PIOTR WYLEŻOŁ
Polish pianist, composer, leader. One of the most creative and important pianists on polish jazz scene.
Born December 6th, 1976. As a child, he was already winning awards at national piano competitions in Poland. At 10 and 11 years old, he performed Mozart and Beethoven piano concertos with the Philharmonic Orchestras.
He began his jazz performing career while still studying on Jazz Department at Academy of Music in Katowice, in groups led among others by Janusz Muniak, Jarek Śmietana. As a student, he was also a laureate of several jazz competitions and festivals: Jazz Juniors in Krakow (1st prize), the Jazz Standards Festival in Siedlce (1st prize), the Pomeranian Jazz Autumn's “Key to a Career” and Jazz on the Oder in Wrocław (individual award for best instrumentalist), and the International Competition of Jazz Improvisation in Katowice.
Piotr Wyleżoł has performed at numerous concerts and festivals throughout Poland, as well as in several dozen various countries of the world. Besides his own CDs recorded as a leader and co-leader, he has participated in a significant number of recordings by other artists, and the number is constantly growing. Piotr Wyleżoł is teaching jazz piano at the Krakow Academy of Music since 2007.
From the beginning of his artistic activity, the leader of his own trio. In 2001, the pianist's first original album Yearning was released, recorded together with Adam Kowalewski on double bass and Łukasz Żyta on drums. Even then, the press was full of warm words: “This is one of the most interesting debut albums. The trio of young Polish musicians built an atmosphere worthy of the greatest achievements in its genre. " (Jazz Forum 11.2001).
In 2006, the second album "Piano Trio" was released (with Łukasz Żyta on drums and Michał Barański on double bass).
In October 2009, the third album of the pianist trio, entitled "Children's Episodes", was released by the renowned label Fresh Sound Records. The album was released in the New Talent series, which includes names such as Brad Mehldau, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Chris Cheek. It is worth mentioning that Piotr Wyleżoł is the first polish artist to be included in this honorable group. The album was also nominated for the Fryderyk 2010 award in the Jazz Album of the Year category. In the discography of Piotr Wyleżoł as a leader, apart from studio albums of the trio, there are also two concert albums. The first is "Quintet Live", which was released in 2010 with a guest appearance of Adam Pierończyk (sax) and David Doruzka (guitar), and a recital for two pianos with Sławek Jaskułke recorded during the festival "Jazz in Gdynia" and released under the name DuoDram .
During his previous presence on the professional jazz scene, he has had the opportunity to work with many of its personalities, such as: Billy Hart, Edd Schuller, Janusz Muniak, Tomasz Szukalski, Jarosław Śmietana, Tomasz Stańko, Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski, Grzegorz Nagórski, Kazimierz Jonkisz, Andrzej Cudzich, Adam Pierończyk, Gary Bartz, John Purcell, Urszula Dudziak, Mika Urbaniak, Marek Bałata, Ewa Bem, Piotr Baron, Antymos Apostolis, Nigel Kennedy, Steve Logan, Monty Watters, Bennie Maupin, Janis Siegel and others. In the years 2005-2012 he regularly collaborated with Nigel Kennedy, taking part in his original projects, as well as classical music concerts, incl. as
harpsichordist in the repertoire of J.S. Bach or A. Vivaldi.
Piotr Wyleżoł has performed at many concerts and festivals in Poland and dozens of countries around the world. In addition to the albums recorded as a leader and co-leader, he has participated in the recording of several dozen albums with other artists and the number is constantly growing. Since 2007, he has been teaching piano at the Department of Jazz and Contemporary Music at the Academy of Music in Krakow.