TS: Those guys [Marcin Wasilewski on piano, Sławomir Kurkiewicz on double bass, Michał Miśkiewicz on drums] are extraordinary. In the entire history of Polish Jazz, we've never had anything like that before. Yes, there was Gucio Dyląg in the 1960s but he was an exception to the rule... I believe the boys are getting better every day. I have to admit that I'm surprised by them every day. They're just great artists, super proficient musicians. Real pros.
CL: What are your inspirations?
TS: I love improvised art. In literature, definitely William Faulkner with his melodic and improvisation-filled narration. Similarly, in the spirit of jazz improvisation, I read James Joyce. William S. Burroughs – I just need to have his book around, sometimes I just need this one page... I've always liked to live on the edge, desperado... Among painters, mainly impressionists: Chaim Soutine, Modigliani... Recently, before I go to sleep, I need to browse through this album with works by Van Gogh. I've always been fascinated with the art of motion pictures. I enjoy hiking in the mountains, jogging, yoga...
CL: What about drugs?
TS: As Jimi Hendrix once said, 'Drugs are for adolescents'. Perhaps it took me a while, but I'm not a kid anymore.
CL: What do you think about today's music, not necessarily jazz-oriented?
TS: I find the music of hip-hop to be a very interesting one. I'm especially enjoying its particular relationship with time, specifically its continuity. And of course its physical aspect, the physicality of the body on the move, precision in inequalities... Unfortunately, I am missing its entire sociopolitical aspect but I've always been digging instrumental music much better. The way hip-hop uses rhythms is especially appealing to me. I also like what I hear from Scandinavia, all the so-called 'nu-jazz', particularly what's coming from Bugge Wesseltoft.
CL: And what do you think about remixes of old jazz tunes by contemporary DJs?
TS: No doubt about it – I like it. Who knows, perhaps one day all music will just be one super mix done by visionary DJs? Not 'artsy' enough? Well, look at simplicity of ragtime music and see how it progressed straight to Coltrane. Today, if I walk on the sidewalk and have Mahler's symphony going through my mind then one can sit and write everything down then add a little bit of Africa, a little bit of Europe and mix it together. Why don't I do it? Because we do not have good producers! Actually I use a similar 'technique' when I compose music for motion pictures. We start by recording all the tracks one-by-one and then I sit, 'cut' the tape and mix all the ingredients. At the end, something of a kind unseen before is born: new music.
CL: So, you do not subscribe to the thesis that jazz as an art form is dead?
TS: BS! In art, everything flows, everything continues. New and great improvisers will always be here, and there will be always improvised music because life is stronger than death. Did Baroque die with Bach? Did Romanticism end when Mahler passed away? In music, as in life, everything evaluates and changes from one day to another but the tradition lasts forever. The tradition never dies, it's always being handed down, and it's with you all the time.
Interview originally published by Polish Jazz Network in 2004. The text was provided by Marek Romański, December 2008