(*) “Wabi-sabi” = aesthetic sense in Japanese art emphasizing quiet simplicity and subdued refinement.

JAZZ LIFE
Really honoured to discover that Lumière has been reviewed in Jazz Life magazine—the Japanese equivalent to something like JazzTimes or Downbeat.

A rough translation:

“There are no superfluous notes on this album; everything Mira Opalinska and Douglas Whates play is selected with a profound sense of beauty. Among the pieces performed are compositions by Krzysztof Komeda, Toru Takemitsu, and a couple of beautiful selections from the movie ‘Cinema Paradiso‘—their interplay on these tunes presented with a reverential elegance.”

"A Highland Ballad" released

2012-12-05

Newest release with my participation “A Highland Ballad” – from British label NSR – just delivered by Mr Postman today. Featuring violinist Feargus Hetherington and me on piano. Beautiful cover and music! Love it.
More info about album as well as chance to buy here

28-30.06.2011 in Filharmonia Podkarpacka in Rzeszów (Poland), Feargus and me recorded some great classical material for violin and piano. On up coming CD you will find “Highland Ballad” by Mackenzie. CD will be released under Natural Studio Records. Here is short video from the session.

Bluemorfo

2012-11-28

For the past six months me and Douglas Whates have been working on a new piano Sample Library, to be released by us under the name Bluemorfo. Feel free to explore our website and in the meantime you can check this “making of” video:

The library is due for release in early 2013.

Available now, though, is a really interesting App for iPad, developed by Gregorio Zanon and using a subset of our Bluemorfo samples. the App is called uPhase+ and will be of interest to fans of minimalism and making music in a new and interesting way. Here’s a link to the website.

New profile picture - Opalińska & Whates

2012-08-19

More pictures from our latest photo session here