“Jazz is not a style”

How do you explain the special situation of Polish jazz in Europe and that Poland has gifted the world with so many jazz musicians of international renown over the decades?

Music represented a refuge for Poles in times of trouble. It was a form of escape from the extremely circumscribed and fearful historical reality. And even though the government made the performance of works by Russian composers compulsory in Polish secondary schools, this was still great music bearing pithy messages from major intellectuals (Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, et al). This music was performed alongside the greatest classical traditions (Beethoven, Bartók, Chopin, Szymanowski, Debussy); in other words, it was possible to learn a fantastic repertoire. Music is an abstract language, so it quickly became a means of free selfexpression for souls drummed into servitude. Europe’s first free jazz band was Tomasz Stańko’s The Jazz Darings. Jazz became the symbol of freedom in the 1960s. It functioned as one of the rare forms of expression in which it was possible to freely speak, so it grasped every sensitive intellect. This is the reason we have so many great jazz musicians here in Poland.

In the course of your career you have played Chopin works on several records. Is this your way of acknowledging a great Polish composer, or is it more to do with Chopin being easy to set to jazz?

In my case, all that happened was that a producer contacted me. In truth, this producer had already sought out several Polish pianists. This is how the Chopin fashion in Polish jazz started. I was twenty at the time and hated the idea of performing Chopin in a jazzy way, but I was also attracted to the possibility of making my first solo album in a studio. I had to do the whole thing in secret because I was fully aware that my music academy professors would not have supported the idea. A few years later I got another call, this time from a French record label. I was given a massive opportunity to make an album abroad for distribution throughout Europe. My third recording was a DVD with my friend Tymon Tymanski. We were then given the chance of playing in front of 200,000 people at a rock festival in Poland. I couldn’t refuse! Such requests rarely arrive by phone…

The album Komeda was released a few years ago. Several of your fellow musicians have also remembered the pianist Krzysztof Komeda (who died at a young age) on recordings. Why were you attracted to his music?

Komeda was one of the greatest figures in the history of Polish jazz. Later legendary jazz musicians like Stańko, Muniak, Namysłowski, Delag, Bartkowski, Wróblewski and Milian all played in his formations. He was an excellent leader of an orchestra, a smart person, a composer of originality, and an influential figure. A rare combination indeed. His music was simple and pure, but at the same time it was personal and groundbreaking. He once made an appearance in Hollywood alongside Roman Polanski and became an instant hit. He died young yet had an impact on generations of Polish musicians. Luckily, a few of his recordings have survived.

Leszek Możdżer (Photo: Piotr Topperzer)

What was the turning point at which you decided you would be a jazz musician and not a classical pianist?

I first heard the Chick Corea Elektric Band at the age of eighteen, and then a few days later Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue album. Now this is jazz. The quality of music is astounding… A bit later I had the opportunity to get to know the music of Petrucciani, Kirkland, Garner, Peterson, Jarrett and Evans. Each one played the piano differently. I recognized that they were giving themselves to the music. It became clear that if I wanted to realize myself, then I had to become a jazz musician.

More than a decade ago you featured on a joint recording with one of the grand old men of Polish jazz, Adam Makowicz. Tell us about this!

I was around six when my grandfather bought a Makowicz record and told me to listen to it. It was Unit, a drums and electric piano duo. I listened and didn’t understand a thing. Two weeks later I started to grasp certain parts-indeed, I even began to like bits of it. I never thought that one day I would play together with him. For me it was like meeting the Master himself: the great virtuoso, the teacher, the ultimate source. It was a marvellous lesson for me. I did everything to adjust to the language of Makowicz. Our first joint concert in Carnegie Hall was recorded on CD, but the truth is we gave our best concerts later on. I was able to play with him for just a few years, since remaining in obeisance in front of the Master was somewhat exhausting.

Many people talk of the impending death of jazz. How do you view the current situation of the genre?

Jazz is not a style; it is what the musician makes it. As long as musicians remain creative, jazz will stay in good shape. Journalists should rather be writing about the demise of swing. Yesterday swing counted as the single official language of jazz; today it is just one of many. The legacy of great European pianists and a thorough understanding of the instrument have made jazz here a completely individual discipline, also defined by classical piano literature. Jazz is constantly expanding, and certain new fields escape the attention of journalists, which is why they are calling for assistance for the dying patient.

If you had to choose one musician from jazz artists active today, who would you most like to play with?

A smart and yet at the same time deeply spiritual, sensitive, focused, humble, lively, friendly and forgiving person. I need this sort of partner when working.