He displayed an interest in music at the age of 13. His brother was a drummer in a punk band and Gorzycki would play the drums in the off-time. An older friend introduced him to the recordings of Miles Davis and John Scofield. He fell in love with jazz and purchased his first musical instrument.
Accomplished percussionist and pedagogue - Piotr Biskupski was his first teacher. At the age of 16 he was accepted into the State Music School in Bydgoszcz in a percussion class led by Mirosław Żyta (father of drummer Łukasz Żyta). His first band Material Jazz performed in the club Loszek in the '90s.
At the age of 19 he moved to the capital city and as free listener he studied at the Faculty of Jazz at the reputed State Music School in Warsaw at Bednarska Street, where he performed in acoustic swing trio called Spicy Trio (with Wojciech Pulcyn and Przemek Raminiak).
One year later he returned to Bydgoszcz and continued studying under Piotr Biskupski. At the same time, he met talented jazz musicians connected with local clubs: "Trytony " and "Mózg", with whom (especially Tomasz Gwinciński) he started cooperating in the band Maestro Trytony.
In 1998 he created his band Ecstasy Project with Tomasz "Święty" Hesse and Łukasz Górewicz. "Ecstasy Project is a way towards harmony and peace, escape from avant-garde", described the leader.
In the meantime he performed in funk band Funky XL. In 1997 he was invited to collaborate by Bart Qzniak of the band "3 Metry". They recorded together with Danish musicians some rather radical material - "Życie Prywatne". In 2002, Rafał Gorzycki, Patryk Węcławek and Daniel Mackiewicz founded the band Sing Sing Penelope.
Rafał Gorzycki has performed at important festivals and musical events in Europe: Jazz Jamboree (Warsaw), Warsaw Summer Jazz Days, Gdynia Summer Jazz Days, Big Jazz Ear (Budapest), Construction in Process - Poland 2000, during Polish Year in Austria, France, Germany, Jazz Week - Berlin 1999, Polish Weekend in Patras (Greece) and many others.
He worked with Peter Kowald, Jon Rose, Loco Richter, O. Magieres, P. Friis-Nielsen, N. Winther, C. Irgens-Molle, John Dobie, Brandon Furman, Leszek Możdżer, Miłość, Hanna Banaszak, Ryszard Tymański, Marek Kazana, Olo Walicki, Mikołaj Trzaska, Maestro Trytony, Jorgos Skolias, Fire Birds, Mazzoll, Wojciech Mazolewski, Andrzej Przybielski, Krzysztof Herdzin, Grzegorz Nadolny, Wacław Węgrzyn, Tomasz Pacanowski, Antoni Gralak.
Projects:
- "Ecstasy Project"
- "Material Jazz"
- "Spicy Trio"
- "Sing Sing Penelope"
- "Życie Prywatne"
Selected discography:
with Ecstasy Project
- Ecstasy Project - Ecstasy Project (CD, wyd. Not Two, 2000)
Rafał Gorzycki - dr, Tomasz Hesse "Święty" - g, Łukasz Górewicz - vln, Jarek Majewski - b, Władek Refling - b, Piotr Kaliski - voc
- Ecstasy Project Trio - Realium (CD, wyd. Polish Jazz Network, USA - 2005)
Rafał Gorzycki - dr, Łukasz Górewicz - vln, g; Patryk Węcławek - b
- Ecstasy Project - EUROPAE (CD, wyd. Monotype Records, 2007)
Rafał Gorzycki - dr, Łukasz Górewicz - vln, Tomasz Pawlicki - fl, Paweł Nowicki - vib, Paweł Urowski - b
- Ecstasy Project - Reminiscence Europae (CD+DVD, wyd. Fonografika, 2008)
Rafał Gorzycki - dr, Łukasz Górewicz - vln, Paweł Nowicki - vib, Paweł Urowski - vib, Tomasz Pawlicki - fl (disc 1: 2,3)
with Sing Sing Penelope
- Sing Sing Penelope - "Music for Umbrellas" (CD, lab. Monotype Records, 2006)
Daniel Mackiewicz - fender piano, Tomasz Glazik - sax, synth., Wojciech Jachna - tp, Patryk Węcławek - b, Rafał Gorzycki - dr; guest - Sebastian Gruchot - vln
- Sing Sing Penelope - "We Remember Krzesełko" (CD, lab. Electric Eye, 2008)
Daniel Mackiewicz - fender piano, Tomasz Glazik - sax, synth., Wojciech Jachna - tp, Patryk Węcławek - b, Rafał Gorzycki - dr, Sebastian Gruchot - vln
Author: Marek Romański, January 2009.