Tomasz Stanko

June 2016 - Melbourne International Jazz Festival - Modern Masters Series

TOMASZ STANKO BAND (Poland/Finland)

Personnel: Tomasz Stanko, trumpet - Alexi Tuomarila, piano - Slawomir Kurkiewicz, bass - Olavi Louhivuori, drums

"At the heart of the European jazz scene since the fiery, radical days of the 1960s, Tomasz Stanko has been hailed as "one of the world's most original and inventive jazz trumpeters" - The New Yorker

A pioneer of experimental and avant-garde jazz, his distinctive career traverses a milestone partnership with famed Roman Polanski film-composer Krzysztof Komeda and explorative cult albums and collaborations with the likes of Lee Konitz, Ravi Coltrane, Bobo Stenson and Jan Garbarek.

Featuring a formidable line up from the vanguard of European jazz, these tautly lyrical sessions will contrast ballad-like expressivity and modern spaciousness, underpinned by Stanko's finely-honed harmonic sensibility.

Melbourne International Jazz Festival
www.tomaszstanko.com
YouTube video

"Stanko's tone, with its characteristic grit, speaks of a lifetime of experiences good and bad; and his ability to levy visceral moments almost instantly contrasting with passages of revealing vulnerability remains unparalleled to this day" - All About Jazz

stanko2 stankoband

Festival Concert Dates

Thursday 9 June, 6.30 pm and 9.00 pm:
Merlyn Theatre, The Coopers Malthouse, Southbank
Friday 10 June, 10.00 am: Workshop featuring Tomasz Stanko Band - Monash University Music Auditorium - Free entry
Saturday 11 June, 6,30 pm:
Merlyn Theatre, The Coopers Malthouse, Southbank
Monash Art Ensemble featuring Tomasz Stanko, exploring the music of Krzysztof Komeda, the legendary Polish film composer and jazz musician who was Roman Polanski's composer of choice, creating scores for such iconic films as Rosemary's Baby and Knife in the Water.

Finland, July 2010 - Australia, January 2011

Tomasz Stanko Quintet

Tomasz Stanzo Quintet

Tomasz Stanko is at the forefront of international contemporary jazz trumpetism, and holds a status in international jazz circles similar to where Miles Davis was in the seventies.

He is one of ECM's leading jazz recording artists, drawing large concert audiences in Europe, Australia and the USA. At the age of 67 the Polish trumpet player hits, once again, a new peak with his new Scandinavian quintet. The New Yorker recently described him as "one of the world's most original and innovative jazz trumpet players", while The Times said of the new 'Dark Eyes' album (ECM 2009): "Stanko has again made an album, where every note - and the spaces around it - are full of impact." .Thrilled by Ornette, Coltrane and Miles, the young Stanko studied at the Krakow Music Academy and played the Polish underground scene with his own band, when the film composer Krzystof Komeda invited him to his quintet. Tomasz considers his five years in that band as crucial to his own style: "My lyricism and playing only the essential, my way of approaching the structures asymmetrically and many harmonic nuances are all influenced by Komeda." Stanko made 11 albums and a stack of soundtracks with his mentor. Later he has recorded many albums as the leader of various bands and collaborated with Krzystof Penderecki, Don Cherry, Arild Andersen, Bobo Stenson and especially the late great Finnish drummer Edward Vesala, to name a few. For his new quintet he hand-picked the hottest young talents on the Scandinavian jazz scene: pianist Alexi Tuomarila and drummer Olavi Louhivuori from Finland, bassist Anders Christensen and guitarist Jacob Bro from Denmark.

http://www.tomaszstanko.com

Members:
Stanko Tomasz, trumpet
Tuomarila Alexi, piano
Bro Jakob , guitar
Christensen Anders, bass
Louhivuori Olavi, drums

 

 

 

Stanko’s melodies and parts of his solos could cruise melodically, and then suddenly, like the sun breaking through clouds, he would unleash a molten stream of dazzling silver lines, as penetrating as only a trumpet can be…- arguably one of the most important jazz musicians alive..’
John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald

‘Now in his 60s Stanko remans a fascinating, mysterious, sometimes rather severe pioneer of a kind of east Euopean jazz independence..’
John Fordham – The Guardian

"Stanko evokes the spirits of the finest trumpeters dead and living while creating a mood and a voice uniquely his own. Yes, you can hear the influences of Miles Davis and Chet Baker at their most introspective and profound, as well as hotter, more rasping traces of Lee Morgan and Clifford Brown... 'Soul of Things' stands shoulder to hiply-slumped shoulder with 'Kind of Blue', and has an even better sound."
Stereophile, Record to Die For

"Tomasz Stanko's newest release, "Suspended Night," is a masterpiece of minimalist beauty. A suite of interconnected compositions, "Suspended Night" simply numbers its "Variations" I to X. The unaffected simplicity and flexible modal structures strip down chords and melody lines to allow each of the quartet members to enter the flow with calm force or lay out with delicate understatement. At times, the melody line rests on just repeated pairs of notes -- the right ones.

The quartet has worked together regularly since last year's equally intricate release, "The Soul of Things." They let the rhythm drift into comfortable stillness, but aren't shy to drive ahead either, letting individual notes resonate freely. Still based in Poland, Stanko and quartet outcool the coolest of the late '50s jazz groups and make it easy to see why he was awarded the first European Prize in jazz last year." [2002]
The Japan Times 2004.

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Dark Eyes CD
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Dark Eyes CD Review
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Article from Jazzwise UK
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Article from The Guardian UK
 
TOUR DATES 2010
Finland: Pori International Jazz Festival: Thurs 22 and Friday 23 July - www.porijazz.fi
TOUR DATES 2011
Sydney: Sydney Festival: Friday 28 January - www.sydneyfestival.org.au/stanko  - Ticketmaster: 1300 723 038
Melbourne: Melbourne Recital Centre: Saturday 29 January - www.melbournerecital.com.au  Box Office: 9699 3333

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New Zealand, March 2009

Tomasz Stanko Quartet

“Stanko evokes the spirits of the finest trumpeters dead and living while creating a mood and a voice uniquely his own" - Richard Lehnert, Stereophile, Record to Die For

 

Line up:
Tomasz Stanko - trumpet
Marcin Wasilewski - piano
Slawomir Kurkiewicz - bass
Michal Miskiewicz - drums

 

 

Tomasz Stanko is at the forefront of international contemporary jazz trumpetism, and holds a status in international jazz circles similar to where Miles Davis was in the seventies.
He is one of ECM's leading jazz recording artists, drawing large concert audiences in Europe and the USA. For two years in a row (2004 and 2005) Tomasz Stanko has won the Australian Bell Jazz Award for the best international album of the year. Stanko's latest recording Lontano (ECM 2006) features three of Poland's finest young jazz musicians, Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz and Michael Miskiewicz, with whom he regularly performs and tours around the world. Tomasz Stanko has been ranking high in the 2005 and 2007 Downbeat Annual International critics polls’ Rising Star Acoustic Group..In the four years since the quartet's much-loved ECM debut album Soul of Things (2003), both the trumpeter and his young band have continued to make their mark. Many miles of touring, on both sides of the Atlantic, have honed their already exceptional group understanding. Their 2nd album (Suspended Night released May 2004) builds upon the conceptual framework established by its predecessor. In September’06 Lontano was released complementing the recording triology of the present Stanko Quartet. In the wake of Soul of Things, Stanko won the first European Jazz Prize, a major new award initiated by the Austrian Government and the City of Vienna.

‘Stanko’s melodies and parts of his solos could cruise melodically, and then suddenly, like the sun breaking through clouds, he would unleash a molten stream of dazzling silver lines, as penetrating as only a trumpet can be…- arguably one of the most important jazz musicians alive..’ - John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald

‘Now in his 60s Stanko remans a fascinating, mysterious, sometimes rather severe pioneer of a kind of east Euopean jazz independence..’ - John Fordham – The Guardian

"Stanko evokes the spirits of the finest trumpeters dead and living while creating a mood and a voice uniquely his own. Yes, you can hear the influences of Miles Davis and Chet Baker at their most introspective and profound, as well as hotter, more rasping traces of Lee Morgan and Clifford Brown... 'Soul of Things' stands shoulder to hiply-slumped shoulder with 'Kind of Blue', and has an even better sound." - Thomas Conrad, Stereophile, Record to Die For

"Tomasz Stanko's release, "Suspended Night," is a masterpiece of minimalist beauty …Stanko and quartet outcool the coolest of the late '50s jazz groups and make it easy to see why he was awarded the first European Prize in jazz last year [2002]." - The Japan Times'04.

TOUR DATES
Wellington International Jazz Festival: Sat 7 March 2009 - Wellington Town Hall - 8.00 pm - www.jazzfestival.co.nz/artists/tomasz-stanko

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Australia and Asia, 2005

   
Tomasz Stanko Quartet    

“Stanko evokes the spirits of the finest trumpeters dead and living while creating a mood and a voice uniquely his own"
Richard Lehnert, Stereophile, Record to Die For

 

www.tomaszstanko.com

 

 

Toured Asia and Australia in 2005

Tomasz Stanko is at the forefront of international contemporary jazz trumpetism, and holds a status in international jazz circles similar to where Miles Davis was in the seventies.

He is one of ECM's leading jazz recording artists, drawing large concert audiences in Europe and the USA. For two years in a row (2005 and 2005) Tomasz Stanko has won the Australian Bell Jazz Award for the best international album of the year.

"Tomasz Stanko's newest release, "Suspended Night," is a masterpiece of minimalist beauty. A suite of interconnected compositions, "Suspended Night" simply numbers its "Variations" I to X. The unaffected simplicity and flexible modal structures strip down chords and melody lines to allow each of the quartet members to enter the flow with calm force or lay out with delicate understatement. At times, the melody line rests on just repeated pairs of notes -- the right ones.

The quartet has worked together regularly since last year's equally intricate release, "The Soul of Things." They let the rhythm drift into comfortable stillness, but aren't shy to drive ahead either, letting individual notes resonate freely. Still based in Poland, Stanko and quartet outcool the coolest of the late '50s jazz groups and make it easy to see why he was awarded the first European Prize in jazz last year." The Japan Times/2004.

Line up:
Tomasz Stanko - trumpet
Marcin Wasilewski - piano
Slawomir Kurkiewicz - bass
Michal Miskiewicz - drums

 

 
Tour Dates 2005
26 October2005 Tokyo
29-30 October 2005 Wangaratta, Australia
1 November 2005 Sydney, Australia
3 November 2005 Seoul

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© Copyright Henk van Leeuwen 2006 - 2009