Home » Jazz Musicians » Tomasz Dabrowski

Tomasz Dabrowski

Tomasz Dąbrowski is an award-winning Polish trumpeter and composer settled in Copenhagen, Denmark. With eight albums released under his own name and dozens of CDs as a co-leader and sideman, he is considered one of the most gifted trumpeters and composers in Europe. Tomasz has mostly been known for his work with groups TOM TRIO [ nominated to the FRYDERYK AWARD - Polish Music Industry Award], FREE4ARTS, his Japanese quartet AD HOC, string of concerts S-O-L-O: 30th Birthday / 30 Concerts / 30 Cities and projects with Tomasz Stańko, Tyshawn Sorey and Kris Davis, which received raving reviews internationally and created opportunities to tour all over Europe, North America and Asia. Tomasz is a member of a Danish musician-run collective and record label Barefoot Records.

Tomasz Dąbrowski has always been rejecting the conventions of lineup choice: starting with a trio without a harmonic instrument, forming a duo with drums and a trio with piano and drums, playing solo trumpet concerts. Tomasz is always looking for new sounds, textures and forms, proving that the unconventional has its peculiar colour and is beautiful in its own way.

All About Jazz named Tomasz as one of the 15 most significant European jazz musicians today [2017].

Tomasz was awarded with artistic scholarship by Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in 2012, a year later he has been named "Musician of the Year" by FFJ in Denmark [Foreningen af Fynske Jazzmusikere - Årets fynske jazzmusiker 2013]. He is a member of the program "You Me - Young Musicians play Europe"

Over the last few years, while living in Denmark, Dąbrowski has worked and performed with some of the finest musicians and bands on the Danish scene: Marilyn Mazur, Kresten Osgood, Jacob Anderskov, Fredrik Lundin, Kasper Tranberg, the Copenhagen Art Ensemble, Hunger Pangs, Lotte Anker, Andreas Lang, AC, Mette Rasmussen, Simon Krabs, and Kasper Tom to name a few.

Along with that Tomasz has worked and played with artists, such us: Tomasz Stańko, Evan Parker, Pheeroan akLaff, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Riccardo Del Fra, RJ Miller, Aaron Parks, Richard Bona, Stacey Kent, Rudi Mahall, Henrik Walsdorff, Avishai Cohen, Sam Pluta, Ikue Mori, Óskar Guðjónsson, Tyshawn Sorey, Kris Davis, Jonathan Blake, Andrew Drury, Gilad Hekselman, Alex Terrier, Rodolfo Zuniga and Jaleel Shaw.Tomasz Dąbrowski is an award-winning Polish trumpeter and composer settled in Copenhagen, Denmark. With eight albums released under his own name and dozens of CDs as a co-leader and sideman, he is considered one of the most gifted trumpeters and composers in Europe. Tomasz has mostly been known for his work with groups TOM TRIO [ nominated to the FRYDERYK AWARD - Polish Music Industry Award], FREE4ARTS, his Japanese quartet AD HOC, string of concerts S-O-L-O: 30th Birthday / 30 Concerts / 30 Cities and projects with Tomasz Stańko, Tyshawn Sorey and Kris Davis, which received raving reviews internationally and created opportunities to tour all over Europe, North America and Asia. Tomasz is a member of a Danish musician-run collective and record label Barefoot Records.

Read more

Tags

7
Interview

Tomasz Dąbrowski: Elevating Jazz Storytelling

Read "Tomasz Dąbrowski: Elevating Jazz Storytelling" reviewed by Matthew Vasiliauskas


Joseph Stalin famously said, “Music's a good thing. It calms the beast in the man." For Stalin though, not all music produced peace and serenity. In his eyes, certain types of music could just as easily act as the beast itself; ready to attack and tear apart the society around it. Perhaps the form of music that generated the most concern during the Stalinist era was jazz. According to historian Martin Lüke, jazz in the USSR between 1920 ...

1
Radio & Podcasts

Tomasz Dabrowski, James Singleton & Dave Gisler

Read "Tomasz Dabrowski, James Singleton & Dave Gisler" reviewed by Maurice Hogue


Like most Polish trumpet players influenced by the late Tomasz Stanko, Tomasz Dabrowski fell heavily under Stanko's spell, but he also was blessed to study with the master and to have him as a mentor. It was probably a huge thrill to be able to play one of Stanko's horns while recording his latest, Tomasz Dabrowski & The Individual Beings. It's a feature album of this edition of OMJ. Other excellent new releases sampled come from bassist James Singleton, guitarist ...

2
Album Review

Tomasz Dąbrowski FREE4ARTS: When I Come Across

Read "When I Come Across" reviewed by Troy Dostert


A musician who has frequently changed creative directions, trumpeter Tomasz Dabrowski takes yet another uncharted path with his latest FREE4ARTS album, When I Come Across. With erstwhile pianist Jacob Anderskov moving aside for guitarist Simon Krebs, this version of the band now possesses a grittier, rock-inflected sound. With frequent Dabrowski colleague Sven Dam Meinild switching from alto to baritone sax, unique sonorities become possible as well, resulting in music with a subtle beauty in the midst of its edgy grooves. ...

3
Album Review

Tomasz Dąbrowski FREE4ARTS: When I Come Across

Read "When I Come Across" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Polish trumpeter Tomasz Dąbrowski (who lives in Denmark) leads an empathetic Nordic quartet with FREE4ARTS, in their sophomore outing. As the group name implies, they play freely, favoring the rubato approach found in so many ECM recordings. Opening track “HPB" begins with new member guitarist Simon Krebs (replacing pianist Jacob Anderskov) and baritone saxophonist Sven Dam Meinild setting the stage for Dąbrowski's lyrical trumpet entry. There is no bass in the group, but here the baritone takes that ...

4
Album Review

Ocean Fanfare: First Nature

Read "First Nature" reviewed by Mark Corroto


If you were to play a game of 'name that artist' while listening to the recording First Nature, roughly half of the contestants would identify the band as the Dave Douglas Quartet, not because Tomasz Dąbrowski has a derivative sound, but more as a compliment to his range and imagination. The Polish trumpeter, now a Scandinavian resident, penned half the compositions heard on this recording, and alto saxophonist Sven Dam Meinild the remainder. Dąbrowski's Danish quartet is rounded out by ...

2
Album Review

Ocean Fanfare: First Nature

Read "First Nature" reviewed by Troy Dostert


It can be difficult to keep up with trumpeter Tomasz Dabrowski. His incessant musical explorations have kept him in the forefront of European jazz since 2012, when he debuted his Tom Trio (ILK Music), the first of several different projects he has formed. Most recently he released Ninjazz (For Tune, 2018), a well-conceived outing featuring three like-minded Japanese musicians, which was both inventive and accessible. Here he returns to a group he started in 2013, Ocean Fanfare, which released Imagine ...

11
Album Review

Tomasz Dabrowski: Ninjazz

Read "Ninjazz" reviewed by Don Phipps


Dark and foreboding, with a slight touch of heat, Polish trumpeter Tomasz Dąbrowski's album Ninjazz offers up a selection of work that reminds one of his mentor, the late great Tomasz Stanko, with a bit of Enrico Rava, Kenny Wheeler, and Mark Isham thrown in for good measure. Dabrowski is joined on this effort by a trio of steady and capable musicians, Hiroshi Minami on piano, Hiroki Chiba on bass, and Hiroshi Tsuboi on drums. Together they form ...

Read more articles

"Tomasz Dąbrowski is one of the most interesting musicians of the young generation in Poland." - Tomasz Stańko "Unlike other instruments the trumpet does not contain a generator of sound within itself. The human body of the trumpet player generates the sound, and this is merely amplified by the trumpet. In this way the trumpet becomes something like an extension of the body—which leads to many difficulties in mastering the instrument, but also to many possibilities for producing sounds with the most direct kind of musical expression. This can be heard in the playing of Tomasz Dabrowski" - Axel Dörner "As musicians change their attitudes from those of searchers for arcana to sifters of unlimited data, a few have found a way to maintain forward motion; gracefully picking the information that speaks to them and using it in essence to create a new and personal voice that is an extension, not a recreation of a tradition

Read more

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Under Overfladen

Fiil Free Records
2020

buy

First Nature

Barefoot Records
2019

buy

When I Come Across

Audio Cave
2019

buy

Maluba Orchestra

Stunt Records/Sundance Music
2019

buy

Ninjazz

For Tune
2018

buy

Tomasz Dąbrowski...

Barefoot Records
2016

buy

12-6

From: Under Overfladen
By Tomasz Dabrowski

HBP

From: When I Come Across
By Tomasz Dabrowski

Hjemmefødsel

From: First Nature
By Tomasz Dabrowski

Lines for Bogdan

From: Ninjazz
By Tomasz Dabrowski

Part II

From: S-O-L-O: 30th Birthday/30...
By Tomasz Dabrowski

Videos

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.