Background
Andrzej Jagodziński is a graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, in the French horn class. As a student, in 1975-80, he played the French horn with the Polish Radio and Television Orchestra in Warsaw. He set up his first band in 1977, accompanying Aneta Łastik during concerts and recordings. Two years later at the Golden Washboard Old Jazz Meeting competition in Warsaw, he received the individual prize as a pianist while his quartet won the main prize.
Since then he has devoted himself exclusively to jazz music and the piano. As a pianist and French horn player, he has worked with bands such as Henryk Majewski's Old Timers and Swing Session, Janusz Muniak's quartet, Zbigniew Namysłowski's quartet, Prowizorka Dżez Będ, String Connection, Quintessence, Tomasz Szukalski's quartet, Jarosław Śmietana's Polish All Stars, and Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski's Czwartet. He has been Ewa Bem's regular accompanist since 1986.
He has performed all over the world, taking part in many prestigious festivals, including Jazz Yatra - Bombay, Ost-West Nurnberg, Jazz in Europe - Paris, Skane Festivalen in Malmö, Edinburgh Art Festival, Leverkusener Jazz Tage, Istanbul International Festival, and Ankara Music Festival. The Andrzej Jagodziński Trio was formed in 1993, with drummer Czesław Bartkowski and double-bass player Adam Cegielski in the line-up.
The trio's album Chopin was released in 1994, containing jazz arrangement of works by Fryderyk Chopin. The album contributed to the band's great success, winning awards that included the Fryderyk '94 Polish Music Industry Prize and the Melomani '94 award from the Association of Jazz Fans in Łódź. Andrzej Jagodziński also received the Mateusz '94 award from Polish Radio's Programme III for Jazzowy Chopin i poezja w muzyce / Jazz Chopin and Poetry in Music.
His next album – Chopin Once More – went gold in 2000. Since 2002, the trio has been collaborating with Italian pianist Giovanni Mirabassi, performing all over the world. In 2003, their album Giovanni Mirabassi & Andrzej Jagodziński Trio occupied top places on the lists of best-selling albums in Japan. In 2006, their album C-minor was released in Poland and Japan. Since 2004, together with Janusz Szrom and Andrzej Łukasik, he has been working on the band Straszni Panowie Trzej, inspired by the works of Jeremi Przybora and Jerzy Wasowski. Jagodziński has also collaborated with many renowned vocalists, including Urszula Dudziak, Agnieszka Wilczyńska, Grażyna Auguścik, and Anna Stankiewicz.
As an arranger and composer, he has collaborated with Polish Radio and Television, taking part in recordings of numerous programmes, to mention Studio Hi-Fi, Count Basie Made in Poland, and Inny Chopin (Another Chopin, trans. MG). As an accordion player, he cooperates with, among others, Aneta Łastik and Janusz Strobel. Jagodziński’s collaboration with Strobel resulted in an album entitled Wierny Sobie (True to Myself, trans. MG), released by Polish Radio.
Jagodziński has been involved in pedagogical activity for many years, teaching at the Jazz Department of the State Music School Complex in Warsaw. In 2005, he was the only Pole to sit on the jury of the 1st International Jazz Pianist Competition in Moscow. The same year he was honoured with the Bronze Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture by the Minister of Culture.
