Kuba Stankiewicz with “Kilar”: jazz interpretations of Wojciech Kilar’s film music

Ethno Jazz Festival invites you to the White Stork Synagogue on 2 February for a concert dedicated to the memory of the recently deceased great composer Wojciech Kilar.

Kuba Stankiewicz, the outstanding Wrocław jazz pianist, recorded “Kilar” last year, an album of his own interpretations of Wojciech Kilar's famous film themes. It was received very warmly by both music critics and the master himself.

“Polish jazz has always been rich in pianistic talent, but Kuba Stankiewicz stood out for his extraordinary sense of melody and his nobility as a composer and improviser: he plays communicatively, with a beautiful, intimate sound, rarely showing off his technique, focusing instead on atmosphere and on creating fleeting beauty that lingers long in the memory. He is a master of the romantic introduction, of drawing melodies from an intricate thicket of small motifs, of finding perfect harmony and logic.

He began his career in the second half of the 80s, playing with Jan “Ptaszyn” Wróblewski’s band, then with Zbigniew Namysłowski’s quintet and quartet (the albums “Open” and “Song Of Innocence”).

From 1987 to 1990, he studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, graduating in piano with the distinction of the Oscar Peterson Award. He was a semi-finalist in the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition in Washington. His American years also included work with the orchestra of legendary clarinettist and bandleader Artie Shaw.

After returning to Poland, he founded a quartet with saxophonist Henryk Miśkiewicz, double bassist Adam Cegielski and drummer Cezary Konrad. They recorded “Northern Song” in 1993, named the year's best recording by “Jazz Forum” readers.

He also co-founded Wrocław's legendary Traveling Birds Quintet, with double bassist Darek Oleszkiewicz, trumpeter Piotr Wojtasik, saxophonist Piotr Baron and drummer Cezary Konrad. The group's recordings, “Traveling Birds Quintet” (1994) and “Return To The Nest” (1995), consolidated his position on the Polish scene.

Other musicians he has played with include saxophonist Scott Hamilton, trumpeter Art Farmer on “Art in Wrocław” and singer Sheila Jordan. The nostalgic “Ulice wielkich miast”, featuring arrangements of Agnieszka Osiecka’s songs, appeared in the late 1990s. Several years later came the unprecedented jazz project “Chopin Songbook”, with jazz interpretations of songs in separate Polish and English versions. The pianist also presented it at Jazz Jamboree in 2003 and, after a long break, again in 2010 during the Chopin Year.” Biography source: www.vertigojazz.pl

“Stankiewicz has brought together what we call the ‘Polish school of jazz piano’ (with an emphasis on the piano and Komeda in the background), Chopin’s Romanticism, Evans’s introspection and Kilar’s brilliant impressionistic touch. Listening to this album, we realise what a superb melodist created the best-known school-leavers’ ball theme: the ‘Polonez’ from the film ‘Pan Tadeusz’ (here, the maestro dethroned Ogiński himself). Yet it would be mistaken to think that, drawing on the soaring themes from eleven films, including ‘Trędowata’, ‘Dracula’ and ‘Bilans Kwartalny’, Stankiewicz enters a world of straightforward improvisations ‘on a theme’. Our jazz musician, extensively educated across the Atlantic, reharmonises the music, often turning it completely inside out, as in ‘Przygody Pana Michała’, with its echoes of Pat Metheny (see ‘Farmers Trust’ and ‘Bat’). This album is rather like an excellent yeast cake: it rises and develops a richer colour as time goes by. Just listen to ‘Smuga cienia’ or Kilar’s gem ‘Ziemia obiecana’ to appreciate how imaginatively Stankiewicz, a graduate of the renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston, creates entirely new musical entities.” Piotr Iwicki – Gazeta Polska Codziennie