Multitasking (Polish Jazz Vol 82)

Kuba WiÄ™cek now aged 24, he has released his second album in what seems to be the longest-lived of the world’s prestigious series of jazz recordings – “Polish Jazz,†of which two years ago he was also the youngest debutant when he recorded the Fryderyk-winning CD “Another Raindrop.â€

Naturally, what counts most is not these record-breaking feats but his open head and the ability to channel his youthful enthusiasm and curiosity into a brave search for his own path in music. WiÄ™cek is a citizen of the world in more than just the musical sense. Educated in New York, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Warsaw, he moves at ease not only between continents, but also among his own numerous experiments – playing with Kamil Piotrowicz, Piotr Orzechowski, Emil Miszk, Marcin Masecki and Jan MÅ‚ynarski, but also with Ralph Alessi, Kris Davis, John Hebert and Francisco Mela. When, indeed, he finds time for the necessary ‘Zen moments’ and for his own compositions in all this rollercoaster schedule – remains his secret, perhaps only shared by his teachers. When one tries to make an appointment with him, it always happens en route from, for instance, his trio’s Oslo concert to LA to promote PaweÅ‚ Pawlikowski’s Oscar-nominated drama “Cold War†(in whose soundtrack WiÄ™cek plays a splendid solo in “Dwa serduszkaâ€). What strikes his interlocutors is invariably his passionate interest in the world, in people and events, his constant search for new impulses and inspirations (Marakesh!), and his ability (rare in the artistic circles) to talk about his music – passionately, so that words can sometimes hardly catch up with his line of thought, but nevertheless precisely reflect the essence of his art.