Info

Marcin Olak

Guitarist, composer, improvising and experimenting musician. He is one of the few who can play modern jazz on classical and acoustic guitars, using the specific sound and articulation possibilities of those instruments, he also plays electric guitars. Usually, guitar in jazz guitar is treated linearly. Most guitarists play with a pick and are thus able to play single note melody or chords. Marcin Olak – with his classical guitarist background – plays differently. He creates multilevel, complex textures, using the specific sound and articulation possibilities of his guitars, as it is in the European guitar tradition.

ⓒ Beata Bethy Michalczyk

Olak moves between various styles: jazz, classical and contemporary pieces, from fully composed pieces to improvised music. Marcin Olak performs solo and with various bands: from free-jazz combos, through classical guitar ensembles, to the symphony orchestra. Marcin is also appreciated as an arranger and composer: he writes chamber music and concertos, jazz themes, and songs.

Marcin Olak played at some of the most important guitar and jazz festivals, such as Jazz Jamboree, Bridges, Ad Libitum, Warsaw Summer Jazz Days, Warsaw Autumn, JazzArt and more.

Discography:

  • M feat. Ben Stapp, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Marco Colonna, Steve Swell, Broken Songs (Fundacja Słuchaj, 2022)
  • Gadt/Osbnorne/Zakrocki/Olak, Spontaneous Chamber Music, vol. 2 (Fundacja Słuchaj, 2020)
  • Marcin Olak, Music From Non-Existent Movies (private edition, 2020)
  • Anna Gadt/Marcin Olak, Gombrowicz (Hevhetia, 2019)
  • Zakrocki/Olak/Fernandez, Spontaneous Chamber Music, vol. 2 (Fundacja Słuchaj, 2018)
  • Marcin Olak Quartet, Bessarabian Journey (Fundacja Słuchaj, 2016)
  • Zakrocki/Olak/Wielecki, Spontaneous Chamber Music, vol. 1 (Fundacja Słuchaj, 2016)
  • Agusti Fernandez & Ad Libitum Ensemble, River Tiger Fire (Fundacja Słuchaj, 2015)
  • The Intuition Orchestra, To The Inside (ForTune, 2014)
  • Marcin Olak Trio, Crossing Borders (Luna Music, 2012)
  • Marcin Olak Trio, Simple Joy (4Ever Music, 2008)
  • Marcin Olak Trio, Zealot (private edition, 2005)

Find Marcin Olak @ All About Jazz, Facebook and Instagram.