Andrzej Izdebski started his musical career in the early 1990's as a guitarist in hard core and heavy metal bands. After earning his high school diploma in 1994 he developed an interest in jazz, and soon decided to devote his professional life to music. A self-taught musician, he was fascinated by experimenting with the resonant possibilities of his guitar and with micro-tonality, which inspired him to turn to two unusual instruments: the fretless guitar and baritone fretless guitar, both of which eventually became his speciality. Izdebski also studied musicology at Warsaw University, where he focused on examining the influence of music from different regions and cultures (Africa, the Inuit, India and Tuva, for example) on the techniques used in modern improvisation, and on issues related to spontaneously improvised musical development.
Since 1998 he has been cooperating with yass musicians from Gdańsk, such as Mazzoll & Ahrythmic Perfection, Diffusion Ensemble, Ryszard Tymański and Mikołaj Trzaska. He performed with the Improvisation Band led by bassist Peter Kowald, and then began working on a project of his own, founding Boys Band Trio in 1999. He also started two projects called Sonus Acrobata for fretless guitar and snare drum and Mandragora for baritone guitar and timpani (together with Gdańsk percussionist Michał Gos), as well as the hip hop band Spec.
Since 2000, Izdebski has been recording various interesting artists in his own studio. These have included Michał Górczyński (tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet), Gdańsk musician Marek Rogulski (trumpet, tenor saxophone), Zbigniew Szmatłoch (treated guitar) and Zdzisław Piernik (tuba). He has toured Russia on numerous occasions, and has performed at the SKIF and Alternativa festivals. He also took part in a performance of the Moscow recording In C by Terry Riley, under the direction of the composer himself.
Izdebski has performed with artists from a wide spectrum of styles, including Noel Akchoté, Iliana Alvarado, Olaf Deriglasoff, Gabor Kitzinger, Trey Gunn, Gary Lucas, Henry Keiser, Pat Mastelotto, Je Chun Park, Zdzisław Piernik and Tadeusz Sudnik. In late 2002 he started cooperating with vocalist Kazik Staszewski, having been invited to take part in a project that involved working with the songs of Tom Waits. Later Izdebski would become a member of Staszewski's band.
Izdebski is also a music producer, and runs the independent record label Kariatyda Records.
Projects:
- Boys Band Trio (Michał Górczyński - tenor saxophone, clarinet; Michał Gos - drums)
- Sonus Acrobata (Michał Gos - snare drum)
- Mandragora (Michał Gos - timpani)
- Spec (Krzysztof Radzimski, Adam Kamiński - keybords; Michał Gos - drums)
Selected discography:
- Mazzoll / Knuth Diffusion Ensemble - Azure Access (1999)
- Boys Band Trio - Curvatura Grande (2000)
- El Dupa - A pudle? (2000)
- Izdebski / Rogulski - Brass 7 (2002)
- SPEC - Pyk (2002)
- Terry Riley & Repetition Orchestra (2002)
- Kazik Staszewski - Piosenki Toma Waitsa (2003)
Author: Marek Romański, January 2009.