Komeda Project is dedicated to the music of the great Polish composer Krzysztof Komeda. Komeda died young--days before his 38th birthday. During his relatively short life, he composed numerous film scores and jazz tunes and was responsible for the seminal album Astigmatic (Muza Records, 1965)--one of Jazzwise Magazine's “100 Jazz Albums that Shook the World." It is unsurprising, then, that a band would wish to pay tribute to such a musician, and tribute bands and tribute recordings are common enough in the jazz world. But Komeda Project is no mere tribute act. The quintet, led by pianist Andrzej Winnicki and saxophonist Krzysztof Medyna, takes Komeda's compositions and reinterprets them from a 21st century perspective--they remain recognizably Komeda's own tunes, but Winnicki's arrangements and the musicians' interpretations places the music squarely in the forefront of contemporary jazz.
AAJ Contributor Bruce Lindsay spoke with Winnicki and Medyna, about the genesis of Komeda Project, the duo's relocation from Poland to New York, and the illustrious background in Europe that they left behind in order to pursue this dream of bringing the music of Krysztof Komeda to life in the 21st century, with a team of American jazz musicians to give the project a stronger link to the jazz tradition.
Check out Komeda Project: Bringing New Life to a Legend at AAJ today!
For more information contact All About Jazz.
