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Marcin Wasilewski

The trio is one of the brightest stars of the Polish jazz scene, recognised for their unique talent in blending tradition with contemporary sound.

Marcin Wasilewski Trio is: Marcin Wasilewski, piano, (born 1975), Sławomir Kurkiewicz, double- bass, (born 1975) and Michał Miśkiewicz (born 1977) playing drums.

The band combines the grand tradition of the challenging piano trio tenet and creates their own distinct sound in doing so. It is also one of the most consistently developing bands of the Polish music scene, and one that is very open to inspiration from the surrounding environment. The Marcin Wasilewski Trio is considered one of the most acclaimed and unique jazz formations of its generation, and it has garnered recognition in its native Poland as well as abroad.

In 2019, the band will celebrates 25 years of playing in an unwavering squad. But its actual history goes back even further, to the year 1990. It was then that the Simple Acoustic Trio was founded by a group of students from a music high school in Koszalin. Their debut performance would come a year later, and the band quickly began to garner awards across Poland. In 1993, the young percussionist Michał Miśkiewicz (the son of renowned Polish saxophonist Henryk Miśkiewicz) joined the Simple Acoustic Trio and since then the group plays together untouched by any personal disturbances.

Their very first record Komeda came out in 1995, published by the Kraków based Gowi Records label. It became one of the most widely commented debuts of the year. An homage to the work of Krzysztof Komeda, it consisted entirely of his compositions. The critics and audience alike didn’t fail to hear in the recordings much more than mere interpretations of the historic pieces of Polish jazz. The reviews hailed the trio a creative continuation of this history, and one of the biggest promises of the Polish jazz scene.

Their music soon stirred the curiosity of Tomasz Stańko, the legendary Polish trumpet player. In the late 1990s, Stańko was searching for a new quartet squad, one that would allow him to pursue the kind of work he did with Bobo Stenson, Anders Jormin and Tony Oxley. The encounter with Tomasz Stańko turned out to be a turning point in the trio’s career. Stańko was quoted as saying that „In the entire history of Polish jazz there was no group like this one”.

The cooperation with Tomasz Stańko was officially launched between 1999 and 2000, and it was preceeded by occasional concert collaboration between Stańko and Wasilewski. The Simple Acoustic Trio had gained a mentor in Stańko and cooperated with him as a working band. This cooperation soon lead to recording with one of the world’s leading labels, the Munich-based ECM.

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Live Review

Il Marcin Wasilewski Trio & Joe Lovano al Teatro Golden di Palermo

Read "Il Marcin Wasilewski Trio & Joe Lovano al Teatro Golden di Palermo" reviewed by Maurizio Zerbo


Marcin Wasilewski Trio & Joe Lovano Teatro Golden Palermo Summer Jazz Festival 2022 27.5.2021 Teatro Golden Quale è il compito dei festival jazz in epoca post-covid? Proporre serigrafie e soluzioni commerciali per recuperare gli introiti durante la pandemia, o investire sui quadri d'autore? A questa seconda schiera di appuntamenti appartiene il Palermo Summer Jazz Festival 2022, pensato come laboratorio di idee per i palati più esigenti. Lo testimonia il concerto d'anteprima, frutto di ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Old And New Music From Miles Davis, Champian Fulton, Mahavishnu Orchestra & Others

Read "Old And New Music From Miles Davis, Champian Fulton, Mahavishnu Orchestra & Others" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


This show features a wide variety of new and old jazz, including piano music from Dabin Ryu and Marcin Wasilewski, vocals from Marty Elkins and Champian Fulton and a live track from Birth of the Cool-era Miles Davis. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 Dabin Ryu “Taxi Driver" from Wall (Self-Produced) 00:58 Wally Cirillo “Rose Geranium" from Explorations (Fresh ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Unique Line-Ups and Solo Piano

Read "Unique Line-Ups and Solo Piano" reviewed by Bob Osborne


On this week's show a selection of new releases with unconventional line-ups and some solo piano recordings. There is music from Pedway, Nabou, Eduardo Elia, Marcin Wasilewski, Noam Lemish, Leandro Giménez & Friends, Ed Petterson and the Jazzlab Orchestra. I also look back at Emma Famin's debut album from 2019.Playlist Pedway “Personal Floatation Device" from Vitalic (ears&eyes) 00:00 Nabou “Black Light" from You Know (Outnote Records) 08:10 Eduardo Elia “I" from The art of not falling -Improvisations on ...

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Album Review

Marcin Wasilewski Trio: En Attendant

Read "En Attendant" reviewed by Chris May


The Marcin Wasilewski Trio's seventh ECM album traverses material by such disparate composers as J.S. Bach, Carla Bley and The Doors and brings it all together in a seamless package which also includes three spontaneously created group improvisations. It is a beauty. Pianist Marcin Wasilewski, bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz have been playing together for almost thirty years, first as the Simple Acoustic Trio, then as three-quarters of trumpeter Tomasz Stańko's Quartet, then under Wasilewski's ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Wasilewski Trio with Joe Lovano and Thumbscrew interpret Braxton

Read "Wasilewski Trio with Joe Lovano and Thumbscrew interpret Braxton" reviewed by Bob Osborne


This week we feature the beautiful new album from the Marcin Wasilewski Trio with Joe Lovano, cutting edge improvisation with Cooper-Moore & Stephen Gauci and No Horns, Thumbscrew interpreting the compositions of Anthony Braxton, and, new sounds from Anteloper and Michael Sarian. Also further investigation of the back catalogue of Felice Clemente, something old and something new from Michael Formanek, and a closer from Louis Sclavis, Craig Taborn and Tom Rainey. Playlist Marcin Wasilewski Trio with Joe Lovano ...

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Album Review

Marcin Wasilewski Trio, Joe Lovano: Arctic Riff

Read "Arctic Riff" reviewed by Thomas Fletcher


The Marcin Wasilewski Trio is amongst the most evident and high-profile jazz groups that roam the Polish scene. Celebrating their twenty-fifth anniversary playing together only last year, the ensemble is widely renowned for challenging the piano trio and broadening its sound. Having collaborated with luminary wind players such as Jan Garbarek, Arthur Blythe and John Surman, the trio have now set their aspirations on performing with fellow ECM giant, Joe Lovano. Lovano made his debut with the record label back ...

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Album Review

Marcin Wasilewski Trio & Joe Lovano: Arctic Riff

Read "Arctic Riff" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


Like standing before a frozen lake as it becomes a palette for the morning sun, “Glimmer of Hope" ripens swiftly, deftly into an illuminating, direly-needed respite from the mourning that has besieged listeners. Ecstatically, it is just the preface to Arctic Riff's expansive beauty. As if conjured from mist, pianist Marcin Wasilewski's contented, yet curious rubato, ellipses through a few random tonalities, its sole purpose being to create an active space for his long trusted rhythm section--bassist Slawomir ...

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Festival

2017 Edition of Festival Musica Sulle Bocche runs from August 31 to September 3

2017 Edition of Festival Musica Sulle Bocche runs from August 31 to September 3

Source: All About Jazz

Musica sulle Bocche, the jazz festival born in 2001 on Bocche di Bonifacio, the strait between Sardinia and Corsica, will take place in Santa Teresa Gallura, from Thursday 31st August to Sunday 3rd September. Among the many festivals dedicated to jazz music in Italy, “Musica sulle Bocche” is characterised, since its first editions, by the close bond between music and landscape and for its innovative artistic choices. Directed by the musician Enzo Favata, the festival has brought to the extraordinary ...

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Recording

Wasilewski, Kurkiewicz and Miskiewicz - Trio (2005)

Wasilewski, Kurkiewicz and Miskiewicz - Trio (2005)

Source: Something Else!

By Mark Saleski Back in the mid-1980s, the arrival on the jazz scene of a trumpeter named Wynton Marsalis marked the start of the so-called “young lions" period. Marsalis, along with the like-minded Terence Blanchard, Roy Hargrove and several others, put a (slightly) fresh spin on jazz from the Miles Davis classic quartet years. Some thought the music too reverent of its roots, lending it a kind of “Museum of Classic Jazz" sound. Like a lot of easy generalization though, ...

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Recording

Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Faithful, ECM 2011 ***a1/2

Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Faithful, ECM 2011 ***a1/2

Source: Free Jazz by Stef Gijssels

By Paul Acquaro When listening to the Marcin Wasilewski Trio's Faithful, I've begun developing a feeling that there is something that I'm not quite tuned in to. Having not heard this trio's music before but having read some laudatory write-ups online, I must I admit I was anticipating something, though what, I'm still not entirely sure. Wasilewski's approach to piano is strikingly lush but at the same time employs a great economy. The phrasing is exquisite and the atmosphere, light ...

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Recording

Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Faithful (2011)

Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Faithful (2011)

Source: Something Else!

One of ECM's rising stars is back three years after knocking it out of the park with a sensational album the last time around. Marcin Wasilweski leads a trio from Poland and January, their second album together outside the long shadow of Polish trumpet giant Tomasz Stanko, displayed maturity and subtleties from these young performers that's startling coming from a generation of musicians where those qualities seem to be in short supply. Though January was an easy selection to the ...

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Recording

Marcin Wasilewski Trio - "Imprint"

Marcin Wasilewski Trio - "Imprint"

Source: ECM Records

Marcin Wasilewski Trio Faithful Marcin Wasilewski piano Slawomir Kurkiewicz double-bass Michal Miskiewicz drums Release date: April 12, 2011 Dazzling third ECM album by Poland's Wasilewski Trio, which perfectly captures the group's blend of energy and lyricism. There is space here for both the outgoing and the reflective, for profound composition and in-the-moment creativity. The wide-ranging repertoire on “Faithful" (named after the Ornette Coleman title track) includes five new tunes from ...

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Recording

Marcin Wasilewski Trio "Faithful"

Marcin Wasilewski Trio "Faithful"

Source: Sound Insights by Doug Payne

Polish pianist Marcin Wasilewski and his trio, featuring bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz, continue to impress and astound, but never more so than on the group's newest ECM disc Faithful, a most remarkable feat of collective creativity and improvised music. After waxing some of Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko's more memorable recent outings (2002's notable Soul of Things, 2004's Suspended Night and 2006's splendid Lontano), the trio—minus drummer Miskiewicz—made drummer/percussionist Manu Katché's ECM discs (2005's Neighbourhood and 2007's Playground) ...

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Performance / Tour

Marcin Wasliewski in L.A. Ticket Giveaway at The Jazz Session

Marcin Wasliewski in L.A. Ticket Giveaway at The Jazz Session

Source: All About Jazz


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Radio

The Jazz Session #48: Marcin Wasilewski

The Jazz Session #48: Marcin Wasilewski

Source: All About Jazz

On the new episode of The Jazz Session, Jason Crane interviews Polish pianist and composer Marcin Wasilewski. His new recording, January (ECM, 2008), features his own compositions alongside those of Gary Peacock, Carla Bley, Ennio Moricone and … Prince. Wasilewski’s trio is very much a part of the new European piano trio renaissance, featuring inventive material played democratically.

CONTEST: Visit thejazzsession.com to win two tickets to see Marcin in LA!

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About The Jazz Session & Jason Crane

Jason Crane ...

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Performance / Tour

Marcin Wasilewski Trio at Chris' Jazz Cafe on May 22, 2008

Marcin Wasilewski Trio at Chris' Jazz Cafe on May 22, 2008

Source: All About Jazz

The Marcin Wasilewski Trio, featuring Marcin Wasilewski on piano, Slawomir Kurkiewicz on double bass and Michal Miskiewicz on drums, will perform at Chris' Jazz Caf on May 22, 2008.

The trio first gained notice as the rhythm section for the great trumpeter, Tomasz Stanko. Joining his band in 2000 they have worked with him continuously and recorded with him for the most part of this decade. Their friend and mentor, Stanko, has said, “In the entire history of Polish jazz ...

„…in the entire history of Polish jazz, we’ve never had a band like this one. I’m surprised by these musicians every day. They just keep getting better and better”. - Tomasz Stanko /The Icon of Polish jazz, Polish trumpeter, composer/

”Polish pianist Marcin Wasilewski’s trio is one of the best to appear on the European jazz scene in the past decade” - The Guardian

„The Marcin Wasilewski Trio is one of the most important acoustic jazz band in Europe. Wasilewski, Kurkiewicz and Miskiewcz are perfectly finding themselves in each of the most risky configurations. Whether it is a partnership cooperation with soloists, or blending in into ideas of other leaders, or finally - not submiting to any conjunctural trends or moods - in one of the most demanding and beautiful jazz set: a standard acoustic jazz trio”. Dionizy Piątkowski, Polish journalist, jazz critic, promoter, founder and director of „The Era Of Jazz” Festival.

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

En Attendant

ECM Records
2021

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Arctic Riff

ECM Records
2020

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Live

ECM Records
2018

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Live

ECM Records
2018

buy

Spark of Life

ECM Records
2014

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Videos

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