Tomasz Chyła

Polish violinist, composer and conductor. Lecturer at the Academy of Music in Gdańsk. Leader of the Tomasz Chyła Quintet.

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Tomasz Chyła with members of Tomasz Chyła Quintet, photo: Maciej Lieder RT Produkcja

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Tomasz Chyła was born in 1989. He started his musical education in 1996 in Gdynia, where he attended keyboard lessons. The following year his parents enrolled him at the State Primary Music School in Wejherowo. 'They did not declare an instrument', recalls Chyła.

They left this decision to the examination board to assign me to a class that suited my aptitude. Apparently, I did very well. And that's how, quite by accident, I ended up in the violin class.

It may have been the choice of instrument that made Chyła encounter jazz relatively late. The same applies to improvisation, although it is worth noting that the violinist early on started playing both from sheet music and by ear. He even favoured the latter. This way of performing dates to the Christmas holidays when he was ten, when his father – an amateur musician himself – spontaneously proposed they play carol Lulajże Jezuniu. Chyła recalled:

I froze. I thought I needed some notes, but he made me realise that if I could sing the tune, I should also be able to play it. I remember it like it was today. After leaving music school, I played by ear only.

Chyła did not come into direct contact with jazz music until he was 19 years old. During his final year at secondary school, a handful of people took notice of his ability to improvise, encouraging him to develop this skill. In the following years, he worked on it under the supervision of Professor Leszek Kułakowski. Through him, he explored the musical world of the outstanding violinists, Zbigniew Seifert and Michał Urbaniak. However, Chyła had to reach this point by a circuitous route. He was admitted to the violin class only on the third attempt. In order not to waste time waiting on another entrance exam, he started studying choral conducting. 'It was a complete coincidence, especially as it was supposed to be a brief stop', explains Chyła. 'Eventually, I studied choral conducting for 11 years, completing this stage with a PhD in this field'.

The artist does not regret such a turn of events at all. He admits that conducting has given him an extraordinary experience and helped him flourish in the world of jazz. 'It was thanks to choral music that I entered the vast world of classical music and its beautiful harmonies', Chyła explains.

I learned to follow the sound of particular chords. Through working with orchestras and choirs, I have acquired the skills to manage large ensembles that certainly helps in leading smaller formations as well.

Improvisation based on trust

The Tomasz Chyła Quintet's debut album was released in 2017; however, the group started four years earlier. The musician started as a leader very early on, which is partly due to the profile of his instrument. As he admits, a violinist-sideman in a jazz band is a rarity. Chyła initially took part in various jam sessions and concerts dedicated to other artists. However, he was consistently composing his first pieces, and by 2014 he had already won the Grand Prix at the European Music Integration in Żyrardów. The line-up of the quintet was constantly evolving. Amongst others, Chyła played with Kamil Piotrowicz, Michał Zienkowski and Tomasz Koper.

The final line-up crystallised in 2016, with the group consisting of Piotr Chęcki (saxophone), Krzysztof Słomkowski (double bass), Szymon Burnos (piano, electronics) and Sławomir Koryzno (drums). In the same year, this group won the Jazz Juniors International Contest of Young Jazz Bands. One of the prizes was the opportunity to record a debut album and have it released by the Polish Radio Music Agency. Eternal Entropy was released in 2017.

Chyła's debut gathered positive reviews in the media. Marta Jundziłł wrote for Jazzarium:

'Eternal Entropy' features original instrumentation, led by the leader's violin brilliantly dialoguing with the saxophone, as well as folk and rock elements and rough motives mixed with a romantic jazz vision. All this enhanced by beautiful, intelligible melodies.

This enthusiastic reception was further confirmed when Eternal Entropy received a nomination for a Fryderyk in the category Phonographic Debut of the Year – Jazz.

Chyła's next album, Circlesongs, secured him further nominations for the Fryderyk Award. Its title refers to improvised, multi-voice musical pieces performed by choirs and based on repetitive sound themes. 'This session was magical, possibly the only such one in our lives', recalls Chyła. 'During the first listening of the recorded improvised music, I immediately noticed the incredible correlation between us whilst playing. We created a composition, which many music theorists could take apart and claim that we recorded previously prepared parts. I have always argued that it is crucial to know each other perfectly in a band, not only on stage but also in real life. I think that's why we could have recorded such lovely tunes back then.' The creative method, which assumes complete trust between the choir and the conductor, worked well in the case of an ensemble in which, in principle, each member has artistic freedom. The violinist emphasises that Tomasz Chyła Quintet is neither a group that accompanies the leader nor plays his compositions.

Writing about Circlesongs for Jazz Forum, Marek Romański noted:

You can hear that this material is [...] carefully thought out. Despite the overpowering improvisation, it never turns towards extremes – ascetic minimal music on the one hand and crazy free improv on the other.

Choral music and heavy riffs

The third album by Tomasz Chyła Quintet has brought many changes. Firstly, the line-up turned upside down as the leader and drummer Sławomir Koryzno were joined by Konrad Żołnierek (double bass), Emil Miszk (trumpet) and Krzysztof Hadrych (guitar). Moreover, the album da Vinci draws heavily on Chyła's other passion – choral music. In four tracks, the vocal ensemble Art'n'Voices accompanies the quintet. Chyła also sings in it as a bass.

True to its title in honour of the great Renaissance master, the quintet's third album has a wide stylistic range. Chyła admits that such eclecticism suits him well as a composer.

Today's world is heading towards a strong orientation in one's work, and I am not entirely comfortable with that. I look at music and art holistically. So I try to draw from everything I am working on, and that is my strength. I want to break down barriers, search, to try, even if it has to fail.

Compared to its predecessors, da Vinci stands out, not only for its links with choral music but with rock as well. The composer admits that before he became fascinated with jazz, he had listened to heavy guitar music. He particularly enjoyed these simple riffs: repetitive and yet capable of evoking great emotions. These fond memories also impacted the sound of da Vinci. It is worth mentioning here that the musician himself has recently started to use electric violin more and more boldly. 'For a very long I refused to modify the natural sound of the violin', explains Chyła, 'even though in 2013 I received an electric violin from Michał Urbaniak himself. I couldn't have translated the sound in my head into the one coming out of the amplifier's speaker. However, years later, when my friends from Algorhythm invited me to perform with them, I decided to use this cooperation to explore the sound of the electric violin. Currently, I often use various guitar effects to alter the sound of my violin, but this is definitely still an exploration.'

In 2021, Chyła finally received a Fryderyk Award. However, he did not get it for the work with a quintet, but as a co-founder of Art'n'Voices. The vocal group from Pomerania received the statuette in the category Album of the Year – Contemporary Music for the album Midnight Stories.

tomasz chyła

contemporary polish jazz

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