Saturday, April 17, 2021 at 2 PM ET

Duration: 60-70 min

Free live streaming at
Detroit Institute of Arts
Dizzy’s Club  
Jazz Corner

Jazztopad Festival, in partnership with Polish Cultural Institute New York presents The Great Improvisation series online live streamed from the National Forum of Music (NFM) in Wrocław, Poland. The series presents various faces of jazz – from bold avant-garde and daring improvisation through to the mainstream. The ideal acoustics of the NFM halls provide a perfect environment for both young Polish bands as well as established artists. The series has presented such musicians as Wynton Marsalis, Bobo Stenson, Gregory Porter, Tomasz Stańko, Kuba Więcek, Brad Mehldau, and Dianne Reeves.

Saturday, April 17, 2021 at 2 PM (EST), 11 AM (PST), Wojciech Jachna Squad spatial take on improvisation brings a lot of much needed air into Polish jazz scene. “It is a fulfillment of a youthful dream of having my own team, best friends squad, colleagues with whom you can make music together. There is room for each member’s composition, improvisation and shared joke.” Free live streaming at Detroit Institute of Arts, Jazz Corner and Dizzy’s Club.

Wojciech Jachna, one of the busiest trumpet players of the Polish scene, has brought to life another project: Wojciech Jachna Squad, which has just debuted with the album Elements. Where did the idea for the next band come from? “In the new project, I am responsible for its activity and make all key decisions. I am also a composer, which does not mean that I do not use the talents of my colleagues, they are huge,” says Wojciech Jachna.

The new line-up is a continuation of the Jachna / Cichocki / Urowski / Krawczyk quartet, which released the album The Right Moment in 2015. The group of musicians was complemented by guitarist Marek Malinowski. The personal configuration in Elements impresses with its harmoniousness, creative spirit and original solutions. Contrary to appearances, the trumpet does not dominate the album. “The musicians from this line-up are great improvisers and composers. I eagerly used their songs, which in my opinion are unique – I would not have written them myself. All the material we had was, however, subjected to a rigorous selection – the album Elements, despite the clear differentiation, was supposed to be a coherent album,” adds the trumpeter.

Plurality in unity is key in this case. The Elements grows out of jazz, but classic jazz themes in many places – thanks to ingeniously used electronics and dynamic guitar parts – are clearly budding towards other styles. Maturity is also visible in preserving golden proportions between the hard regime of composed and closed forms and improvisation.

Line-up:
Wojciech Jachna – trumpet, flugelhorn, shaker
Marek Malinowski – guitar
Jacek Cichocki – piano and electric piano, Vermona electric piano, Moog synthesizer, fx
Paweł Urowski – double bass
Mateusz Krawczyk – drums, percussion

The Great Improvisation online series is presented by Jazztopad Festival and National Forum of Music, in partnership with Polish Cultural Institute New York. This concert is presented in collaboration with Detroit Institute of Arts, JazzCorner, and Dizzy’s Club.

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