Simple Acoustic Trio

____________________________________________________________ _______________The Story of Simple Acoustic TrioMarcin Wasilewski: piano; Slawomir Kurkiewicz: double-bass; Michal Miskiewicz: drums_______________________________________________________ ____________________The story of Simple Acoustic Trio goes back to the beginning of ‘90s. Still being students of the Music High School S.A.Trio. made their debut in 1991. They won the third prize at the Polish jazz contest-Jazz Juniors ’91. In the same year, a sixteen-year old band leader - Marcin Wasilewski won the fourth prize at the International Jazz Pianist festival in Kalisz, Poland. Two years later the band won the first prize at the 7th International Festival of Jazz Bands “Chorus ‘93” during Jazzin’ Sorgues Festival in France. In 1996 the band participated in two jazz competitions. In Getxo, Spain, the band won the first prize and Marcin Wasilewski was chosen the best soloist of the festival. In the same year the band became a prizewinner of the Leverkusen Jazz Festival, and again Marcin Wasilewski was considered the best soloist.____________________________________________________ _______________________So far the S.A.T., formed by Marcin Wasilewski - piano, Slawomir Kurkiewicz - double-bass and Michal Miskiewicz – drums, has recorded four CDs. The first one called “Komeda” (Gowi Records) released in February 1995 was inspired by a successful live performance dedicated to Krzysztof Komeda during the Jazz Jamboree’94. “When will the blues leave” (Polonia Records) is the title of the second release from December 1995. “Live in Getxo” (Hillargi Records) was recorded during Getxo Jazz Festival 1996. In October 1999, the band performed at “Jazz All Fil De L’oise” festival in France, and the fallowing month recorded their fourth CD “Habanera” (Not Two). The fall of 2001 brought the release of “Lyrics”. The album came from co-operation between Polish saxophonist Henryk Miskiewicz and Simple Acoustic Trio, and was awarded the most prestigious prize in Polish phonographic industry “Fryderyk” 2001 for the best jazz album of the year. In the meantime S.A.T. was voted the best acoustic band by the readers of a polish magazine “Jazz Forum”.___________________________________________________ ________________________Individually and as a group the members of S.A.T. have performed with prominent international jazz stars such as Jan Garbarek, Manu Katche, Louis Sclavis, Dino Saluzzi, Palle Danielsson, Jon Christensen, Bernt Rosengren, Arthur Blythe, Joe Lovano, John Surman, Bobo Stenson, Anders Jormin, Gianluigi Trovesi and also have worked with Tomasz Szukalski, Piotr Wojtasik, Michal Urbaniak, Janusz Muniak, Zbigniew Namyslowski. Since 1994 the musicians of Simple Acoustic Trio have worked with Tomasz Stanko as members of Stanko quartet. This co-operation became a springboard for their artistic and commercial success; Tomasz Stanko Quartet has made a great deal of tours all over the world the most successful of which was the tour of the US promoting the band’s new album “Soul of Things” released in 2002 by prestigious ECM label.______________________________________________________ _____________________Wasilewski/Kurkiewicz/Miskiewicz TRIOMarcin Wasilewski: piano; Slawomir Kurkiewicz: double-bass; Michal Miskiewicz: drums_______________________________________________________ ____________________Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz, and Michal Miskiewicz have toured Europe and America with Tomasz Stanko and appeared on his highly successful “Soul of Things” and “Suspended Night” albums (recorded in 2001 and 2003, respectively), and much has been written about the young musicians, all still under 30, who have provided a fresh new context for the great trumpeter’s darkly Slavic soliloquies. They have helped him and he, certainly, has helped them._______________________________________________________ ____________________Stanko argues that “In the entire history of Polish jazz, we’ve never had a band like this one. I’m surprised by these musicians every day. They just keep getting better and better.” But the pianist, bassist and drummer are much more than Stanko’s ‘backing band’.____________________________________________________ _______________________In Poland, Wasilewski, Kurkiewicz and Miskiewicz have a strong reputation as an autonomous group in their own right, as well as a playing history that goes back to the early 1990s. As the Simple Acoustic Trio, they have won many awards, and released five albums for small independent labels. “Trio” is the first of their recordings to be released internationally: still acoustic but no longer as “simple”, this is piano trio music of some real depth. The album was recorded in Oslo in March 2004._______________________________________________________ ____________________Marcin Wasilewski and Slawomir Kurkiewicz began playing together in 1990 when both were 15 year old students at the High School of Music in Koszalin. The first edition of their trio was launched the following year. In 1993 Michal Miskiewicz joined them on drums and the trio’s line-up has been stable ever since. Since 1994 they have been working both with and without Tomasz Stanko. Individually, members of the trio have also played with international improvisers including Jan Garbarek, Gianluigi Trovesi, John Surman, Louis Sclavis, Arthur Blythe, Joe Lovano, Bernt Rosengren, Dino Saluzzi, Bobo Stenson, Anders Jormin, Manu Katche and Jon Christensen, and with leading exponents of Polish jazz such as Tomasz Szukalski, Piotr Wojtasik, Michal Urbaniak, Janusz Muniak and Zbigniew Namyslowski.________________________________________________ ___________________________Most of the material on “Trio”, the album, is either self-penned, with Marcin Wasilewski as principal composer, or improvised by the trio, but there are also some inspired cover versions. The trio play Wayne Shorter’s “Plaza Real”, acoustically restating a piece that Shorter followers know from late-period Weather Report. They play Stanko’s “Green Sky”, which can be heard in a very different version on “Matka Joanna”. And there are two choices that may seem more surprising, pop singer Bjork’s “Hyperballad” and composer Karol Szymanowksi’s “Roxane’s Song” from the opera “King Roger” (1920-24).__________________________________________________ _________________________Although there’s a long tradition of jazz musicians making art out of pop (that’s how so-called “standards” were born) the trio’s adoption of the Bjork song has no such ambitions. Marcin Wasilewski has long been intrigued by Bjork’s singular creative world, and was drawn, spontaneously, to try the pretty “Hyperballad” with the trio. It worked instantly and has remained in the programme. Drummer Michal Miskiewicz brought in the Symanowski tune with similar lack of conceptual intent, and that too found its way into the repertoire. Michal: “We just liked both pieces very much and found them inspiring, with beautiful melodies and a spirit we felt we could bring into our music.”___________________________________________________ ________________________The trio is very much a group, and as Don Heckman observed, reviewing them with Stanko for the Los Angeles Times, “Their years together have resulted in an ensemble with an utterly symbiotic creative flow, solos darting through collective passages as the music streamed fluidly from one selection into another. Kurkiewicz and Miskiewicz play with a fertile combination of swing and subtlety…Wasilewski’s piano soloing displayed a coalescing talent, a potentially emerging jazz star in his own right.”___________________________________________________ ________________________The release concert will take place at the Rozmaitosci Theatre in Poland on March 1st. The members of the Trio tour the USA from coast to coast with Tomasz Stanko also in March, with dates including a residency at New York’s Birdland club._______________________________________________________ ____________________