Trio

When Poland's effervescent jazz trumpet star Tomasz Stanko toured the U.K. during 2004, the veteran's young trio turned as many heads as Stanko himself - particularly the spirited playing of pianist Marcin Wasilewski. "In the entire history of Polish jazz, we've never had a band like this one," says Stanko, "I'm surprised by these musicians every day."

Now ECM has released the group's international debut without Stanko (though they've been recording on Polish indies as the Simple Acoustic Trio since the mid-'90s), featuring Wasilewski with bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz. All three are still under 30 and expand on the promise they showed on that trip and on Stanko's 'Soul of Things' album.

On 'Trio' they take a crack at some contemporary material, including themes from Bjork and Wayne Shorter. The results will please those who enjoyed Tord Gustaven's last couple of releases, but who long for a little more attitude - these guys have plenty of that.