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Jacek Kochan
Jacek Kochan is a monster drummer.
Born in Poland, he has been active in the musical scenes of Poland, USA,
and Canada since the late 1970s. He is also an arranger, imaginative
composer and music producer, but most of all - a superior drummer. His
very distinctive modern drumming style is jam-packed and full of
rhythmical gradations with stylistic references from the whole history of
jazz. He is fully aware of versatile jazz and contemporary music
traditions, but at the same time is completely immersed in contemporary
fusion, funk, electronic and club beats. He is also very fluent in the
language of free jazz, but in contrary to many others modern European
drummers, he has no complex of avant-guard. He is a master of sound
sampling, and has an exceptional gift of time and style. His smart and
intelligent music is filled with nuances, full of space, with layers of
acoustic and electronic sounds, and complex textures. As a drummer he
does not over-emphasize the role of his instrument, but in contrary he
focuses on collective sound, melodies, adventurous arrangements, original
harmonies and rhythms.
Kochan's astonishing improvisational creativity makes him one of the most
highly regarded and in-demand drummers on the Polish and European jazz
scenes. His music engages the listeners, keeps them interested, sometimes
puzzled, but always longing for more. Furthermore, Kochan excels in a
recording studio environment, where he is able to masterfully utilize
many wonders of the modern recording technologies, and at the same time
able to restrain himself from the traps of artificial apparatus.
During the last decades, Kochan has played with many of the most
important figures of American and European jazz. The list is too long to
quote, but he is primarily an accomplished leader of a variety of his own
bands. As a leader Kochan continuously encourages other band members to
express their artistic creativity, and at the same time, he stays in
charge of the band's musical direction and style, always leaving no doubt
that the final creative output is his own.
Biography:
Jacek Kochan, composer, arranger, producer and drummer
begun his adventure with music in seventies.
In early 80-ties he moved to New York. There he have played and recorded
with jazz, funk and r&b bands and studied among the others.with Jaco
Pastorius, Mike Clark, Robbie Gonzales.
By the mid 80's, Jacek moved to Montreal, where he further expanded his
musical lexicon to include writing for choirs and orchestra (Tudor
Singers, Repercussion) as well as playing and recording ethnic music (latin
, african , balkan). There he worked with Michel Donato, Karen Young,
Andrew Leroux, Yannick Rieu, Oliver Jones, Jean-Pierrre Zanella, Michel
Cusson, Katleen Dyson, Helmut Lipsky, Lazaro Saucedo, Geoff Lapp, Johnny
Scott and many others, perfoming at the clubs and jazz festivals.
In 1990 , after moving to Toronto, he started to work as a leader and
sideman in countless live and recording projects with artists like John
Abercrombie, Jerry Bergonzi, Pat Labarbera, Kenny Wheeler, Don Thompson,
Mike Murley, Neil Swainson, Reggie Schwager, Lorne Lofsky, Bernie
Senensky, John MacLeod, Dave Restivo and Brian Dickinson.
In 1995 he returned to Europe where he continues to compose, play, tour
and record music with artists like Dave Liebman, Greg Osby, Marc Copland,
Gary Thomas, Joey Calderazzo, Palle Mikkelborg, Eddie Henderson, Dave
Tronzo, Briggan Krauss, Cuong Vu, Eric Vloeimans, Lars Danielsson, Dave
Fiuczynski, Bo Stief, Christian Spering, Michel Benita, Furio DiCastri,
Franz Hautzinger, Klaus Dickbauer , Eddie Schuller, Uchihashi Kazuhisa,
Axel Dorner, Ernesto Molinari, Francois Corneloup, Krzysztof Knittel,
Skerik, Tomas Stanko, Zbigniew Namyslowski, Adam Pieronczyk, Piotr
Wojtasik, Assif Tsahar, Tomasz Szukalski, Maciej Sikala and Piotr Baron.
What the Critics Say:
..As before, Kochan brings his intelligence and restrain to
the recording studio...
Mark Miller, Globe and Mail
...Another imaginative recording from the leader...
Jazz Report
...More than just a drummer...
Coda
This music breathes wonderfully, leaving to understand a strong and clear
thought, an unity of purposes...
(CD "New expensive head")
The music of the new millennium is often loaded of contradictions and areas
of deep weakness, but every so often, like in this case, some gem knows to
emerge from the darkness, to come to to collect a deserved interest.
"All about jazz", Mauritius Comandini
"Double life of a chair" is certainly one of the more interesting disks of
the last years.... Jacek Kochan ...(has)... an obvious inclination to the
leadership that agrees to put him in field with a project of large beauty...
The attractive music of this album is not easily classifiable...
"All about jazz", Maurizio Comandini
...is a mostly absorbing blend of electric and acoustic textures, featuring
an international cast assembled by composer/multiinstrumentalist Jacek
Kochan, who also produced and mixed the music.
"Cadence", Stuart Kremsky
...This sensitive, seductive mix of cosmopolitan modern acoustic jazz is led
by Polish - born drummer Jacek Kochan...
Geoff Chapman, The Toronto Star
...Kochan's real strength is his writing, full of space, surprise, method,
purpose and natural sense of melody...
Mark Miller, Globe and Mail
..."Corporate Highlanders" is one of the most innovative recordings to ever
come out of Canada...
Jazz Report
...There are no gimmicks here, Kochan and friends display a purist bent that
is both refreshing and entertaining...
RPM
...He seems to have a strong future as an arranger composer...
Coda
...He is a musician that understands not only the academic concepts of the
classical format but also enjoys a fluid command of various atonal systems...
Oscar Peterson
...Kochan has no interest in taking interminable solos , and what is even
more unusual for a drummer, he is a skilled and quite imaginative composer...
Max Harrison, Ham & High
...Productive, consistent and quietly brilliant...
Mark Miller, Globe and Mail
...Kochan may well be the most exciting artist to come from the Unity
stable...
Jazz Report
...Jacek Kochan has a great feel for composition...
Geoff Chapman, The Toronto Star
...The compositions are complex, adventurous and arranged with supreme
taste...
Jazz Report
...But Kochan programs the music carefully as he paces his sidemen in the
studio, working with a slowly permutating cast that gives his music both
continuity and variety from CD to CD...
Mark Miller, Globe and Mail
...Drumming up a composing career...
Ken Waxman, Canadian Composer
...Kochan's tunes have a lovely sense of due deliberation; he swings lightly
at the drums in much the same carefully paced manner...
Mark Miller, Globe and Mail
...Kochan is an excellent example of someone who has made his own breaks...
Ken Waxman, Canadian Composer
...Kochan's stylings lend the mainstream, blowing session hue of a decidedly
funky underpinning...
Milo Fine, Cadence
...Jacek Kochan turned up more or less out of the proverbial blue last year
with "Visitor", a remarkably intelligent and well-composed debut CD
"Corporate Highlanders" picks up fully where "Visitor" left off...
Mark Miller, Globe and Mail
...Track one, "South Bronx" is worth the price of admission into Jacek
Kochan's dreamscape...
Jazz Report
...Kochan is a discreet, intelligent writer, guided by sense of moderation
rather than specific style...
Mark Miller, Globe and Mail
Recommended Recordings:
   
   
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