Sławek Janicki started his music career in the eighties, when he played with various bands. In the early nineties he became a member of the art club, Trytony (Świetlica Artystyczna "Trytony"), where he performed with musicians such as Tomasz Gwińciński and Jacek Buhl in their formation, Henryk Brodaty. These artists were the first to play jazz in a new way, called yass. This trend soon spread all around Poland – especially the Baltic west coast region – and influenced many Polish musicians.
In 1994, with his friend Jacek Majewski, Janicki launched an art club, Mózg (which means 'brain' in Polish), which soon became a vibrant yass centre. The venue is now known internationally, due to its novel approach to presenting modern art. In March 2014, the club celebrated its 20th anniversary.
It was precisely in the modest town of Bydgoszcz, where – soon after Poland had regained independence from The Soviet Union – an explosion of artistic potential could be observed, which had been stifled for so many years. Thanks to Sławek Janicki’s tireless efforts, various bands have come into being.
At that time, Janicki collaborated with various musicians representing different genres. In 1999 he started working with the famous tuba player, Zdzisław Piernik. In 2000 he went to Australia and began to work with the artist, Grzegorz Pleszyński, on a performance involving four bass players. Later on, Janicki was nominated as artist-in-residence by the Casula Power House Arts Centre in Sydney, Australia. Thus, he ended up living in two distant continents. He still runs Mózg – together with his son, Qba Janicki – and coordinates the organisation of The Mózg Festival and the Mózg Production record company.
Recently, Janicki, Qba (drums, electronics), and the great clarinettist, Jerzy Mazzoll (bass clarinet, a, b, c clarinets) have collaborated together. They recorded an album, Minimalover, and have toured throughout the Europe with this project.
In 2005 Janicki founded Stowarzyszenie Artystyczne “Mózg” (an art association), whose mission is:
The supreme goal of every human being's life is to make an effort to understand: understand people with whom we mix on a daily basis, understand people who we meet accidentally, understand phenomena taking place around us – and, which results from this, – understand ourselves as part of the universe. Being focused and working with this awareness in mind gives a much greater chance of a proper, existence, that is one arranged in harmony with nature. Assuming that every human is part of the Wholeness, it is hard to imagine the complete existence of an individual without an understanding of this Wholeness. There are obviously many routes for realisation of the idea of 'getting to know' – everyone should find his own way. By organising concerts, exhibitions, workshops, philosophical soirees, film screenings and performances of people representing various cultures, various approaches to life, various sets of experiences, a genuine development of the people participating in these events is taking place.
One of Janicki’s main interests is the cinema. He has recorded many of the concerts at Mózg. Janicki is also responsible for the sound engineering on albums made by such artists as: Tworzywo Sztuczne, Pogodno, Zion Train, Jojo Myer, Zdzisław Piernik, Bogusław Schaeffer, Fred Frith, Joey Baron, The Hub, Billy Bang, William Parker, and Ellery Eskelin.
While in Australia, he lived in the central part for a couple of months, staying with an Aboriginal community. The local authorities ordered the The sound of a few places documentary from him.
In 2005, Sławek Janicki started to work for the first Polish National Culture Channel of TVP, TVP Kultura. There, he produced 25 episodes of Kawałki Mózgu ('pieces of brain'), a series devoted to culture, and concerts of many eminent artists from all over the world: Zdzisław Piernik, Peter Brotzmann, Jon Dobie, Jerzy Mazzoll, William Parker, Billy Bang, Audrey Chen, and Clayton Thomas.
In 2014, a branch of the Mózg Club in Warsaw was established, with Janicki working as its manager. He is also the curator of the Supersam + 1 project, a series of masterclasses during which renowned Polish and foreign artists focused on experimenting and innovations activities are presented. ‘Super’ in the title means that the programme is based on involvement of artists – masters. ‘Sam’ refers to a solo performance, but also to creative solitude. ‘+ 1’ means that each masterclass is crowned with a performance of two artists playing in a duo. In most cases the musicians meet on stage for the first time.
Selected discography
- 2012: Minimallover, Jerzy Mazzoll, Qba Janicki, Sławek Janicki, Mózg Production
- 2004: Mózg 5 lat, Mazzoll & Arhythmic Perfection, Mózg Production,
- 2004: Arhythmic is Visible Music, Pieces of Brain, Tone Industria
- 2003: From the Beginning to the End, Arhythmic Brain, Mózg Production,
- 2001: Crash the Car Daddy, Pieces of Brain, Mózg Production,
- 1997: Rozmowy s catem, Mazzoll & Arhythmic Perfection, Mózg Production,
- 1997: Out Out to Lunch, Mazzoll & Arhythmic Perfection
- 1995: a, Mazzoll & Arhythmic Perfection, Gowi
- 1994: Zarys matematyki niewinnej, Trytony, Gowi Records
- 1992: Tańce bydgoskie, Trytony, Socrate
Films: cinema & tv, As director and producer
- Since 2005: Kawałki Mózgu, series for TVP Kultura
- Since 2005: Concerts for TVP Kultura: Zdzisław Piernik, Peter Brotzmann, Jon Dobie, Jerzy Mazzoll, William Parker, Billy Bang, Audrey Chen, Clayton Thomas and others.
- The sound of a few places, documentary for Australian local tv channel.
Collaboration
Andrzej Przybielski, Zdzisław Piernik, Peter Brotzmann, Jon Dobie, Jerzy Mazzoll, William Parker, Billy Bang, Audrey Chen, Clayton Yhomas, Tomasz Gwinciński, Jacek Buhl, Janusz Zdunek, Jacke Majewski, Jerzy Mazzoll, Kazik Staszewski, Caroline Krabel, J. Dobie, and many more.
WWW
- facebook: https://pl-pl.facebook.com/slawek.janicki.3
- Mózg association: http://www.stowarzyszenie.mozg.art.pl/en https://www.facebook.com/clubmozg
- https://www.facebook.com/mozgclubwarsaw
- http://www.festiwal.mozg.pl
- http://www.supersam.mozg.pl
Contact
slawek@mozg.art.pl
Created by: Anna Początek (Jazzarium.pl): revision: Terry Deal; Jazzarium.pl, Warszawa 2014; updated by MG, November 2019.
