Rooted in a strong tradition and animated by incredible open-mindedness, Polish jazz comes into the spotlight between 9 and 11 October at Opus Jazz Club’s Polska Jazz festival. Organised jointly by BMC and the Polish Institute in Budapest, the concerts showcase the greats as well as the new generation of Polish jazz.

When the world thought that everything had been done with Komeda's work, impressed by the album Tribute to Tomasz Stańko, Piotr Schmidt was unexpectedly approached by Krzysztof Balkiewicz, President of the Association for the Care of Krzysztof Komeda's Legacy, who gave him six compositions by the Polish jazz ace discovered in the archive and previously unpublished. These compositions were to be included on the album Moja słodka europejska ojczyzna, but in the end they did not appear on it and were lost – until Piotr Schmidt took them up. The trumpeter arranged and released these findings in 2022 on the album Komeda Unknown 1967, a programme that he and his quintet will perform live on 9 October.

For many years, leading Polish jazz guitarist Marek Napiórkowski has proven himself as an all-around artist with an unique musical language of his own, which is difficult to put labels on: with each musical journey, he takes us into even more intriguing worlds, bound together with his signature sound. Taking to the stage on 10 October, his KonKubiNap trio is one of his longest performing project, composed of three outstanding instrumentalists of the Polish jazz scene: bassist Robert Kubiszyn, Napiórkowski’s long-time collaborator and co-producer of four of his albums, and multi-award-winner percussionist Cezary Konrad. Their concert will be a mix of energetic and spontaneous improvisation, expressive solo parts and also subtle, lyrical ballads. 

Hania Derej is a young composer, pianist, arranger and conductor, who creates music in a variety of styles, including illustrative, jazz, chamber, film or electronic music. The main idea behind her trio is to maintain fluidity, coherence and melodiousness with a jazz base. The band’s repertoire is a more delicate version of jazz with neo-classical, cinematic harmonies. Nevertheless, there are a lot of contrasting factors present, which create an impressionistic picture full of colours and hues. On 11 October, the trio will be joined by saxophonist Krzysztof Kuśmierek, enhancing Hania’s multicoloured compositions as special guest.

Tickets for the three concerts are available on the spot, online at bmc.jegy.hu, and at InterTicket Jegypont partners across Hungary.