Kosciuszko Foundation in Washington DC - Past Events

Jazz Night with Pawel Ignatowicz

Friday, June 14, 2013, at 7:00pm

Guitarist, composer and music producer Paweł Ignatowicz was born December 20th, 1980 in Żywiec, Poland. Ever since his earliest years, he was surrounded by a multitude and variety of instruments. He grew up in a musical family that played music ranging from the folk music of the Highlanders of the Beskid Żywiecki region to New Orleans Dixieland Jazz. The son of a multi-instrumentalist, Paweł spent his whole childhood practicing playing the instruments. At the age of 8, he started attending the Polish National Music School to study clarinet. Having added saxophones to the list of the instruments he played, he continued to search for the one instrument that would serve him best as a means of musical expression. Eventually came the guitar, which he has played since the age of 10. As the years passed, he abandoned playing the other instruments and focused solely on mastering the guitar. After finishing high school, he continued education at the University of Silesia, where he particularly concentrated on jazz guitar classes with Prof. Karol Ferfecki. In 2005, he graduated with very good results and started searching for his musical identity on his own account. Just after the graduation, he moved to New York, where he lives to this day.

The musical sensibility of this young composer was influenced by a myriad of factors, from his childhood fascination with the compositions of Freddie Mercury through the virtuosity of Steve Vai to the music of John Coltrane, which has had a profound impact on Pawel's musical development. It is because of the pure genius of this saxophonist that Pawel became interested in jazz, in which he found his musical identity.

In his compositions, which could fall into the categories of straight ahead jazz and fusion, he combines a variety of elements ranging from Jimi Hendrix to the contemporary classical music of Steve Reich and Philip Glass. However, as he often says, music today can be divided into good and bad and it is the only reasonable division. He does not fit his music into any particular genre. Remaining open to new influences and trends, he wants to create musical spaces without the boundaries set by classification, placing emphasis on what is best in harmony and tone.

He has collaborated with many distinguished musicians, such as John Benitez (Chick Corea), Richie Cannata (Billy Joel, Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez, the Beach Boys, Bernie Williams), Axel Tosca Laugart, Benito Gonzalez (Kenny Garrett), Glenn Zaleski (Ravi Coltrane), Joe Berger, Luques Curtis (Gary Burton, Eddie Palmieri, Brian Lynch, Paquito D'Rivera), Cris Clark, Dana Hawkins (Me'Shell Ndegéocello, Esperanza Spalding), Adam Baldych, Mariusz Orzełowski (Muariolanza), Marek Dykta, Sławomir Jaskułke, Maciej Sikała, to name just a few.

At the beginning of 2008, he released his first album, entitled "Talk To You Later". In 2011, he recorded the soundtrack to the film by Rafal Janus "Double Breath". Currently, he regularly performs in a variety of musical projects in New York.

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