As close to a household name on the international jazz circuit as it comes, Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko is set for a major change of direction with the release next month of a new album featuring a brand new Nordic band, making its London Jazz Festival debut as part of a major tour.

The new group is also featured on Dark Eyes the title of which takes its name from the third track ‘The Dark Eyes of Martha Hirsch’ named after an enigmatic portrait ‘Martha Hirsch (Dreaming Woman)’ painted by Austrian artist Oskar Kokoschka in 1909. Stanko, 67, whose work spans music for film, theatre and ballet as well as a series of groundbreaking albums over a long career, began famously with his key role on the classic Komeda album Astigmatic in 1965. But his career dipped almost disastrously in the 1980s before making a startling comeback in the 1990s and landmarks that decade included Bluish for the Power Bros label, Leosia (with Bobo Stenson, Anders Jormin and Tony Oxley) and Komeda-themed album Litania for ECM. In the 90s Stanko also began to work with prodigiously gifted pianist Marcin Wasilewski from Koszalin in the north of Poland. With Wasilewski’s trio (formerly known as the Simple Acoustic Trio), the Stanko Quartet enjoyed huge success culminating in Lontano back in 2006 after which Wasilewski and the trio embarked on a burgeoning new phase as a trio with the album January and sold-out concerts in the UK including an appearance at the Kings Place ECM festival back in March.

The new Stanko band features two Finns – pianist Alexi Tuomarila and drummer Olavi Louhivuori – and two Danes, electric guitarist Jakob Bro and bassist Anders Christensen (aka “AC”). Louhivuori is, of course, not the first Finnish drummer Stanko has worked with as he had a long and fruitful relationship with the great Edward Vesala best exemplified by the 1977 album, Satu. Bro brings a different sound to the table, perhaps in Stanko’s mind’s eye picking up where Terje Rypdal left off on his brief cameo on the album Litania. On Dark Eyes, recorded earlier this year in France, Stanko also performs music inspired by Swedish playwright Lars Noren’s play Terminal 7, and on the final track reprises Komeda’s ‘Etiuda baletowa nr. 3’ a composition dating back to 1963 when Stanko first joined Komeda’s band.

– Stephen Graham

Tour dates are: Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry (9 November); RNCM Manchester (10 November); Lakeside Arts Centre Nottingham (11 November); St George’s Bristol (12 November); The Edge Arts Centre, Shropshire (13 November); London Jazz Festival QEH, London (14 November) and the Sage Gateshead (15 November).