Andrzej Jagodziński Jazz Trio
The concert was recorded at the PolArt2015 festival in Melbourne. We would like to remind you of the wonderful sound of Chopin’s motifs arranged in a jazz style by Andrzej Jagodziński. Enjoy!
One of Poland’s leading jazz pianists interprets the music of the country’s greatest composer. (…) One of the best examples of classical jazz since Art Tatum tackled Massenet (Music and Media)
The Andrzej Jagodziński Trio – Andrzej Jagodziński (p), Adam Cegielski (b), Czesław Bartkowski (dr) – a band which has won acclaim all over the world and is now celebrating 25 years of their music-making.
The first Andrzej Jagodziński album of jazzed-up Chopin, recorded in December 1993, was an event showered with awards. Another record “Live at the National Philharmonic” was created in 1995, followed by “Chopin Once More” in 1999. In 2008 the Trio recorded “Chopin – Jagodziński – Sonata in B flat minor” celebrating the 15th anniversary of its creation by presenting a jazz vision of this great composition. The year 2010 witnessed a 2-CD album “Chopin – Les Brillantes”, which incorporated the band’s previous experience with Chopin’s music. It was also a tribute to the master on the 200th anniversary of his birth. All the CDs quickly attained the status of Golden Disc.
In November 2013, the newest, original recording came to life in order to celebrate the band’s 20th-anniversary performance. “Andrzej Jagodziński – Piano Concerto in G Minor” – a composition for a jazz trio and a symphony orchestra was recorded with the renowned Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Wojciech Zielinski.
While traveling across the globe, the band performed in various music festivals all over the world, including: “Jazz Jamboree” (Poland), “Grant Park Music Festival” (USA), “Kaunas Jazz Festival” (Lithuania), “Musikfest Bremen” (Germany), “Israel Festival” (Israel), “White Nights Festival” (Russia), “Cervantino” (Mexico), “Jazz à Liège” (Belgium), “Ankara Music Festival” (Turkey), “Brubeck Festival” (USA), “Nine Gates Festival” (China), “Chicago – Millennium Park” (USA) and “Nordlysfestivalen” (Norway).
Jazz versions of Chopin’s music were also presented in the best classical music venues:
Carnegie Hall, The Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Wiener Konzerthaus, National Concert Hall in Taipei or Nezahualcoyotl Hall in Mexico.
“What is most striking is the originality and perfection which melt into one, their fine taste and elegance – all signs of master art, the aristocracy of art in the most noble sense. Music lovers looking for a taste of something unusual will find this recording alluring. It invites the listener to discover and translate the secret of the “grease-lightening harmony” that exists between Chopin’s music and the art of playing jazz.”
Bohdan Pociej – Jazz Forum
“If Chopin really was a composer for the right hand only, as Wagner grouchily complained, then perhaps Andrzej Jagodziński has provided a missing accompaniment. These are not jazzed-up interpretations of Chopin compositions but a set of jazz originals inspired by the great Pole’s most evocative pieces.”
“Jagodziński and his colleague bassist Adam Cegielski and drummer Czesław Bartkowski have made a fascinating piece of music in its own right, but they have also suggested new – or rather old – ways of listening to Chopin. His work is, after all, the acme of piano music…” Brian Morton – Jazz on CD
