ADAM MAKOWICZ
Indigo Bliss

Label: Timely Manor, 2006
Catalog No: TM117-02
Format: CD
Condition: GENUINE, BRAND NEW, MINT, FACTORY SEALED

Audio Playlist:

Polish Jazz - Jazz Pianists

Jazz legend, master of improvisation, piano virtuoso – ADAM MAKOWICZ – was voted Europe's Number One Jazz Pianist six years in a row by the readers of Polish jazz magazine "Jazz Forum", decorated with the Officer’s Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland, he has recorded close to 40 albums and performed in the world's best concert venues, playing with the world's top musicians. He has composed music for string quartets and jazz trios, several piano pieces, over 100 short jazz compositions, as well as two movie scores. Producer Jaymz Bee and engineer James Paul were recording a live piano compilation at The Rogue Studio that featured over two dozen pianists. Makowicz came in to play one song and impressed Jaymz and James so much they immediately offered to record an entire solo piano album for him at no charge. He returned to record 25 tracks in one day and then chose his favorite 17 tracks to release on a new CD; this is his 38th full album.

Tracks:

1. Blues Skies
2. Cry Me A River
3. The Touch Of Your Lips
4. Warm Valley
5. Hush! Quiet!
6. I Loves You Porgy
7. How Long Has This Been Going On?
8. Interface
9. Someone To Watch Over Me
10. Spring Is Here
11. Her Blue Ring
12. Flamingo
13. Cheek To Cheek
14. Stars Fell On Alabama
15. Tonight
16. The Song Is You
17. Dancing Reflections

Recorded:

2006, Canada

Performed by:

Adam Makowicz - piano

About Adam Makowicz:

Adam Makowicz (born Adam Matyszkowicz August 18, 1940 in Gnojnik, Germany is a Polish - American pianist and composer living in Toronto, who performs jazz and classical piano pieces, as well as his own compositions. Besides playing solo, he has worked with such musicians as Michal Urbaniak and Leszek Mozdzer, as well as with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC, at the Kennedy Centre, at the Carnegie Hall, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, and other major orchestras at concert halls in Americas and in Europe. His technical mastery as jazz pianist has been compared to that of Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and Errol Garner, among others. His specialty in classical piano since his studies in the 1950s has been the music of Chopin.

Adam Makowicz was born into a family of ethnic Poles in Czechoslovakia in 1940, during World War II. After the war, he was raised in Poland. He studied classical music at the Chopin Conservatory of Music in Kraków. Overcoming cultural restrictions under communism, he listened to the Voice of America every night, and eventually developed a passion for modern jazz. At that time, freedom and improvisation was disapproved by the pro-Soviet authorities. However, he chose a new life and switched from the career of a classical pianist to that of a touring jazz pianist. After years of hardship, Makowicz got a regular gig at a small jazz club in a cellar of a house in Kraków. By the mid 1970s, Makowicz established himself as one of the leading pianists in Europe. He was chosen the "Best jazz pianist" by the readers of "Jazz Forum"" magazine, and was awarded a gold medal for his contribution to the arts.

In 1977 Makowicz made a sensational 10-week tour in the United States, produced by John Hammond. At that time he recorded a solo album titled "Adam" on CBS. In 1978 he settled in New York. Makowicz was banned from Poland during the 1980s, when the Polish regime imposed martial law to crush the Solidarity Movement. At that time he took part in Ronald Reagan's initiative called "Let Poland Be Poland," joining many artists and public figures.

During the 2000s, he moved to Toronto, Canada, and continued his career as a concert pianist and recording artist. In the course of his career spanning 40-years, Makowicz performed with major symphony orchestras, such as the National Symphony Orchestra, at the Carnegie Hall, at the Kennedy Centre, and other major concert halls in Americas and in Europe. Eventually he recorded over 30 albums of jazz, popular, and classical music, with his own arrangements of pieces by Chopin, Gershwin, Berlin, Kern, Porter, Rogers, and other composers. Makowicz also wrote and recorded his own compositions for piano.

Makowicz has been building bridges between cultures by his numerous concerts performance and recordings of cross-cultural and cross-style compositions. He performed and recorded music by Chopin and Gershwin with the Warsaw Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony in Washington, London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and other internationally recognized companies. In 1999, in commemoration of 150th anniversary of Chopin's death, Adam Makowicz played his piano tribute to Chopin at the French Embassy in Washington. His interpretations of classical pieces by Chopin and Gershwin are marked by finesse, inventiveness, and extraordinary technical virtuosity.

What the critics say:

“Makowicz plays with beauty, compassion, and vision. He is one of the most phenomenally spectacular pianists in jazz".
Hugh Wyatt, New York Daily News

“Adam Makowicz is a magician of the keyboard.”
W. R. Stokes, Washington Post

“With a fertile imagination and an unlimited technique, he is not only an extraordinary pianist, he is also an unusual and fascinating composer.”
Gene Lees, Jazzletter

“Makowicz’s command of the piano is ultimate…He is the Liszt of jazz piano.... a phenomenal player whose musicianship is on the highest level.”
Stephen Pedersen, The Mail-Star, The Chronicle-Herald, Canada, April 8, 2003