Painting and jazz like to correspond with each other, but also to influence and permeate each other. Jackson Pollock’s improvisational techniques used to the accompaniment of bebop or big band phrases and paintings by Miles Davis created in complete silence are the most famous examples. This year’s Jazztopad Festival brings another one. This is the premiere of the repertoire for string quartet and piano written by Craig Taborn, who drew inspiration from the works of Agnes Martin while composing.
Craig Taborn is one of the musical geniuses of our time. So much has happened in his career, spanning over thirty years, that there is an unprecedented distance between the first and last recordings. The author’s debut – Craig Taborn Trio – just like the album JC on the Set recorded a year earlier, is a galaxy absolutely different to contemporary albums: Compass Confusion, Interpret It Well and the 60 x Sixty project. Taborn evolves in all directions simultaneously, his musical genius unfolds like circles on the surface of a lake moments after a stone is thrown in. Each project authored by this pianist would be a very strong card in the programme of any jazz festival. The organizers of the Jazztopad Festival decided not to choose from his achievements accomplished so far, but to persuade the artist to create something completely new. The festival arena is not only a place of presentation and review of current musical phenomena, but also a place of their birth. On the last Friday in November, we will hear Luminous Grid in its entirety for the first time, the first part of which was made available to the guests of the New York edition of Jazztopad.
Before the concert at the National Forum of Music, all we know is that the American pianist will improvise to music he wrote specially for the Lutosławski Quartet, and one of the inspirations for this piece was the work of Agnes Martin. Her work was simple and complex at the same time. She was a phenomenal painter. She was called a minimalist, yet she identified herself with the New York trend of abstract expressionism. One contradicts the other, but are they mutually exclusive?

Lutosławski Quartet / fot. Sisi Cecylia
Jazztopad Festival
Craig Taborn & Lutosławski Quartet – premiere
24.11
Fri.
7:30 PM
NFM, Red Hall
Programme:
Craig Taborn solo
***
Craig Taborn, Lutosławski Quartet Luminous Grid – Polish premiere
Performers:
Craig Taborn – piano, electronics
Lutosławski Quartet:
Roksana Kwaśnikowska – 1st violin
Marcin Markowicz – 2nd violin
Artur Rozmysłowicz – viola
Maciej Młodawski – cello
Tickets:
from 10 to 85 zł
Buy ticket
Non-refundable tickets
NFM Audio Player - obsługa komponentu Event
NFM Video Panel - obsługa komponentu Event
Similar events
Business in Culture. Culture in Business. A Debate
Accompanying event
17.11
Fri.
5:00 PM
NFM, Red Hall
The Symphonic Music of Wayne Shorter
Opening of the 20th Jazztopad Festival
17.11
Fri.
7:00 PM
NFM, Main Hall
Like the Mind – Walk So Silently | Hand to Earth – The Crow
 
18.11
Sat.
7:00 PM
NFM, Main Hall, reversed stage
Samora Pinderhughes – Grief – cancelled
 
19.11
Sun.
8:00 PM
NFM, Main Hall, reversed stage
Marta Warelis & Frank Rosaly – Musical Meditation - premiere
 
23.11
Thu.
7:00 PM
NFM, Red Hall
Jakob Bro with Palle Mikkelborg and Marilyn Mazur
 
25.11
Sat.
7:00 PM
NFM, Main Hall, reversed stage
Charles Lloyd's 85th birthday
20th Jazztopad Festival Finale
26.11
Sun.
7:00 PM
NFM, Main Hall