Radek Nowicki

Radek Nowicki, born in Suwalki in 1976, is one of the leading young tenor and soprano saxophonists on the Polish jazz scene. He graduated with honours from the Fryderyk Chopin State School of Music in Warsaw and the Jazz Institute of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice. He is a member of Zbigniew Namyslowski’s Big Band and works regularly with Grzegorz Karnas. He received First Prize at the Jazz Standards Festival in Siedlce in 2000 with the Szymon Makohin Quintet. In 2004 he won Third Prize in the Jazz Struggle International Competition in Szczecin, where he also received an honorary mention for most interesting debut. With the trio Kaczmarczyk/Dobrowolski/Traczyk he was awarded First Prize in the Kultursalon Horbigger in Vienna. He has worked with such outstanding Polish jazz musicians as Zbigniew Namyslowski, Kazimierz Jonkisz, Michal Tokaj, Aga Zaryan, Grzegorz Karnas, Pawel Kaczmarczyk, Konrad Zemler and Jerzy Malek. As a sideman he has worked with Rei Ceballo’s Calle Sol and has been invited to take part in the musical projects of Smolik. In 2007 he was invited by the top Japanese jazz musician Makoto Ozone to his exclusive jazz concert in Warsaw. Nowicki has performed in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Romania, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. In November 2007, Jazz Forum Records issued his first solo album, Radek Nowicki Quartet LIVE, with Michal Tokaj - piano, Michal Jaros - bass and Michal Miskiewicz - drums. Nowicki’s concert with the repertoire from this album opened the first day of the Jazz Jamboree Festival in 2007........................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ .................................. On releasing his CD, Nowicki was aged thirty-one—exactly the same age as Coltrane at the time of his first original album. A pure coincidence and, of course, of no particular significance, and yet it seems like a good omen. After all, if this somewhat accidental record is so good, then what might we expect from those that are meticulously planned... In any case, this is a very mature debut, not only in respect to his performance skills […] and compositional talent. We should also emphasise Nowicki’s general approach to music, his way of thinking and treating jazz […]. Nowicki’s compositions lead to open structures. Aerial and Moonrose are characterised by an aesthetically effective, rough-edged lyricism […] Adam Poprawa, Odra 2008/2