Jazzing up the mazurka with Artur Dutkiewicz

Jazz pianist Artur Dutkiewicz

Polish jazz pianist Artur Dutkiewicz brought his own brand of jazz to the Philippine shores through a series of performances and an improvisation workshop during a recent visit in the country.

The highlight of his trip was a solo piano concert held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. At the concert, billed as Impromazurka, Dutkiewicz, known as the "Ambassador of Polish Jazz", was at his element jazzing up not just classical music but the Polish folk dance mazurka.

Artur Dutkiewicz and
Embassy of Poland's Chargé d'affaires
Jaroslaw Szczepankiewicz

Dutkiewicz gave new life to the popular second movement theme of Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178 and Ignacy Jan Paderewski's Nocturne in B flat major, Op. 16 No. 4 and Minuet in G, Op. 14, No. 1. After the opening measures that established these pieces, he then jazzed up the chords and developed these themes through jazz improvisations taking the audience to a ride of different moods and vibes before settling back to the piece's familiar arrangements.

Artur Dutkiewicz

This was the same when he performed his own compositions of mazurkas, a Polish folk dance in triple meter with the accent uncharacteristically falling on the second or third beat, fused with rhythms from various places that he has traveled to.

Jaroslaw Szczepankiewicz and Artur Dutkiewicz

Speaking of travels, the concert also marked the Philippine premiere of Alexander Tansman's Les Iles Philippines, the sixth piece of Le Tour du Monde en Miniature. It was written in 1933 by Tansman after a concert world tour that included the Philippines in the early 1930s. The piece characterized by idyllic folk themes recalled Tansman's impression of the country while he was here. Dutkiewicz's performance of this piece at the concert had him expanding the work with his signature jazz improv touches. 

With a program that was made up of mostly Dutkiewicz's work and improvisations, it was not easy to figure out the character of the pieces especially when he segued from one to another further blurring the lines. By the second half, I decided just to get myself lost to the music and allowed myself to be brought to whatever place his music took me.

Dutkiewicz's concert and subsequent workshop not only brought the Polish jazz to the Philippine shores but also reintroduced Poland to the country through the Embassy of Poland headed by Jarosław Szczepankiewicz.

Polish jazz pianist, composer Artur Dutkiewicz to hold concert, workshop at the CCP

The Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland present Polish jazz pianist and composer Artur Dutkiewicz in a solo concert on November 12, 2019 at 7:30 PM at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little Theater).

The concert, billed as Impromazurka, will feature music by Antonín Dvořák, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Alexandre Tansman, and Dutkiewicz own improvisations on the mazurka.

The morning after, on November 13, 2019, 10:00 AM, Dutkiewicz will conduct a piano improvisation workshop to be held also at the CCP's Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino.

Ticket prices for the concert are at P1000 and P800 with 50% discount for students and 20% discount for senior citizens. There will be an admission fee of P100 for observers at the workshop.

Artur Dutkiewicz,called as the Ambassador of Polish Jazz, studied composition and arrangement where he graduated from the Jazz Department at the Academy of Music in Katowice (Poland), receiving a diploma with distinction. He was a finalist of the Thelonious Monk Competition in Washington, USA.

Dutkiewicz has taken part in dozens of renowned jazz and music festivals around the world including the Hague’s Northsea Jazz Festival, Warsaw’s  Jamboree, Hamburg’s Campnagel Theater, Bern’s Festival Kleiner Bunchen, Nuremberg’s Jazz Ost West, Cannes’ MIDEM, Milan’s Music Oggi, Paris’ Festival D`Europe Centrale, Budapest’s Sziget Festival, Havana’s Jazz Plaza Festival, Tel Aviv Jazz Festival, Glasgow Jazz Festival, Duesseldorf’s Jazz Rally, Berlin’s World Culture Festival, Milan’s  Notturni in Palestro Festival, Beijing’s BJ Ninegates Jazz Festival, Helsinki’s Kontu Festival, and Melbourne’s International Jazz Festival.

He has released several albums as a solo artist, (Mazurki) and as the leader of the Artur Dutkiewicz Trio (Prana, Traveller). For the readers' listening pleasure, here is Prana, a recent Artur Dutkiewicz Trio release with Dutkiewicz alongside bassist Michał Barański bass and drummer Łukasz Żyta.