Results for "European Jazz"

Sebastian Zawadzki

Born: October 14, 1991

Sebastian Zawadzki is a Polish-born pianist and composer based in Copenhagen, Denmark. His work moves between contemporary European and Nordic jazz, contemporary classical composition and film music, with a musical language centred on melody, space, improvisation and cinematic form.

Based in Denmark since 2010, Zawadzki has developed a distinctive approach to the piano that combines Scandinavian spaciousness and restraint with contemporary composition, lyrical improvisation and a strong sense of narrative. His projects range from acoustic piano trio and solo piano to chamber ensembles, electronics and symphony orchestra.

AMPHITRIO

Active since: 2023

AMPHITRIO is an award winning contemporary jazz project based in Bucharest, Romania, initiated in 2023, featuring pianist and composer Andrei Petrache, bassist Mike Alex and percussionist Philip Goron, all of them having a solid background in classical and alternative music.

SongAh Chae

South Korean pianist and composer SongAh Chae is based in Valencia. Her music is shaped by literature, scripture, and landscape, creating soundscapes that are spacious, contemplative, and deeply lyrical. For Chae, music is ultimately an act of communication — a way of sharing reflection, emotion, and faith through sound.

Originally trained in classical piano, Chae moved toward jazz after discovering the rhythmic language and freedom of improvisation. She studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston (B.M.) and continued her master’s studies at Berklee Valencia (M.A.), where she developed a personal approach to composition — one that treats improvisation as part of the architecture of the music. Influenced by pianists such as Tord Gustavsen and Bobo Stenson, her work blends refined melodies with rhythmic vitality, moving fluidly between introspective passages and groove-driven improvisation.

Guido Spannocchi

Born: September 5

Guido Spannocchi is a Vienna/Austria born London based woodwind instrumentalist specializing in Alto and Baritone saxophone. He studied Jazz Saxophone and classical flute at the Conservatoire of Vienna as well as musicology at the University of Vienna & Paris VIII. His collaborations range from straight ahead jazz to trip hop and electronic beats as well as pop and funk whilst his original projects focus on contemporary jazz, improvisations and interplay. Spannocchi's sold out debut Album "Ahead Only" was published in May 2017 and recorded as well as mixed and mastered entirely analogue on tape, released on a limited vinyl record featuring Jason Simpson on double bass and Marco Quarantotto on drums. Follow up album "Terms & Conditions" published in spring 2018 is influenced by Brazilian Music and feautres some works by Rashaan Roland Kirk played by Spannocchi with Matheus Nova on electric bass alternating with Mao Yamada on double bass and Cyro Zuzi on drums. Published in 2019 the double album "All The Above" features renowned saxophonists Tony Kofi on Baritone sax alternating with New York based Jure Pukl on tenor sax with a rhythm section of Gina Schwarz on bass and Saleem Raman on drums alternating with JJ Stillwell on bass and Filippo Galli on drums.

Makiko Hirabayashi

Born: September 17, 1966

Makiko Hirabayashi is a Japanese pianist and composer, based in Copenhagen since 1990. She has received wide critical acclaim as a personal voice on the international jazz scene since the release of her debut album as a leader in 2006. Throughout the last two dacades, she has toured extensively through Europe and Asia with her trio featuring Marilyn Mazur and Klavs Hovman, her quartet Weavers and with diverse projects led by Europe’s top notch musicians.

Makiko’s latest and tenth studio album “Gifts” (enja 2025) is recorded with her qaurtet Weavers, following their first album which won Jazz Album Of The Year at Danish Music Awards 2021. Triggered by a composition commission by the Händel Festival in Halle, the making of this album served as a deeply personal journey for the Tokyo born pianist. Memories of Händel’s music she heard in her youth have inspired her to write nine tracks that sound both new and reflective – symbolizing the universal quality of Händel’s music and its transformative power. The music on this album, featuring some of the leading figures on the Scandinavian music scene – Fredrik Lundin (sax), Thommy Andersson (b) and Bjørn Heebøll (d) – flows effortlessly through intricate written passages and improvisation, while keeping the collective, creative force at its core.

Lorenzo Ditta

Lorenzo Ditta is an Italian jazz pianist, composer and educator based in Rome. He studied jazz piano at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague and spent nearly ten years living and working in the Netherlands, an experience that played a central role in his musical development.

His music is rooted in the jazz tradition while remaining open to contemporary approaches to harmony, form and improvisation. Over the years, his activity has taken him across Europe, North and South America, Australia and Asia, shaping an artistic path influenced by different musical environments and cultures. At the center of his work is a strong interest in interaction, musical dialogue and the balance between written material and spontaneous development.

Ian Smit

Born: November 17, 1957

Ian Smit is a composer, guitar texturalist for Monkeyworks, e’fessioux, Rick Savage & Beyond Jazz, Sputnik 5, QWERT, Ping, and a bunch of unsuspecting singer/songwriters, still manages to not fall into a neatly packaged musical genre… And, that’s okay!

Marion Wolf

Born: June 9, 2000

Marion Wolf, born in 2000 in Wolfsberg, Carinthia, Austria, is a violinist, singer, composer, and teacher whose work moves fluidly across genres and languages. She began studying classical violin at the age of twelve at the local music school and completed her training with distinction after only seven years. In 2019 she was awarded a scholarship from the D’Addario Foundation to attend the Munich String Camp at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich, and she was also accepted into a government-funded talent program at the Gustav Mahler Private University for Music in Klagenfurt

Jaromir Rusnak

Born: November 24, 1996

Jaromir Rusnak is a Polish double bassist, electric bassist, and composer born on November 24, 1996, in Krakow. Currently based in Milan, he is an artist whose work blends the lyricism of Slavic traditions with the expressive depth of jazz and contemporary music. 

He began his musical journey with piano at the age of eight and soon entered music school for accordion in Krakow. After a brief pause during his teenage years, he returned to music through classical double bass, which eventually led him to explore electric bass as well. This shift opened the door to Krakow’s vibrant rock and jazz scenes.

John Bostock

Born: January 9, 1954

John Bostock is an Australian composer and improvising jazz musician living in Israel. After studying jazz piano with Roger Frampton (Sydney) he continued with Hal Galper and Barry Harris (NewYork), at the same time studying Contemporary Writing and Arranging with Don Sebesky (New York).

He appeared at the 2006 White Night Festival in Tel Aviv, with saxophonist John Tchicai, and at the Tel Aviv Jazz Festival, 2006, with his own piano trio - Dani Benedikt drums, and Ora Boazson-Horev - bass. With the Albert Beger Quartet he appeared at the Jazz for Peace Festival, Pescara, Italy, 2003, Jazz,Blues and Videotapes Festival, Tel Aviv, 1998, Jazz at the Red Sea Festival, Eilat, Israel,1997, and the Israel Festival, Jerusalem, in 1996 .