Wydawnictwo AGORA, 2017
WAW-NYC is a premiere enterprise of Marek Napiórkowski where, through the sounds of music, a dynamically evolving Warsaw meets a full of live capital of jazz and modern art – New York.
Marek Napiórkowski WAW-NYC feat Chris Potter
WAW-NYC project is a unique connection of diverse personalities which connects two distant cities by power of music from their jazz representatives. The compositions created especially for this initiative give full-music-interaction possibilities to accomplished improvisers. This European harmonic concept connects with rhythm culture from a cradle of jazz and Cuban zeal.
Marek Napiórkowski – electric, acoustic and classical guitars
Manuel Valera – piano
Robert Kubiszyn – bass guitar, double bass
Clarence Penn – drums
★ Marek Napiórkowski – is a leading Polish jazz guitarist and composer. Ever since the beginning of his career, his name has been featured in the top musician rankings. Since 2012, the readers of Jazz Forum magazine have consistently selected him as the Jazz Guitarist Of The Year. Napiórkowski has been acclaimed by both the industry and critics becoming a ten time nominee of the prestigious Music Award FRYDERYK in Jazz Musician of The Year and Jazz Album of The Year categories. His name has been credited on more than 150 albums with various artists. He has cooperated with many great names of jazz music such as Pat Metheny, Mino Cinelu, Marcus Miller, Richard Bona, Anna Maria Jopek, Ivan Lins, Dhafer Youssef, Anglique Kidjo, Grgoire Maret, Adam Holzman, Sugar Blue, Tomasz Stańko, Hadrien Feraud, Henryk Miśkiewicz, Urszula Dudziak, Leszek Możdżer, Klaus Doldinger (Passport) …
★ Based in New York City, Grammy nominated artist, pianist and composer Manuel Valera was born and raised in Havana, Cuba. Since arriving in NYC, he has become well known in the NYC modern jazz scene, garnering national reviews and lending his talents as a pianist and composer to such notable artist as Arturo Sandoval, Brian Lynch, Dafnis Prieto, Jeff Tain Watts, John Benitez, Samuel Torres, Joel Frahm, Yosvany Terry among many others. Valera is also the leader of his working band Manuel Valera and the New Cuban Express, a project deeply influenced by the experiments of Cuban artists from the 70s and 80s. While inspired by artists Irakere, Emiliano Salvador and AfroCuba, this touring band creates a unique and distinctive style that mixes elements of Jazz, R&B, fusion and funk with Cuban music styles. Expectativas (MAVO 2013) is the follow up and seventh recording as a leader to his 2013 Grammy nominated New Cuban Express (MAVO 2012) which was up for Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year.
★ Robert Kubiszyn – acoustic and electric bass player, composer and producer. Robert is one of the most versatile and in-demand bassist on the polish scene. He is well known for his talents on both the acoustic and the electric bass guitar. His discography is over 100 long play albums recorded with various artist.
Robert recent collaborations in the studio and on the stage include such prominent artists as: Anna Maria Jopek, Gregoire Maret 4tet(feat. Federico Gonzalez Pena, John Beasley, Jon Cowherd, Magnus Ostrom, Kendrick Scott, Michael “Patches” Stewart.
Robert also worked with many other great musicians such as: Mino Cinelu, Dean Brown, Gary Husband, Jon Herrington,Adam Pieronczyk, Janusz Muniak, Tomasz Stańko,Zbigniew Namyslowski, Maria Schneider with Krzysztof Herdzin orchestra, Urszula Dudziak, Michał Urbaniak.
He also did many projects with Anna Maria Jopek with Pat Metheny, Makoto Ozone,Gonzalo Rubalcaba,Oscar Castroneves,Richard Bona,Dhafer Youssef, Gil Goldstein.
★ Clarence Penn is one of the busiest jazz drummers in the world, a leader of multiple bands, a composer, a prolific producer, and an educator. Since 1991, when he arrived in New York City, Penn has placed his unique blend of mega-chops, keen intellect, and heady musicianship at the service of a staggering array of A-list artists―a chronological short-list includes Ellis and Wynton Marsalis, Betty Carter, Stanley Clarke, Steps Ahead, Makoto Ozone, Michael Brecker, Dave Douglas, Maria Schneider, Luciana Souza, Richard Galliano, and Fourplay. Penn’s impressive discography includes several hundred studio albums (including the Grammy-winning recordings 34th and Lex by Randy Brecker and Concert in the Garden and Sky Blue by Maria Schneider) representing a 360-spectrum of jazz expression, and he’s toured extensively throughout the United States, the Americas, Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia.
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Marek Napiórkowski & Chris Potter, New York City 2017