Marcin Masecki, photo by: Tomasz Dubiel
One of the biggest jazz events in Asia is going to host performances by Marcin Masecki, Maciej Obara, Piotr Damasiewicz, and Gerard Lebik. Their Japanese events have been organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, in collaboration with the Jazztopad Festival.
Three bands from Poland are going to appear at the Tokio’s Cotton Club: Marcin Masecki (playing on his own and with a brass orchestra), Maciej Obara International Quartet, and Piotr Damasiewicz with Gerard Lebik, who are behind the veNN Circles project. The performances of the Polish jazzmen is intended to be part of an exchange between Wrocław’s Jazztopad Festival and the Tokyo Jazz Festival. A representation of Japanese jazz musicians is going to play in Poland in November 2013.
Marcin Masecki is a much celebrated pianist and composer – he received his first big award at the Moscow International Jazz Festival in 2005. He is the leader of the band Profesjonalizm, the director of the first edition of Warszawska Orkiestra Rozrywkowa (Warsaw Entertainment Orchestra), and a member of the multi-national band Paristetris. He has composed scores to theatre plays (e.g. Solaris at Teatr Rozmaitości and The Passenger at Teatr Współczesny). At Tokyo Jazz Festival he is going to play with the Polonezy project, whose members are: Jerzy Andrzej Rogiewicz (drums), Maurycy Idzikowski (trumpet), Filip Mazur (trumpet), Michał Wit Górczyński (clarinet). Piotr Mróz (clarinet), Bartosz Wacław Smoragiewicz (saxophone), Michał Bronisław Fetler (saxophone), Piotr Wróbel (trombone), Michał Tomaszczyk (trombone).
Maciej Obara International Quartet is a Polish-Norwegian ensemble, featuring Maciej Obar (saxophone), Dominik Wania (piano) with Ole Morten Vaagana (double bass) and Gard Nilssen (percussion). The Quartet debuted at the Jazzart Festival in Katowice in April 2012. They present an innovative approach to jazz, juxtaposing it with ethnic motifs from Poland and Scandinavia.
The trumpeter Piotr Damasiewicz is a founder of Power of the Horns, and of Hadrony. At Tokyo Jazz Festival, he is going to be accompanied by Gerard Lebik – a saxophone player, and one of the members of the Foton quartet. Together, they will present a series of improvised jazz compositions inspired by the animated films of Stefan Schabenbeck – a project titled veNN Circles Schabenbeck- Polish Animation – Reinterpretations. The films directed by Schabenbeck that are going to be presented as part of this perfomance include: Everything is a Number (Wszystko jest Liczbą, 1966), The Stairs (Schody, 1968), The Drought (Susza, 1969), The Wind (Wiatr, 1969), and The Invasion (Inwazja, 1970).
The project is realized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, in collaboration with the Jazztopad Festival.
Tokyo Jazz Festival’s website: tokyo-jazz.com
Sources: own materials, ed. JN, 16.08.2013, transl. AM, 19.08.2013