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Komeda Project

Friday, October 1, 2010, at 7:30pm

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Pianist KRZYSZTOF KOMEDA was one of Poland's most famous modern composers and bandleaders during a brief life that ended in 1969, just shy of his 38th birthday. A self-taught musician, Komeda was best known for his scores to Roman Polanski films, from the director's breakthrough Knife in the Water (1962), to his Hollywood hits The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) and Rosemary's Baby (1968). He also led a renowned jazz quintet, releasing the internationally acclaimed Astigmatic in 1966.

Bruce Lindsay / AllAboutJazz.com

"As for Krzysztof Komeda, his impact on the development of European jazz is great but it remains under-recognized. Komeda Project are the ideal band to correct this—with Winnicki, Medyna and their fellow musicians, the Komeda legacy is in good hands and ready to reach out to a wider audience."

Born and raised in Poland, ANDRZEJ WINNICKI and KRZYSZTOF MEDYNA have been playing together for over thirty years. They bring both a European classicism and melancholy Slavic melodism to music that's heavily refracted through the prism of the American tradition. Before moving to the United States in the late 1980s, they spent years touring Europe with the award-winning group Breakwater. Medyna was also a member of In/Formation, also featuring Czeslaw Bartkowski, touring extensively on double bills with ECM recording artist/Polish trumpet legend Tomasz Stanko. After releasing In the Bush in 2001, with a reformed Electric Breakwater that also featured bassist Mark Egan and drummer Rodney Holmes, Winnicki and Medyna decided to unplug, forming the all-acoustic Komeda Project in 2004.

RUSS JOHNSON has performed with a who's who of jazz heavyweights, including Kenny Wheeler, Bill Frisell, David Liebman and Joe Lovano, in addition to leading his own groups and touring with Lee Konitz's latest nonet. Lyrical and economical with open ears and mind, Medyna describes him as "a poet of the trumpet. He is so sensitive, he can paint, and he can create a picture, making it easy for us to build something from nothing."