Poland/France-based Kinga Glyk has amassed a huge following for her bass covers of such popular artists such as Eric Clapton, Bruno Mars, and others, yet her new album Real Life is her first in four years. Here The electric bassist and composer turns mostly to jazz and funk with the bass often as the leading instrument, an approach that resembles that of Jaco Pastorius, though it’s far too early to ascribe Glyk to Pastorius’ level of status. She turned to Snarky Puppy’s Michael League and that same band’s mixer/engineer Nic Hard, recording at League’s studio in Spain.
Favoring League’s use of multiple keyboards, most of these tracks include at least two and as many as four keyboardists with the steady drumming of Snarky Puppy and Ghost-Note’s Robert “Sput” Seawright throughout. Glyk adds her wordless vocals only on two tracks on this otherwise fully instrumental contemporary jazz-rock fusion effort where she penned two and co-penned the remaining ten with League. “Funny Bunny,” basically just an interlude, is the lone solo track with Glyk on bass and vocals although there is a lyrical bent throughout as Glyk attempts to, in her words, “tell stories through music. It’s interesting that having built her reputation primarily on innovative covers, she completely ignores covers and puts her pen to everything here. It’s also noteworthy that she completely embraces the band concept, choosing to extensively solo on just three tracks. Putting herself in service to the song, rather than hogging the spotlight is rather impressive for this emerging talent.
She leaves the bulk of the soloing to her supporting musicians, keyboardist Brett Williams (Marcus Miller, Steve Wonder). Caleb McCampbell (Beyonce, Michael Bublé), Julian Pollack (Marcus Miller, David Sanborn), Nicholas Semrad (Miss Lauryn Hill, Bootsy Collins), and of course League, who by trade is also a bassist who defers here, opting to play, along with keyboards, electric guitar, electric sitar, and fretless baritone guitar on select tracks. Also prominent is Casey Benjamin (Robert Glasper Experiment, Stefon Harris) playing the electronic wind instrument, the aerophone.
The opening “Fast Life,” begins counterintuitively in an ethereal fashion before establishing the pulsating groove over which Williams and Benjamin deliver brief solos in this undulating piece that teems with undulating electronics, setting the tone for the album. Glyk’s bass is set more prominently in the mix for “Unfollower” which boasts a lilting melody over a thick funky beat, devoid of any soloists, but plenty rich in colorful layers. It becomes quickly apparent in just two tracks that Glyk has both a rather unique approach to arrangement and bass playing, treating the latter as not just a groove machine or rhythm keeper, but interspersing sweeping melodic lines amidst the pulsation. She does step forward with a singular statement toward the end of the driving, up-tempo “Who Cares” which has its share of weird sonics, punctuated by Semrad’s solo and League’s electric sitar which prevail in the rather spacey middle section. That airy, free-flowing quality is the essence of the gorgeous “Island” which surprisingly directs the spotlight on Seawright for a brief and aptly tasteful workout on the drum set.
“Not Real” and “Unseen Business” are the two Glyk originals and are rendered by the quartet with Benjamin and Williams carrying dreamy melodies and reverberating sonics while the bass-drum tandem shifts between melodic support and elastic underpinning grooves. The full sextet returns for the angular, intricately rhythmic “Swimming in the Sky, “Friend You Call,” and “That Right There,” the first two rich in keyboard and aerophone lines while the latter shifts between a funky, sweaty, filthy workout and interstitial calm passages. with Glyk serving as the key driver on all. “Sadness Does Not Last Forever” predictably begins with the darkest tones on the album before it shifts to a celebratory vibe led by Pollack’s solo and the rhythmic, akin to hand clapping beat laid down by the drummer and bassist. The final “Opinions” (not available on the vinyl version) features four keyboardists and a similar ethereal feel to the opener, thereby providing symmetry.
While this writer was initially tempted to just pass this off as loud, in-your-face funk-driven jazz-rock fusion, continued listens revealed compelling musical concepts and an emotive quality rarely found in this kind of music.
