Marcin Wasilewski Trio

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Andrzej Łazarz

A close-up of the Marcin Wasilewski Trio.

Marcin Wasilewski Trio

Pianist Marcin Wasilewski and bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz began playing music together as schoolmates in Poland in 1990, joined a few years later by drummer Michał Miśkiewicz as the Simple Acoustic Trio. Three decades later that same lineup is internationally renowned as the Marcin Wasilewski Trio, with a string of albums on the legendary ECM label and past collaborations with players such as Charles Lloyd and Joe Lovano. Their 30th anniversary tour is stopping in Madison courtesy of co-hosts Mad-PolKA and the Polish Heritage Club of Madison.

media release: The Marcin Wasilewski Trio- 30th Anniversary Tour 2024 is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, co-organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Co-presented with the Kosciuszko Foundation.

Concert in Madison is supported by the Polish Heritage Club of Madison, Wisconsin and co-presented by Mad-PolKA (Mr. Szymon Wozniczka).

In 2024 the Marcin Wasilewski Trio is celebrating their 30th anniversary in style, and we invite you to be a part of their extraordinary journey. Established in 1990 by 15 years old students of music high school: pianist Marcin Wasilewski and bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz, who were joined in 1994 by drummer Michal Miskiewicz (17 years old at the time), has been playing in this unchanged line-up ever since. The trio has achieved international recognition for their exceptional talent and ability to captivate audiences, leaving a lasting impression with their powerful and emotionally charged performance with depth and sheer musicality.

For the past three remarkable decades, the Marcin Wasilewski Trio has graced the world of jazz with their extraordinary talent and unwavering commitment to musical excellence. With a career spanning 30 years, this trio has become synonymous with storytelling through their music. Their remarkable journey includes collaborations with jazz luminaries like Tomasz Stanko, Joe Lovano, Charles Lloyd and more, along with the release of seven exceptional albums under the ECM Records.

In their native Poland, they are unquestionable jazz stars, with their exceptional contributions to the music landscape. Throughout their career, they have maintained a consistent standard of artistry, connecting deeply with audiences and leaving an indelible mark on the global jazz community.

In 2005 and 2011 Marcin Wasilewski was voted „piano rising star” in DownBeat Magazine’s Critics and Readers Polls. Four albums of the Trio („Live” 2018, „January” 2008, „Faithful” 2011 and „Spark Of Life” 2014) were also ranked on the Billboard’s Jazz Album Charts, while in Germany, the band was nominated for the German Jazz Award 2022 (Deutscher Jazzpreis) in the Best International Band category.

In addition to many International awards, Wasilewski and Trio hold the record for the most Fryderyk Music Awards in jazz (11 statuettes), the country's most esteemed music accolade, named after composer Frédéric Chopin.

Earlier this year the Marcin Wasilewski Trio has once again been voted the Best Acoustic Band for 2023 in Poland in the Annual Jazz Forum Magazine's "Jazz Top 2023" Reader’s Poll. Michał Miśkiewicz has (again) been voted the Best Drummer, Sławomir Kurkiewicz secured 2nd place on double bass and Marcin Wasilewski placed 3rd on piano. Wasilewski Trio wins this poll continuously since 2018 (the readers' poll has been interspersed with a critics' poll every two years). Jazz Forum Magazine stands as the oldest and most esteemed Polish jazz publication.

"The iron favourite in the Acoustic Ensemble classification is the Marcin Wasilewski Trio, which has been operating for more than 30 years with an unchanged line-up, culminating last year with a residency at New York's iconic Village Vanguard club by invitation of saxophone titan Joe Lovano” - as stated Jazz Forum's editorial comment.

Continuing to carry the torch of the Polish jazz tradition from Krzysztof Komeda, through Tomasz Stanko, to the world, the Marcin Wasilewski Trio stands as a testament to the enduring legacy of Polish jazz on the global stage.

In 2024 Trio will tour intensively, celebrating 30 years together. The Marcin Wasilewski Trio- 30th Anniversary Tour 2024 is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland and co-organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

MEDIA QUOTES

”Polish pianist Marcin Wasilewski’s trio is one of the best to appear on the European jazz scene in the past decade” - The Guardian (2014)

“There’s a galaxy of piano trios in today’s jazz universe, but few shine as bright as Marcin Wasilewski’s” - The BBC Music Magazine

“Their years together have resulted in an ensemble with an utterly symbiotic creative flow,” - Don Heckman , The Los Angeles Times

„Here the trio shows all its class as master builders of layerd musical structures that captivate and fascinate despite their calmness.… an album of extremely high artistic value.” - Ralf Henke, LP Magazin

“Wasilewski’s music celebrates a vast dynamic range, from the most deftly struck pianistic delicacies to gloriously intense emotional exuberance, the chords pounded with unrestrained joy, yet always within a marvellously melodic concept.”- Jazz Journal

„… the greatest jazz piano trio the world currently has to offer.” – Peter Jones, London Jazz News

“This trio is now one of the finest in jazz, its mutual ease and intuition something to marvel at”“Musically and extra-musically it remains a co-operative; Wasilewski’s a kind of aural painter who puts the colours on the group’s canvases while the others shape and highlight them, in a kind of impressionism that allows the trio’s fluid interaction free rein and permits the band to evoke, sustain and resolve a considerable mood spectrum.”- Ray Comiskey, The Irish Times

“Marcin Wasilewski does not think like other jazz pianists. His improvisational underpinning, his sense of musical space and his aural imagery are so fresh they are initially mysterious, then get more so. …It takes nerve for a young trio to create music of such stillness, such patience. The fact that the three have played together since they were teenagers is audible in the way they trust the epiphanies they collectively come upon.” – Jazz Times

In 2024 Trio will tour intensively, celebrating 30 years together. The Marcin Wasilewski Trio- 30th Anniversary Tour 2024 is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland and co-organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Co- presented with the Kosciuszko Foundation – DC Chapter.