Lars Danielsson & Leszek Mozdzer
Biography Lars Danielsson & Leszek Mozdzer
Lars Danielsson
Swedish bassist, cellist, composer and arranger Lars Danielsson is renowned and admired throughout the International jazz world for his lyrical playing and strong groove.
Lars Danielsson, born in 1958, is a musician with particularly broad interests. At the conservatory in Gothenburg he studied initially classical cello, before changing to bass and to jazz. As bassist he has a uniquely rounded sound, which is as lyrical as powerful and brings a breathtaking virtuosity of a unique performer.
The "Lars Danielsson Quartet" with former Miles Davis saxophonist David Liebman, pianist Bobo Stenson and legendary ECM drummer Jon Christensen has received a lot of recognition and numerous awards during the 18 years of its existence. Danielsson has released ten solo-albums since 1980 with his quartet and guests such as Alex Acuña and John Abercrombie. The Quartet has been a testing ground for Danielsson’s work as a composer and arranger, which has extended over the last years to include both Symphony Orchestra and Big Band music. He has worked with Denmark’s Radio Concert Orchestra as well as the JazzBaltica Ensemble as a composer, arranger and producer.
Lars Danielsson has worked with: Randy and Michael Brecker, John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette, Mike Stern, Billy Hart, Charles Lloyd, Terri Lyne Carrington and Dave Kikoski. Lars Danielsson has also been a member of the "Trilok Gurtu Group".
As a producer, Lars Danielsson has been responsible for productions with Cæcilie Norby, Jonas Johansen, the Danish Radio Concert Orchestra and Viktoria Tolstoy.
Danielsson showed the many sides of his ability not least as "Artist in Residence" at the "Strings Of Fire" Festival at the Leipzig Gewandhaus and at the JazzBaltica Festival in 2004. In the same year he was invited to play with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra in Vilnius where he made two concerts as a soloist with his own music.
In 2007, he received a commission for a piece with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra featuring himself as a soloist together with Leszek Możdżer. He has received also a commission from the NDR Big Band and Wolfgang Haffner to write a piece for the JazzBaltica Festival 2007, as well as being booked for a project with the Symphony Orchestra in St. Petersburg with Vytas Sondeckis and Bugge Wesseltoft.
The 2008 release of Pasodoble (ACT 9458-2) in Poland was followed by a sales of more than 10.000 CDs and a subsequent Platinum Record Award. In April 2008 Danielsson attended the World Bass Convention in Wrocław, Poland, where he performed with a symphony orchestra and gave workshops. At the 2008 Swedish Jazz Celebration he enthralled the public with a solo concert. In this same year he was a member of the star-studded ensemble on the Vince Mandoza CD Blauklang (ACT 9465-2). The project was performed at the Berlin Jazz Festival, and is nominated for a Grammy in the USA.
Leszek Mozdzer
An outstanding pianist, composer and arranger, Możdżer is widely considered to be the greatest revelation in Polish jazz of the last decade. Born in 1971, he has been playing the piano since the age of five. He completed every stage of the formal education until graduating from the Gdańsk Academy of Music (named after Stanisław Moniuszko) in 1996. He became interested in jazz relatively late - in the last grade of school - when he was 18. He was introduced into jazz in the band of Emil Kowalski, a clarinet player, but his real launchpad into the jazz world was at the first rehearsal with a band called Miłość (Love) back in 1991. One year later, he received an individual award at the International Jazz Competition Jazz Juniors '92 held in Kraków. Since then the young pianist has collected numerous music awards, including:
• Krzysztof Komeda prize awarded in 1992 by the Foundation of Polish Culture
• 1st prize at the International Jazz Improvisation Competition in Katowice in 1994
• Mateusz Święcicki Prize awarded by Channel 3 of Polish National Radio
• Grand Prix Melomani – the Artist of the Year 1997 awarded by the Łódź Music Lovers’ Society
• Fryderyk 1998 – the Jazz Musician of the Year 1998
• Prize of the Mayor of the City of Gdańsk for outstanding artistic achievement
• In the poll organised among Jazz Forum readers Możdżer was voted Most Promising Musician of the year 1993 and 1994, Best Jazz Pianist for seven consecutive years – from 1993 to 1999 – as well as the Musician of the Year 1995 and 1996.
• Grand Prize of the Polish Culture Foundation 2006 – for outstanding performances promoting Polish Culture, prize shared with Jerzy Jarocki
Możdżer was the leader of Poland's most popular jazz band - Miłość. He was also a member of the Zbigniew Namysłowski Quartet. Możdżer has frequently recorded film music with Zbigniew Preisner. Leszek also regularly works with Jan Kaczmarek, polish composer working in LA, while recording film music scores (for 20th Century Fox and Mira Max). He has been invited to perform jointly with the celebrities of Polish jazz, such as Tomasz Stańko, Janusz Muniak, Michał Urbaniak and Piotr Wojtasik; and has also worked with acclaimed international musicians, including Arthur Blythe, Buster Williams, Billy Harper, Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny and Archie Shepp.
To date, Możdżer has recorded over 60 albums, including eight released under his own name:
• "Chopin - impressions " in 1994
• "Talk to Jesus " in 1996 (considered to be the Album of the Year 1996 according to a survey by Jazz Forum)
• "Facing the Wind " in 1996 in a duo with an American double bassist, David Friesen
• "Live in Sofia " in 1997 with Adam Pierończyk (voted the Album of the Year 1998 by the readers of Jazz Forum) • "Chopin Demain-Impressions " in 1999
• "Live in Ukraine 2003"
• "Możdżer, Danielsson, Fresco – The Time", 2005 (Double Platinium Award in two months after album’s premiere)
• " Możdżer, Danielsson, Fresco – Between Us And The Light", 2006 (Double Platinium Award in two weeks after albums premiere)
Improvisations on the themes by Fryderyk Chopin have further strengthened his position and ranked him among the most outstanding individualities and virtuosos of the European jazz.
His theatrical projects are also remarkable:
• "Hair - love, rock musical" - Musical Theatre in Gdynia
• "Tango with Lady M." - Polish Theatre of Dance in Poznań
• "4.48 Psyhosis" Sarah Kane, directed by Grzegorz Jarzyna, Duesseldorfer Schauspielhaus
• "Rewizor" M. Gogol, directed Andrzej Domalik, Teatr Dramatyczny, Warsaw, 09/2002
• "Mandarynki i Pomarańcze" Julian Tuwim, directed Wojciech Kościelniak, Teatr Muzyczny, Wrocław, 03/2003
Możdżer also created the music for the first in the world trans-opera based on Wiliam Shakespeare : "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The premiere was held in Musical Theatre in Gdynia in October 2001.
