I was born in Warsaw in
1982. When I was six months old I moved with my parents to Popayan,
Colombia. My father was a clarinetist and he started teaching
me simple harmony, rhythm and singing when I was three. At the
age of seven I moved with my mother to San Fransisco where I
began taking piano lessons. A year later I moved back to Poland
and continued studies with my grandmother, who happens to be
one of the best piano teachers I have ever met. Because I was
seen to improvise little melodies here and there, I was also
sent to the jazz piano teacher Jurek Kossacz. By the time I
was 12 I was a regular at the weekly jam sessions held at the
Akwarium Jazz Club in Warsaw.
At 14 I entered the F. Chopin secondary music school. Around
this time I started playing in my first band, a trio with Wojtek
Pulcyn and Grzegorz Grzyb. We toured the various jazz competitions
in Poland and won a few awards. At the "Jazz nad Odra" competition
in 1998 I made friends with the members of the band "Acoustic
Jazz Sextet". A week later I had joined that group and
we decided to adopt the name "Alchemik". Between 1998
and 2004 we recorded three albums and played a bunch of concerts
in Poland, France, Belgium, Holland, Bulgaria and Spain. We
also won the main prize at the Jazz Hoeilaart '98 competition.
We had a blast!
During those years I also played in a band called Oxen. There
we played an electric, more aggressive type of jazz. We recorded
the album "Nexo", and played some of the wildest concerts
I've ever experienced; unfortunately, the band soon dissolved.
In 2000 I graduated from the Chopin music school and received
a scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
There I spent two very intense years. I took lessons with trombonist
Hal Crook, a teacher who is famous for being able to change
a student's life during a single lesson, and indeed he completely
changed the way I look at music. Another important encounter
was with Ziv Ravitz (drummer) and Garth Stevenson (bassist).
The three of us participated in an entirely spontaneous recording
session, and we decided on the spot to create a new band. We
chose the name TAQ, but unfortunately it was only a couple of
months later that I graduated from Berklee and had to return
to Poland.
It's not easy, but we do manage to organize concert tours
for TAQ several times a year. Our last concert in Poland was
recorded and will be released on CD and DVD in the summer of
2006.
After Berklee I bounced back and forth between Poland and
Argentina, where a lady named Candelaria Saenz Valiente was
singing. We were married in March 2005 and then moved to Warsaw,
where we plan to stay put for a while.
At present I am involved in four main projects. Besides TAQ,
I play accompaniment for my wife’s singing dates, do duets
with drummer Sebastian Frankiewicz, and give solo concerts.
Occasionally I perform as the pianist in the Zbigniew Wegehaupt
Quartet and in the Innocent Sorcerers band.
In spite of all my jazz performances, I am continuously involved
in the classical music experience. In many respects it is my
favorite way of making music. Recently I have been almost obsessed
with the classical era. In May I was able to arrange a recording
session on a beautiful clavichord in Grimbergen, Belgium. I
have also been recording sonatas and fantasias by Mozart which
I hope to be able to release soon.
- Marcin Masecki |
