As part of the tour, Rafał Sarnecki Sextet played three concerts in China: in Beijing, Hangzhou and Changzhou. The repertoire consisted of the band leader's compositions. The performances were also an opportunity to promote his latest album Cat's Dream released in 2014 by the prestigious Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records, nominated for the Polish Fryderyk 2015 Award in the category "Album of the Year (Jazz)".
Rafał Sarnecki's Asian tour was preceded by his one-month residency at the JZ Club in Hangzhou, China, where the guitarist performed as a special guest with the Annie Chen New York Quintet. The concerts, held six days a week, promoted Annie's new album Pisces The Dreamer, recorded in 2014 in New York with Sarnecki's participation.
After concerts in China, Rafał Sarnecki Quartet played three concerts in Seoul's most famous jazz clubs, where the artist was also promoting his album Cat's Dream. In Korea, Sarnecki was accompanied by Korean and German musicians.
Originally from Warsaw, Poland, Rafał Sarnecki is a jazz guitarist and composer currently living in New York. He started to gain recognition in Europe after his success at the International Jazz Guitar Competition - Guitar City 2002 in Warsaw where he got the 1st award. In 2005 he moved to New York where he received a scholarship at the Jazz and Contemporary Music program at the New School University in Manhattan. In 2008 he finished his undergraduate degree from The New School. In 2010 he received his MA degree in jazz performance from the Queens College CUNY also in New York.
As a leader of his own jazz projects Rafał has performed in clubs and festivals in 11 European countries, Israel, China, Korea and has toured the East and West coast of the US. He has recorded 3 CDs as a leader. The debut album Song From a New Place (2008) was nominated for the Fryderyk 2009 Award, the Polish equivalent of a Grammy. Rafał's second album, The Madman Rambles Again, was released in 2011 by the Fresh Sound New Talent label. Dave Sumner from All About Jazz selected the album as among the 12 most interesting jazz releases of 2011 in the Editor’s Choice section. In August 2014 Rafał's 3rd CD Cat's Dream was released by the Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records. The album was nominated for the Fryderyk 2015 Award in the category "Album of the Year (Jazz)".
Rafał Sarnecki is a composer and musician of whom we will surely hear a great deal more.
- Tomasz Stańko
Like Rosenwinkel, Sarnecki ventures far beyond the bebop and post-bop idioms of the past and into a freer - though still chordal - musical language. Sarnecki's original compositions merge the high-flown lyricism of Polish culture with an idiosyncratic, thoroughly disarming way of building long and winding musical phrases. He's clearly at the start of forming an improvisational syntax for himself, but it already shows originality and daring...
- Howard Reich, The Chicago Tribune
Schedule of Concerts:
China
- 28th May – 25th June, 2015 (daily except Sundays) – JZ Club (Hangzhou) – Rafał Sarnecki with ANNIE CHEN NEW YORK QUINTET
- 26th June, 2015 – 9:00 pm – JZ Club (Hangzhou) – RAFAŁ SARNECKI SEXTET
- 28th June, 2015 – Blank Space (Changzhou) – RAFAŁ SARNECKI SEXTET
- 1st July, 2015 – 10:00 pm – East Shore (Beijing) – RAFAŁ SARNECKI SEXTET
Korea
- 3rd July, 2015 – 8:30 pm – Club Palm (Seoul) – RAFAŁ SARNECKI QUARTET
- 4th July, 2015 – 11:30 pm – All That Jazz (Seoul) – RAFAŁ SARNECKI QUARTET
- 5th July, 2015 – 9:00 pm– Club Evans (Seoul) – RAFAŁ SARNECKI QUARTET
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