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Mateusz Smoczynski

Mateusz Smoczyński, an internationally-acclaimed Polish jazz violinist, winner of Grand Prix of the Zbigniew Seifert Jazz Competition or 2017 Best Jazz Violinist award of the Jazz Forum European Magazine. A sought-after soloist and ensemble leader, considered one of the most multi-faceted Polish contemporary music composers. Co-founder of Atom String Quartet, leader of MS Quintet featuring pianist Jan Smoczyński, guitarist Konrad Zemler, double-bassist Wojciech Pulcyn with Michał Miśkiewicz on drums. He has collaborated with many renowned artists, Branford Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, Gil Goldstein, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Tomasz Stańko, Urszula Dudziak, Władysław “Adzik” Sendecki, Leszek Możdżer, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Anna Maria Jopek, and many others. In 2012–16 principal violinist of the Grammy Award-winning Turtle Island Quartet, with whom he recorded a Grammy- nominated album „After Blue” by Tierney Sutton. 2020 marks the release of the first album of Mateusz Smoczyński recorded in collaboration with the German pianist Joachim Kühn under the label of ACT Music.

Awards

Grand Prix at Zbigniew Seifert International Jazz Violin Competition

Fryderyk HD: Sounds Good

Read "Sounds Good" reviewed by Scott Gudell

by Scott Gudell
October 23, 2021

Fryderyk HD has a lot of pins in his musical map. His parents are Vietnamese and Polish, he was born in Poland and trained at both the Frederic Chopin University of Music (Warsaw) and Berklee College of Music (Boston.) His initial entry into the world of music was via sound engineering but he eventually switched to writing and performing with piano his instrument of choice. Sounds Good almost seems like a 'greatest hits' for the young pianist since ...

Album Review

Fryderyk HD: Sounds Good

Read "Sounds Good" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
July 9, 2021

Fryderyk HD clearly knows his stuff in the jazz world and, just as clearly, considers it a jumping-off point more than a home niche. His first outing has all the marks of a fresh mind whirling with a myriad of ideas, and ready to try them all on for size. Thankfully, it is also the kind of debut which is about exploring and synthesizing one's influences more than recycling them. Sounds Good can appeal to an impressive range of tastes ...

Album Review

Stefan Braun & Mateusz Smoczynski: Keep On Turnin'

Read "Keep On Turnin'" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
January 28, 2021

A violin and cello duo might spark thoughts of chamber music, but Polish violinist Mateusz Smoczynski and German cellist Stefan Braun, classically trained though they are, are improvising musicians at heart; with Keep on Turnin' they revisit the jazz, fusion and funk songs that provided the soundtrack in their formative years. Though this is Smoczynski and Braun's debut, the mutual understanding nurtured over a decade of playing together is evident in both the intricate interplay and the ease with which ...

Album Review

Mateusz Smoczynski: Metamorphoses

Read "Metamorphoses" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
June 13, 2018

Though violinist Mateusz Smoczyński has played with the likes of Tomasz Stanko, Branford Marsalis, Joachim Kuhn and Anna Maria Jopek, he's perhaps best known internationally for his four-year stint in Turtle Island Quartet and, currently, Atom String Quartet. With the latter, Smoczyński recorded Seifert (Zbigniew Seifert Foundation, 2017), its brilliant tribute to violin virtuoso Zbigniew Seifert. Seifert's shadow looms large again here, not least because this recording is a direct result of Smoczyński winning the 2nd Zbigniew Seifert International Violin ...