Piotr Wojtasik

He was born on 10 June 1964 in Wrocław. Trumpet virtuoso, excellent improviser and composer, for over 30 years has been speaking his own, unique, musical language.

He has recorded and performed in most European countries and in Morocco, Israel, Canada, the United States, Japan and India. In the 1980s and 1990s he represented the modern bop trend, which has now taken a more individual form, based partly on modal jazz with small elements of free and ethnic music.

He regularly collaborates with such musicians as John Betsch, Joris Teepe, Viktor Tóth, Steven McCraven, Nicolas Simion, Michał Barański, Michał Miśkiewicz, and Michał Tokaj. For years he has been invited to collaborate with the legendary saxophonist Billy Harper. He has taken part in numerous special projects with world jazz giants such as Kenny Garrett, Joe Lovano or Archie Shepp. At the same time, he performed as a sideman in other bands, which included musicians such as Victor Lewis, George Cables, Kirk Lightsey or Joe LaBarbera.

He is one of the few Polish musicians who are periodically invited to international projects such as: Michel Donato Quintet or European Jazz Ensemble. He has participated as a guest musician in the recording of over a dozen albums. To his credit, he has 12 original albums, which have won high acclaim among critics and music lovers. The albums “Circle” and “Hope” received the prestigious Fryderyk award of the Polish music industry. Others, in majority, were nominated for it. Wojtasik himself received two Fryderyks in 2008 in the Jazz Musician of the Year category and as the author of the Best Jazz Album of the Year, for the album “Circle”. He has repeatedly won the Jazz Top ranking of Jazz Forum magazine.

photo: Katarzyna Stańczyk