Piotr Wojtasik

Piotr Wojtasik (2010)

Piotr Wojciech Wojtasik (born June 10, 1964 in Wroclaw ) is a Polish modern jazz musician ( trumpet , flugelhorn , composition ).

Live and act

Wojtasik began working as a professional musician while studying jazz at the Katowice Music Academy (1983–1987). With the band New Presentation , led by Wojciech Niedziela , he went to the record studio in 1983 and played in the next few years on the jazz jamboree as well as in neighboring countries. Since 1986 he has also been a member of Young Power , with whom he performed at the Molde International Jazz Festival and the Swedish Jazz and Blues Festival. In the early 1990s he was a member of the Quintessence group and Krzysztof Popek's quintet, with whom he recorded several times. In 1994 he was invited to the European Broadcasting Union's annual big band project directed by Jerry van Rooyen in Amsterdam. In 1997 he founded his own quintet, which existed until 2001 and played in many European jazz clubs (such as Quasimodo or Porgy & Bess ) and in all major Polish jazz festivals.

Wojtasik is also on recordings by Leszek Możdżer ( Talk to Jesus ), Jan Ptaszyn Wroblewski ( Made in Poland ), Jarosław Śmietana ( Ballads ), Kuba Stankiewicz , Anna Maria Jopek ( Sceptem ), Zbigniew Namysłowski ( 3 Nights ), Anna Serafinska, Karolina Styla or Piotr Baron. He has also worked with David Friedman , Ed Schuller , Harvie Swartz , Gary Bartz , Louis Hayes , David Friesen , Mark Soskin and the film composer Zbigniew Priesner.

Since 1990 he has been a lecturer in the jazz department of the Katowice Music Academy.

Prizes and awards

Wojtasik's album Hope received a Fryderyk (“Polish Grammy”) for the best Polish jazz album in 2003 ; he himself received the Fryderyk as the best Polish jazz musician. In 2008 he received another Fryderyk as Jazz Musician of the Year; his album Circle received the Fryderik as best jazz album of the year.

Discographic notes

• Lonely Town (1994, Best Album 1995 in the Jazz Forum Readers' Poll ; nominated for a Fryderyk)
• Quest (1996, with Billy Harper , Leszek Możdżer, Buster Williams , Ben Riley )
• Escape feat. Tomasz Szukalski (1999, with Maciej Sikala, Sławomir Kurkiewicz , Krzysztof Dziedzic)
• Hope (2003, with David Liebman , Maciej Sikała, Leszek Możdżer, Clarence Seay , Ronnie Burrage )
• Michel Donato / François Théberge / Piotr Wojtasik Donato et ses amis (2004)
• Colors (2005, with François Théberge, Nicolas Simion , Michael Donato, John Betsch )
• Circle (2007, with Zbigniew Namysłowski, François Théberge, Henryk Miśkiewicz , Andrzej Jagodziński, Jean-Jacques Avenel , John Betsch, Paul Wertico , Tomas Celis Sanchez, Barbara Witkowska and others)
• Judy Bady / Piotr Wojtasik Blackout (2009, with Francesca Tanksley , Wayne Dockery , Newman Taylor Baker )
• To Whom It May Concern (2018, with Viktor Tóth , Sylwester Ostrowski, Bobby Few , Joris Teepe , John Betsch)

Web links

• Entry (Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians )
• Piotr Wojtasik at Allmusic (English)
• Piotr Wojtasik at Discogs (English)