Krakow Concert Schedule 30.06-06.07

The week is pretty filled up with the Krakow Jewish Culture Festival about which more in the previous post. Still, for those willing to look elsewhere, there are some alternatives.

03.07 Bartek Prucnal Quartet at Harris Piano Jazz Bar
Bartek Prucnal is clearly one of the most promising jazz saxophonists out there. The quartet will consist of Mateusz Gaweda on piano, Adam Szwugier on bass and Dawid Fortuna on drums wchich should make for a pretty explosive mix.

3-4.07 N.A.K. at Piec'ART
A trio with widely recognized Jacek Kochan and one of the most gifted youn pianists on polish scene Dominik Wania, Michal Kupczyk on bass completes the band. I've no idea about any details of this particular projects but these musicians are bound to come up with something interesting.

05.07 Ida Zalewska and Kuba Pluzek Trio at Harris Piano Jazz Bar
Kuba Pluzek is developing a very strong voice as a leader but he's also a very accomplished accompanist to the elegant and classy voice of Ida Zalewska. It will be smooth and fun evening at Harris.



 06.07 Karl Culley and Friends with Andy Baily at Piekny Pies
An interesting singer/songwriter clearly inspired by the classics of the acoustic genre.

Krakow Jewish Culture Festival musical recommendations.

I wholeheartedly invite you all to absorb all the variety of the festival. Nonetheless, my particular interest goes obviously toward the musical part of the program, and the "off" half of it, rather than classical.

28/29.06 Liron Amram and the Panthers at Barka "Sobieski" (8pm)
As is very common in this cultural circle, Liron Amram, grew surrounded by music, his father being one of the stars of yemenite music. He reinterpretes thoses songs in melodies in the language of 70's dub, electronica and groove. East meets West, etno meets oldschool. Party guaranteed.



30.06 Erik Friedlander "Songs of the Scribes" at Synagoga Tempel (8pm)
This musician is no stranger to any follower of improvised music. Merging classical sound with radical approach, most known for his work with John Zorn (Bark Kohba Sexter, Masada String Trio) but polish listener can remember him as well from the "Chamber Quintet" with Oleś Brothers. The concert will be the european premiere of his solo suite.
A meeting with the artist will be held at 4pm at Cheder Cafe.



30.06-04.07 Midnite Session at Alchemia  (12pm)
A traditional daily late night jam session that will rock Alchemia from the midnite till the early morning hours. Every midnight of the week.

24th Krakow Jewish Culture Festival starts today!

One of the biggest annual events in Krakow, and one of the biggest events of its kind in the world - 24th edition of Krakow Jewish Culture Festival starts today and will last till the next Sunday. 

Over the course of 10 days, Krakow citizens and thousands of guests of the city will have a full immersion course into the jewish culture. 

Cinema, city, history, philosophy, kitchen, traditional dance as well as modern club sessions and last but not least music, both classical and modern. 

I, Jazz Alchemist am the most interested in the last ingredient of the mix and tomorrow I'll try to run you through the musical part of the program of the festival.

In the meantime you can check the festival's website for more details as well as this link for the posts about the 2013 edition.

Kraków Concert Schedule 23-29.06

You get to relax for the first few days of the week, but coming thursday, there's a lot to see. There will be a separate post dedicated to the program of Krakow Jewish Festival, below are the events not related to it in any way, that seem to deserve your attention as well.

26-27.05 Significant Time at Piec'ART

A Norwegian quartet with a fresh and bit quirky approach to vocal jazz formula. A lot of fun, definitely unorthodox, joyfull and vivacious. The band is: Signe Irene Time – vocal, Øyvind Dale – piano, Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson- Bass, Raymond Lavik – Drums.

Double invite to Galieria i!

Galeria i! is slowly becoming the busiest underground (not literally) space for free improv performances in Krakow, Let me pass the invite for the next two evenings.

20.06 Sympli Romantiko - Denis Kolokol, Ernest Ogorek and Tomek Choloniewski

How it would be to actually touch the sounds or the perceive them as other physical objects? The trio tries to find and answer to that question with Denis Kolokol playing music through body movements along with Krakow's very own Ernest Ogorek on bass and Tomek Choloniewski on drums.



21.06 Institute of Intuition with Kamil Szuszkiewicz

Institute of Intuition will be represented by Rafal Mazur on acoustic bass and Tomek Choloniewski on drums. The guest, for a solo and trio set, will be Kamil Szuszkiewicz on trumpet, whose debut cd "Prologomena" I praised on the blog a while ago. It will be hard to squeeze the concert in between all that'll be goin around during the Wianki - Feast of Music, but it should be definitely worth it.

Krakow Concert Schedule 16-22.05 / Wroclaw Art of Improvisation Creative Festival

Not so much during the week, one concert "for something completely else", along with your regular nights at the jazz clubs. However the weekend will be a musical feast. A massive Wianki in Krakow for a lot of fun while Wroclaw will provide a more intimate context for the improvising music.

I'm also waiting for a confirmation on two possible Art of Intuition performances in Galeria i!

19.05 Sunday Pagans at Piekny Pies

Traditional multi-voice folk songs filtered through modern drum'n'bass, electro, dub trance nd else. Sounds like a freaky mix? That's the way I like it.

21.05. Wianki - Fete' de la musique in Krakow
The annual feast this year, instead of one big scene below Wawel castle will have a different formula this year. A number of open air stages and clubs will be involved and audience will be able to enjoy concerts of classical music, traditional jazz, club music events, indie rock, reggae and else.

The whole program can be consulted here. My reccomendation would go for alternative scene on Plasc Szczepanski with

Samech - the neo-classical quartet, mostly inspired by the tradition of jewish music, the second polish band in the internationally appreciated Tzadik label
Peter J Birch - bluesy and folksy acoustic americana
Patrick The Pan - melancholy indie
Zbigniew Wodecki with Mitch & Mitch Orchestra and Choir - a full-time retro show with funk and twist and whole lotta fun.
Silent Disco - curated by the Unsound Festival

There are other club events sparged through the city
Alchemia party with DJ set by two turntablists Wake Up and Lapsky along with Slawek Pezda on sax and Marcin Polanski on drums. DJ Jam with DJ Krime and Pauza Klub or ad DJ set with Macio Moretti and Bartłomiej Tyczynski in Bomba.

20-22.05 Art Of Improvisatoin Creative Festival at CK Agora, Wrocław

Another edition (3rd I think) of the multidisciplinary Art of Improvisation Creative Festival in Wrocław

will inspire art lovers this weekend. The focus is on music and the program is really strong, with performances from Matthew Shipp Trio, Matte Rasmusen trio with Alan Silva, Marcin Masecki, Kamil Szuszkiewicz and Hubert Zemler duo or new polish - german quartet Second Exit.

For the whole program and details visit the festival's website here. 

We seem to have bypassed spring directly into summer. A perfect time to go out and enjoy oneself. Below some suggestions for the next week.

12.06 Unusual History of Ether at Alchemia
The dark and moody songs by this unusual group remind me a little bit of Nick Cave. A stamp of approval from the ILK label bodes well.

Krakow Concert Schedule 04-08.05

It's been a long and intense weekend, sorry the schedule is a little late bu here it is for the remaining part of the week including a must-see DVA concert.

05.06 DVA at Klub RE
A crazy duo from Czech, voice, electronica, loops, guitar, clarinet. DVA has an unique sound and absolute charisma on stage. I wrote about their performance in Alchemia a few years back and it remains one of the best live acts I can think of.