Beata Przybytek - Today Girls Don't Cry (2017)

1. You Can Come To Me (4:15)
2. Priceless Cure (4:09)
3. Z Rozpaczy Blues (4:54)
4. Nie Wiadomo (4:14)
5. Delicate Flower (2:58)
6. The Shadow Age (4:12)
7. A Lady Wants To Forget (4:49)
8. Dotyku Motyl (3:54)
9. Heavy Rain (4:23)
10. I Had A Chat (4:17)
11. Out Of Control (4:55)
12. Rozwazna Czy Romantyczna (4:46)
13. Today Girls Don't Cry (4:17)

Beata Przybytek – vocals
Beata Bednarz – vocals (12)
Bogusław Kaczmar – piano, electric piano
Tomasz Kałwak – keyboards, synthesizers, programming
Paweł Tomaszewski – Hammond B-3 organ (1, 2, 3, 5, 9)
Damian Kurasz – acoustic and electric guitars
Jakub Chmielarski acoustic guitar (13)
Adam Kowalewski – bass (2, 4, 13)
Robert Szewczuga – bass (1, 3, 7,9)
Andrzej Święs – bass (5,10,11)
Paweł Dobrowolski – drums (5,10,11)
Filip Mozul – drums (1, 3, 7, 8, 9)
Arek Skolik – drums (2, 4, 13)
Sławek Berny – percussion
Marek Podkowa – tenor saxophone (3, 8, 9)
Sebastian Sołdrzyński – trumpet (3, 8, 9)
Mariusz Mączka – baritone saxophone (3, 9)

This is the long anticipated fifth album by Polish singer / songwriter Beata Przybytek. It presents twelve original songs composed by Przybytek, nine of which feature English lyrics by Alicja Maciejowska, two feature Polish lyrics by Dariusz Dusza and one features Polish lyrics by Grzegorz Wasowski. There is also a bonus track (lucky thirteen) written by Polish poet Andrzej Poniedzielski and guitarist / composer Jakub Chmielarski. The recording of the album lasted for almost two and a half years, spans several recording studios and features some of the best Polish Instrumentalist, many of them associated with Polish Jazz. Keyboardist Tomasz Kalwak is again in charge of the arrangements and production and other musicians involved include keyboardists Boguslaw Kaczmar and Pawel Tomaszewski, guitarists Damian Kurasz and the a/m Jakub Chmielarski, bassists Adam Kowalewski, Robert Szewczuga and Andrzej Swies, drummers Pawel Dobrowolski, Filip Mozul and Arek Skolik, percussionist Slawomir Berny, saxophonists Marek Podkowa and Mariusz Maczka and trumpeter Sebastian Soldrzynski. Vocalist Beata Bednarz guests on one track.

About five years ago the previous album by Przybytek ("I`m Gonna Rock You") landed accidently on my desk and my enthusiastic review expressed my delight and joy experienced while listening to it, heralding her as one of the great hopes of the Polish vocal scene, despite the fact that she was almost completely unknown at the time. After a long wait it is even more delightful to hear that my "discovery" proved to be spot on and Przybytek delivered another masterpiece, not only on the Polish scale, but surely on a world scale as well. There are only a handful of other singer / songwriters active today who are able to write such wonderfully heartfelt songs and deliver them with such passion, conviction and seductive magnetism. Each and every one of these songs is an absolute gem, with no weak moments on the entire album.

Although rooted in Jazz, Przybytek made a very conscious and in retrospect astute decision to move towards Soul, Rhythm and Blues and sophisticated Pop, which suit both her warm, sexy voice and obviously also her musical inclinations better than the Jazz idiom she started with. It takes a lot of intuition and self-confidence to make decisions like that, which in Przybytek's case paved the way for her spectacular success. She truly "found herself" perfectly on this album, which directly projects on its quality, making it as "perfect" musically as albums get.

Of course Przybytek's vocals are more polished than on her earlier recordings, luckily not destroying her natural vocal qualities, which are still convincing and heartbreaking. Although I prefer her singing Polish lyrics (as usual in my case) her delivery of the English lyrics are spotless and completely natural. The instrumental work by all the musicians involved is absolutely stunning, as expected. My personal favorites are the organ parts played by Tomaszewski, who is superb as always, but the overall level of performances is simply extraordinary.

This is obviously one of the best Polish albums released in 2017, regardless of what other critics may say. Over the years I have completely lost confidence in the Polish music awards scene, including the "Fryderyki", which have become a complete farce, but if any Polish album deserves the title of album of the year 2017, this is it! Przybytek is the epitome of talent and professionalism, which sadly are not in high esteem any more.

Personally I wish to thank you Beata for fulfilling my belief in you, for writing such beautiful songs, for singing them so exquisitely and for making this dark, sad world a better place, even if only for some fifty six minutes and twenty two seconds ;) Go Women! ---adambaruch.com

Poprzednia płyta Beaty Przybytek, "I’m Gonna Rock You" z 2013 roku przyniosła jej nagrodę "Mateusza" Trójki, nic więc dziwnego, że artystka nie chciała obniżać poprzeczki i nad jej następczynią pracowała kilka lat. I choć wydana właśnie "Today Girls Don’t Cry" brzmi jak album dopracowany, to jednak nie "przepracowany". A jazzowi czy nawet tematom około-jazzowym, które w obecnej twórczości Przybytek przeważają, odrobina luzu zdecydowanie służy. Trudno tu oczywiście mówić o błędach, rzecz raczej w nie wycyzelowaniu.

Słychać, że praca nad płytą trwała parę lat, głównie w zróżnicowaniu materiału. Słyszymy tu dianokrallowe, dynamiczne i liryczne zarazem "Today Girls Don’t Cry", bluesa "Z rozpaczy", delikatny, bajkowy walczyk "Delicate Flower", w którym głosowi towarzyszy tylko fortepian. Akompaniament zespołu i jego skład słyszalnie się zmienia, więc na wewnętrzne urozmaicenie nie możemy narzekać. Dzięki odpowiedniej produkcji jednak - i tu ogromna zasługa Tomasza Kałwaka, znanego ze współpracy z, na przykład, Markiem Napiórkowskim - brzmi to ciekawie, a nie chaotycznie.

Czy to blues, czy to jazzowa solówka, czy latynoamerykański rytm rumby, wszystko otacza mgiełka subtelności i miękkości, sprawiająca, że każda kompozycja, jedna po drugiej, nachodzi na siebie miękko. Uzupełniają się wzajemnie i dopowiadają brakujące treści. "Today Girls Don’t Cry" może płynąć z głośników swobodnie godzinami, nie męcząc i nie nudząc. Zasługa w tym tak klasycznego podejścia do kompozycji i producenckiego dopracowania, jak i - last but not least - samego głosu Beaty Przybytek. Ten wielokrotnie porównywany przez recenzentów do Billie Holiday czy Dee Dee Bridgewater, niski, matowy i z delikatną charakterystyczną chrypką, jak subtelna klamra spaja wszystko to, co się pod nim dzieje. Frazy, akordy, instrumenty i rytmy. ---Kaśka Paluch, muzyka.onet.pl

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