O.N.E. claims to be Poland’s first all-female instrumental jazz band. This acoustic quartet represents the young generation of Polish jazz musicians and features pianist Kateryna Ziabliuk, sax player Monia Muc, double bass player Kamila Drabek, and drummer Patrycja Wybrańczyk. Its sophomore album, Well, actually, was recorded at Polish Radio, Studio S4, in Warsaw in December 2024.

The ten original pieces suggest chamber, highly melodic, and lyrical jazz that corresponds with Nordic melancholia, and especially the ECM school of Nordic jazz (with pieces titled as «Kaldur vinder», cold wind in Icelandic, and «Oslo»). These pieces were composed and arranged together by the quartet, grounded by the quartet’s egalitarian, leaderless dynamics and supportive, collective improvisations. The quartet’s title is a wordplay; in Polish, «one» (pronounced oh-neh) means «they» in the feminine plural – an apt nod to the all-female lineup. In English, of course, it signifies unity, even in a society fractured by post-pandemic socio-economic uncertainty and political ambiguity.

O.N.E. allows itself to offer to experiment with unpredictable texture only in «Berio», most likely a playful nod to the Italian composer Luciano Berio. But it is so invested in its democratic dynamics, collective and clever improvisations, mutual respect, and generous space for the distinct voices of the quartet, that it does not leave enough room for more immediate, spontaneous, and even thorny interplay. The music feels as if it sits stubbornly in its thoughtful, considerate mode, lacking the urgency, energy, and boldness of a promising jazz band (despite O.N.E. coloring itself as a band with «wild and uncompromising free jazz energy»).

Eyal Hareuveni   

Kateryna Ziabliuk (piano), Monia Muc (saxophone), Kamila Drabek (double bass), Patrycja Wybrańczyk (drums)