MUNICH, Germany (Top40 Charts/ ECM Records) - ECM and the Polish Cultural
Institute bring celebrated Wasilewski Trio to the US on tour promoting the release of their latest ECM album January with concerts at the Birdland in New York on Tuesday, May 20 at 6:00 PM, at Chris' Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia on Thursday, May 22 at 9:00 PM, at An Die Musik Live! in Baltimore on Friday, May 23 at 8:00 & 9:30 PM, at The Firefly in Ann Arbor on Saturday, May 24 at 8:00 PM, and at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles on Sunday, May 25 at 8:00 & 9:30.
January is a strong musical statement from a still-young band with a long history already behind it, and an album with an exceptionally wide-ranging program - all of it played with assurance, purpose and focus. The disc reconfirms that the trio of Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz and Michal Miskiewicz is one of the most outstanding contemporary jazz groups. Their friend and mentor trumpeter Tomasz Stanko has said, "In the entire history of Polish jazz we've never had a band like this one. They just keep getting better and better." It was through Stanko's ECM recording Soul of Things, recorded 2001, that the wider world first had a hint of the capacity of Wasilewski/Kurkiewicz/Miskiewicz. Since then, they've toured widely with Stanko and contributed mightily to his quartet recordings Suspended Night and Lontano, recorded in 2003 and 2005 respectively.
As an autonomous force, the Wasilewski Trio's biography begins in 1990, when Wasilewski and Kurkiewicz as 15-year old students at the Koszalin High School of Music began playing jazz together. Their first trio was formed the following year. In 1993 drummer Miskiewicz joined them, and the group's line-up has been stable ever since. As the Simple Acoustic Trio they won awards in their homeland and issued five albums on local labels. Their first international release, for ECM, entitled just Trio was recorded in 2004 and released the following year, immediately winning the Quarterly Prize of the German Record Critics. In the US, too, critics were taking notice. "Their years together have resulted in an ensemble with an utterly symbiotic creative flow," wrote Don Heckman in the Los Angeles Times.
LISTINGS - NEW YORK
WHAT: Wasilewski Trio
WHEN: Tuesday, May 20, 6:00 PM
WHERE: Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036
TRANSPORTATION: Subway: A,C,E to 42nd St. Parking Garage directly across the street
ADMISSION: $20, tel. 212.581.3080 or www.birdlandjazz.com
LISTINGS - PHILADELPHIA
WHAT: Wasilewski Trio
WHEN: Thursday, May 22, 9:00 PM
WHERE: Chris' Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sanson Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
TRANSPORTATION: Orange line to Walnut - Locust Station
ADMISSION: $15, 215.568.3131 or www.chrisjazzcafe.com
LISTINGS - BALITIMORE
WHAT: Wasilewski Trio
WHEN:Friday, May 23, 8:00 & 9:30 PM
WHERE: An Die Musik Live! 409 North Charles Street, 2nd Floor, Baltimore, MD 21201
TRANSPORTATION: located on several major metropolitan bus routes and subway
ADMISSION: $20/ $18 seniors & students; $30 for both concerts, tel.410.385.2638 or www.andiemusiklive.com
LISTINGS - ANNA ARBOR
WHAT: Wasilewski Trio
WHEN:Friday, May 24, 8:00 PM
WHERE: The Firefly, 637 S. Main Street. Ann Arbor, MI 48104
TRANSPORTATION: 1/2 mile south of downtown Ann Arbor. Located between Madison & Mosley. Free parking is available on site
ADMISSION: $12, tel.734.665.9090 or www.fireflyclub.com
LISTINGS - LOS ANGELES
WHAT: Wasilewski Trio
WHEN: Sunday, May 25, 8:00 & 9:30 PM
WHERE: Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90034
TRANSPORTATION: 10 Freeway west, exit at La Cienega Blvd./Venice Blvd., turn west on Venice and go to Helms Blvd. or 10 Freeway east, exit on Robertson and head one block east to Venice Blvd., then turn north (left) and go to Helms Blvd
ADMISSION: $25, tel.310.271.9039 or www.jazzbakery.com
