Imagine Nation!

In October, during the Jazz Jamboree festival, I’ll present my new project. I am so happy – I’ll play at the iconic festival and I will play with great musicians!

Imagine Nation is a completely new thing, with a completely new repertoire. We’ll play my compositions – but this time I allowed myself for a few experiments. I am playing a bit with the jazz idiom. Songs are quite precisely written down, but some parts are open. In a way I try to maintain control and loose it and the same time – these songs can be played in a strictly jazz way, but the performers can also go free. The scores are sometimes precise, but sometimes they become something like a slightly sketched scenario, just setting the order of the events.

To perform this experiment I invited great musicians, outstanding improvisers and wonderful people: Hubert Zemler on drums and objects and Ksawery Wójciński. I will play guitars (real and imagined ones), and at the premiere we will be joined by Liberty Ellman, an excellent guitarist known for solo projects or cooperation with Henry Threadgill.

Marcin Olak Imagine Nation feat. Liberty Ellman – 26.10 @ Jazz Jamboree, Stodola Club, Warsaw.

Sztukmistrz – try to pronounce it!

This Thursday – 14.06 – I will be Maciej Krawiec’s guest at RadioJAZZ. Maciej’s original show is an “Sztukmistrz ‘ – it means something like master of arts, mountebank, magician – it’s worth listening to, even without me. And on Thursday, we’ll talk about books and music. We’ll play some tunes from the latest Spontaneous Chamber Music release, and a few other albums, certainly interesting and not obvious ones.

RadioJAZZ is an internet platform, you can listen to us through their website: www.radiojazz.fm. Enjoy!

Edit: The interview is now available as podcast. Well… yes, it’s in Polish.But we also play some music, and that’s pretty international, isn’t it?

Some gigs ahead.

It’ll be a cool week. On Thursday I will play with Patryk Zakrocki in DZiK. We’ve invited phenomenal Anna Gadt to play together – in my opinion, she is one of the best and most creative vocalists in Europe. If someone has not heard her latest album yet, then please do not hesitate to reach the Misterium Lunae. On Thursday we improvise open and unexpected forms, I can not wait.

And on Sunday my trio will play in Cud Nad Wisłą. It’s a beautiful place, I’m so glad we can perform there! We’ll play some new things, some songs from previous albums. Maciek Szczyciński will play the bass, and Szymon Linette for the first time in this line-up on drums. Just come and listen!

Marcin Olak Trio

Spontaneous Chamber Music & Anna Gadt – 24.05, 20:30
DZiK, Belwederska 44a, Warszawa, PL

Marcin Olak Trio – 27.05, 19:00
Cud Nad Wisłą, Bulwar Flotylli Wiślanej 1, Warszawa, PL

New Spontaneous is available on Bandcamp!

New album by Zakrocki/Olak/Fernández is available on Bandcamp now. You can buy it directly from Listen! Foundation.

And on Jazzarium.pl our new release is announced – yes, it’s in English. You can read about our meeting with Agustí Fernández and the way we recorded our new CD.

I hope you enjoy the music. Just check it up!

New album!

This morning I’ve received a box full of new CDs, straight from the press. Marcin Olak, Patryk Zakrocki and Agustí Fernández, Spontaneous Chamber Music, vol.2 is out now!. The album, published by the Listen! Foundation, will be available in stores any moment now, and will certainly be available at our concerts.

We will play 14.04 in SPATiF (WAW, PL), then 20.04 in the Iluzjon Cinema (WAW, PL), at the silent movie festival. Come and listen!

Improv masterclass

On March 17th, I’ll give workshops in improvisation in one of my favorite music schools, Musicollective in Gdańsk (PL). I’ll talk about the psychological aspects of improvisation and the possibilities of developing a creative attitude. There will also be some individual lessons, we will most likely focus on jazz … or maybe not? This is an improvisation, anything can happen. If you happen to be in Gdańsk on March 17th, check this up!

Marcin Olak improv masterclass

More info on www.musicollective.pl – check them up, they’re cool!

Spontaneous Chamber Music vol. 2

Last October we’ve recorded an improvised session. Patryk Zakrocki, Agustí Fernández and me. And it looks like our new album – Spontaneous Chamber Music, vol. 2 – will be out this spring. I so excited about this new release, and I hope you’ll like the music. Stay tuned!

Spontaneous Chamber Music vs Nosferatu!

Spontaneous Chamber Music vs. Nosferatu…This February Spontaneous Chamber Music will play in SPATiF (cool new place in Warsaw, PL). Me and Patryk Zakrocki will improvise live music for a 1922 silent movie – “Nosferatu, a symphony of horror”…

 

EDIT: No we won’t play, this gig is canceled, I’m sorry. We try to make happen some other day, maybe in another place. It’s just a misunderstanding, but an annoying one. :/