Zbigniew Chojnacki - Jazz Juniors Competition 2024

Zbigniew Chojnacki – accordionist, improviser, composer. A graduate of the H. Majewski Post-Secondary Jazz School in Warsaw and the F. Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, where he studied under Krzysztof Herdzin. In October 2013, he participated in masterclasses in Villecroze (France) with Richard Galliano. During 2022/2023, he was part of the international European SHAPE platform, which brings together artists from fields such as sound art, electronic music, contemporary music, and improvisation.
Armed with his accordion and a wealth of live electronics, he is always ready to take musical risks without a safety net. His solo improvisations move fluidly between song, ambient, noise, drone, jazz, electronic music, and broadly defined chamber music. Each encounter between the artist, the audience, the space, and the instrument is entirely unique—different from all that came before and all that will follow. At times relaxed, at others rushing forward, he is constantly on a journey toward new melodic connections.
He has performed at numerous festivals, including: A L’Arme Festival in Berlin, Sharpe Festival in Bratislava, LEM Festival in Barcelona, Ring Ring Festival in Belgrade, WOS Festival in Santiago de Compostela, Oct Loft Jazz Festival in Shenzhen, Musikprotokoll Festival in Graz, Avant Art Festival in Warsaw, WORM in Rotterdam, Skanu Mezs in Riga, La Nature Festival in Vielsalm (Belgium), Oslo Jazz Festival, and Sonic Territories Festival in Vienna.
He has collaborated with artists such as Mats Gustafsson, Colin Stetson, Ramon Prats, Yuhan Su, John Derek Bishop, Jan Emil Młynarski, Jacek Kochan, MS Silk, Michał Urbaniak, Łukasz Czekała, Albert Stensen, Anna Gadt, Krzysztof Gradziuk, and Adam Pierończyk.

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Recorded at the Jazz Juniors Competition 2024 / Cricoteka, Kraków

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