Maciej Fortuna Quartet / Poland

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The leading Polish jazz trumpeter and his international quartet appear with a repertoire inspired by Polish folk music recorded by Kolberg. It all started seemingly by chance...

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In December 2013 Maciej Fortuna was touring Poland with his American quartet, comprising Mack Goldsbury, Eric Unsworth and Frank Parker. One day the bass player, Eric Unsworth fell, destroying his instrument and damaging Goldsbury’s saxophone. The borrowed reserve instruments sounded different from the ones they used, and thus continuing the tour according to the old idea was pointless; however, Fortuna came up with an ingenious plan. He borrowed several volumes of Kolberg’s writings from the Academy of Music in Poznań and asked his friends to pick two songs each. He added his own composition, and thus Zośka was born, with its roots in Polish folk music, played in the American jazz style. The album, released in spring this year was met with enthusiastic reactions.

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Maciej Fortuna performed and recorded in an avant-garde electronic duet with An On Blast, as well as with Krzysztof Dys, a jazz pianist. He records solo albums, as well as with his trio and bands Ethno Quartet and Acoustic Quartet. He also readily collaborates with other artists. Several months ago he released Jazz From Poland Vol. 1, the first part of a collection of the artist’s meetings with the classics of Polish jazz. After Zośka, another album titled Jazz was recorded and released by the trio. During the Jazz Era in Poznań this April, the artist played compositions by Krzysztof Komeda in a duet with Krzysztof Dys.

Members of the group:

Maciej Fortuna – trumpet
Jakub Skowroński – soprano and tenor saxophone
Charles Sammons – upright bass
Eric Vaughn – drums

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The concert took place in 2016.