Freedom at Last: New Wave of Polish Jazz – From 90’ to Now
Poland
Time
2014.10.18 14:00 – 16:00
Venue
A3+, North District of OCT-LOFT
Speaker
Michał Sołtan（Leader of Imagination Quartet）
Introduction of the Lecture
The 1990s saw the birth of a musical trend that wanted nothing less than to turn the established music order to ash by the most drastic of means. This new trend was called Yass.
Yass, although it is not a new genre of jazz music, combines a variety of styles, from contemporary improvisation, jazz, punk rock to folk. It was born at the beginning of 1990s in Poland, in the Tricity and Bydgoszcz. Yass musicians’ work was a rebellion against the Polish jazz scene of the time, which they considered ossified.
“Tańce Bydgoskie” (Bydgoszcz dances), recorded by the Trytony band, is considered the very first yass album. However, the band which is considered a flagship band of yass to this day is Miłość (Tymon Tymański, Leszek Możdżer, Mikołaj Trzaska, Jacek Olter and Maciej Sikała). Its main characteristic was an extraordinary “multitude of beings”. Tymon Tymański gave a perfect summary of their work and yass music itself, “The difference between commercial and independent music is that in the latter the most important is the message the artist conveys. The concept of a target audience, whether it be women, senior citizens or railwaymen, never crossed our minds. We were driven by the need to express ourselves.”
Yass lives on in the so-called “new wave” Polish jazz, which does not identify with any particular jazz genre. Groups such as Pink Freud, HERA, Jazzpospolita, Niechęć, or Imagination Quartet, draw not only from their renowned predecessors, but also progressive, ethnic, rock, and electronic music. The thing that links them to yass is the open-minded and uncompromising approach to form, narration, and arrangement. These “new wave” musicians represent everything that is best in the contemporary Polish jazz and are the Polish flagship on the international music scene.
Introduction of the Speaker
Jakub Krzeszowski
Manager. Founder of the JAZZ PO POLSKU Festival and member of the Plateaux Foundation. Works with both culture institutions and independent artists.
JAZZ PO POLSKU is a music festival focused on modern, fresh and forward-looking jazz music, bordering on avant-garde.
Has been working in the music branch for a while now, first as a journalist, now as a manager and a promotor. His main area is organization and communication of artistic events. He plans and carries out image campaigns from the field of culture marketing.
Website
http://imaginationquartet.com/
Myspace
http://www.myspace.com/imaginationquartet
SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.com/imaginationquartet