Leszek Mozdzer
Chopin - Impressions

Label: Polonia Records, Poland (2000)
Catalogue No: CD 029
Format: CD

I play at concerts, I write and arrange music, I prepare people to perform, record it etc. I'm gathering experiences to speak my own voice one day. I dream about a comfortable situation of creating art. (Leszek Mozdzer)

Audio Clip:

Nocturne F op. 15 nr. 1 (2nd version) feat. Tomasz Stanko

Mazurka G Op. 24 Nr. 1 feat. Zbigniew Namyslowski

Tracks:

1. Mazurek C Op. 24 Nr. 2 3:21
2. Nokturn F Op. 15 Nr. 1 5:27
3. Etiuda Ges Op. 25. Nr. 9 1:39
4. Nokturn G Op. 15 Nr.3 5:26
5. Mazurek A Op. 17 Nr. 4 2:53
6. Preludium As Nr. 26 (My Secret Love) 3:09
7. Preludium A Nr. 7 3:12
8. Etiuda A Op. 25 Nr. 4 (Segments) 3:01
9. Mazurek F Op. 68 Nr. 3 5:14
10. Nokturn f op. 15 nr. 1 (2nd version) 2:58
11. Nokturn Fis Op. 48 Nr. 2 4:33
12. Mazurek G Op. 24 Nr. 1

Personnel:

Leszek Mozdzer - acoustic piano
Tomasz Stanko - trumpet (Track 10 only)
Zbigniew Namyslowski - saxophone (track 12 only)

Recorded: 1994

When in February 1993 Stanislaw Sobóla of Polonia Records called me and offered cutting a record of Chopin music, I agreed to do so most readilly. But just as soon as I had hang up, panick took me over - Chopin a la jazz? Help me somebody!
Almost a year I hesitated before I got into the studio, since so much had taken to prepare myself mentally for the project. Mentally, which means not so much by way of practicing at the keyboard, as by thinking rather and careful listening to Chopin's music, as well as to some jazz pianists solo recordings. I felt that every concert I was playing during the period furthered me to the moment when I would sit at the piano and cut the record myself.
In the meantime Andrzej Jagodzinski had recorded Chopin with his trio and I'd heard news about Benek Maseli fixing to do the same. It started getting crowded in the Chopin department anyway.
Finally the date was called for three days at the Warsaw's radio and TV studio at Woronicza Street. I invited the two greats - Stanko and Namyslowski - to join the session. It has all been a terrific experience and a fantastic lesson to me. I have discarded quite a few recorded pieces leaving only the most valuable in my opinion.
Generally speaking I wanted to stear clear of „remakes” of all sorts. Being an admirer of our great composer's genius myself, I knew that restyling Chopin „in a jazzy groove” would have been dealing trash and sacrilege. I tried to get out of his music things that I could use as a pretext for my own, personal playing. The Chopin's themes therefore often appear camouflaged, often marked rather than quoted. Whenever I was to quote Chopin - then I did it literally, after the original score.
The material includes two jazz standards: „My Secret Love”, where the left hand figure from Prelude in A flat major, adapted to the theme's harmony, has been employed in the accompaniment (the ending, however, is the original Chopin's prelude) and „Segments” by Charlie Parker, which - as far as harmony is concerned - strictly covers the opening of Etude in A minor Op. 25 Nr 4. You'll also discover quite a lot of easy playing, which is what I personally like the most, without holding on tight to an a priori settled harmony or from. Let me hope that you'll enjoy this record, those of you who know Chopin and love him as well as the jazzfans among you. I also hope that perhaps a few of the latter will find themselves motivated by it to get more familiar with his music.
Leszek Mozdzer
P.S.
My wholehearted thanks for Zbyszek Namyslowski and Tomasz Stanko. Also for my friends, especially Malgosia Roclawska for her invaluable help in making the record, Piotr Wojtasik for his good advices and my parents, to whom it is dedicated (L.M.)

Leszek Mozdzer's bio:
Leszek Mozdzer, acclaimed pianist, composer and producer, graduated from the prestigious Gdansk Academy of music in 1996. A true crossover artist, in addition to his work as a classical pianist, he is also one of the most celebrated figures in contemporary Polish Jazz. Born in Gdansk, Poland in 1971, by age five he was studying classical piano, and at eighteen he began introducing jazz into his repertoire. He started his career playing with clarinetist Emil Kowalski, and in 1991 garnered national attention when he joined the popular free-jazz group “Milosc”. He received his first major award at the International Jazz Competition in Krakow in 1992, and he has since gone on to win many awards for his artistic achievements in classical and jazz piano. Mr. Mozdzer has recorded over 100 albums, including his acclaimed 1994 release “Impressions” which featured his own jazz interpretations of Chopin. He has performed with a host of Polish jazz luminaries, including Tomasz Stanko, Janusz Muniak, Michal Urbaniak, Anna Maria Jopek, Adam Pieronczyk and Piotr Wojtasik; and has worked with acclaimed international musicians Arthur Blythe, Buster Williams, Billy Harper, Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny, Archie Shepp and others. He has collaborated on film scores for 20th Century Fox and Miramax with fellow Polish composers Zbigniew Preisner and Jan A. P. Kaczmarek. Over the last twenty years, Mr. Mozdzer has performed both jazz and classical music all across Europe, as well as in the US, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzia, Brazil, Canada, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Uruguay and Chile.