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| Chopin Goes Jazz with Grazyna Auguscik and Andrzej Jagodzinski Capping their U.S. tour, renowned Chicago-based jazz singer, Grazyna Auguscik and Poland's acclaimed Andrzej Jagodzinski Trio will give a concert of Chopin-inspired jazz at Joe's Pub, NYC on Wednesday, March 7th in a performance co-presented by the Polish Cultural Institute. In Chopin Goes Jazz, Auguscik vocally complements interpretations by Jagodzinski, a pioneer of the “Chopin stream” in Polish jazz, with her flare for scat and by tapping, as did Chopin, into Polish folk music. Polish-born Frdric Chopin, who moved from Warsaw to Paris at age 20, is revered around the world as one of the greatest composers. But as a composer, his own reverence for Bach and Mozart did not prevent him from respectfully transforming traditional musical structures; and as a pianist he was startlingly innovative and a master of improvisation. It is therefore not surprising that he has inspired a new stream in Polish jazz. Grazyna Auguscik, the Polish-born singer, composer, arranger, and producer, has been winning the praise and admiration of music critics with a singular voice that speaks a universal language. With an elusive style that challenges the traditional definitions of jazz, she is one of the most intriguing vocalists on the jazz scene today, Her unorthodox approach to rewriting classic works is at once a tribute to its authors as well as an adventure into uncharted territory, while her originals have an uncanny flavor of their own. Having already trained and performed in Europe, Auguscik completed her studies in 1992 at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. Since 1994 Grazyna has made Chicago her home, where she performs at the legendary Green Mill, with memorable appearances at the 1998 and 2002 Chicago Jazz Festivals. Grazyna has recorded ten albums, six under her own record label, GMA Records, and appeared on as many projects as guest performer. Her album Pastels was chosen one of the best of 1998 by National Public Radio listeners and Fragile was deemed one of the Top 20 of 2000 by Chicago's NPR station WBEZ. Rivers received rave reviews in 2002. More recent work has included Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass, a tribute to Bruno Schulz, with the Cracow Klezmer Band, The Light, Welcome Everything - Guitar Madness, with Kurt Elling, and Lulajze -The Lullaby for Jesus - all released in 2005. Grazyna won a nomination as Best Female Vocalist of 2002 in the 22nd Annual Chicago Music Awards, and was named Best Jazz Vocalist three years in a row - for 2002, 2003, and 2004 - by Europe's Jazz Forum Magazine. Andrzej Jagodzinski, composer and arranger born in 1953, is one of the best Polish pianists - jazz or otherwise. He received his degrees from the Frederick Chopin Conservatory, where he studied French horn while already engaged by the Polish Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra. He has played with most of the best jazz groups in Poland, including the Zbigniew Namyslowski Quartet, The Jan Ptaszyn Wroblewski Quartet, and Jarek Smietana's Polish All Stars. The Andrzej Jagodzinski Trio's first album, Chopin, was named Best Record of 1994 by Jazz Forum Magazine and won the Fryderyk Award (Polish Grammy) as best jazz record of the year. With Adam Cegielski on bass and Czeslaw Bartkowski on drums, the Jagodzinski Trio have continued to explore jazz interpretations of Chopin, their CD output including Chopin - Live at the National Philharmonic (1997), Once More Chopin, and Metamorphoses (both 1999). The Trio was a key influence in launching the “Chopin stream” in Polish jazz. In 2006, besides concerts in Poland, the Trio performed in the U.S., Argentina, Iceland, Sweden, and Japan. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Jazz News :: home page |