Leszek Mozdzer is a classically-trained pianist, born in Gdansk, Poland, who discovered jazz as a teenager and now moves comfortably between the classical concert stage and jazz performance, garnering numerous awards along the way. He’s played with Stańko and has recorded with bassist Lars Danielsson, also he has worked with such artists and groups as Zbigniew Namysłowski, Tomasz Stańko, Jan A. P. Kaczmarek, Zbigniew Preisner, Anna Maria Jopek, Kazik Staszewski, Marcus Miller, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, David Gilmour, Behemoth and Lester Bowie. He is famous for his “Impressions,” subtle new interpretations of Chopin’s compositions. His recordings are the most popular jazz albums in his homeland.
His classical background strongly influences the sound of Komeda. Krzysztof Komeda, the Polish musician and composer who died suddenly and in a mysterious way at age 38, in 1969, was a key figure in the emergence of European jazz, and remains a major source of inspiration for musicians across the continent. On Komeda, his ACT solo album debut, pianist Leszek Mozdzer pays his own beautifully crafted tribute to his fellow countryman.
Fans of Keith Jarrett will be absolutely delighted.
Despite his early death, Komeda’s body of work is extensive and influential showing that it was possible to take the ideas and themes of American jazz and create something that had its own uniquely Old World atmosphere. In the 21st century trumpeter Tomasz StaÅ„ko is probably the best-known exponent of Komeda’s work, while in the U.S., the New York based Komeda Project, led by expat Polish musicians Andrzej Winnicki and Krzysztof Medyna, maintain and spread Komeda’s inheritance. Many of Komeda’s best-known compositions were written for Roman Polanski movies such as “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968) and “Knife In The Water” (1962), films whose air of suspense and fear was heightened by the tension and darkness in Komeda’s music.
Mozdzer e focuses on the more lyrical and romantic side of Komeda’s work, “Komeda” is a smooth, still glowing, beautiful and swinging journey into the universe of this the Polish musician and composer and Mozdzer reveals bright new perspectives of his music.
