The Oles Brothers from Poland have been performing for over twenty years with Marcin on double bass and Bartlomiej on drums. They are joined on this record by young pianist Piotr Orzechowski. This is an original take on the early Weather Report music composed by Austrian pianist Joe Zawinul. The Oles Brother are quite correct in identifying the European element in these early works: they’re quite unlike the later jazz fusion style increasingly adopted by Weather Report as they became a jazz supergroup in the late 1970s. Their earlier material (the source of all these Oles Brothers interpretations) was in large part composed by Zawinul and reflects a much more ethereal, contemplative approach – as heard in Milky Way, the opening track of their first self-titled album released in 1971, and which has inspired a suite of improvisations on this record. That 1971 self titled first album is indeed a certifiable jazz classic, but the Oles Brothers – along with the subtle pianism of Piotr Orzechowski – have succeeded in creating something very special too. “We wanted to strip Zawinul’s output from fusion and electric sounds” said Marcin Oles and this is exactly what they have done in their selections from both the first and second Weather Records. Waterfall, the tune on this week’s show, is a long way removed from Zawinul’s original conception and – as with John Surman above – is further proof that the best musicians do not stay on the same path. Check this one out at Steve’s Jazz Sounds – home to great jazz from Europe and elsewhere.