Stories From The Eastern West

Marcin Masecki

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Episode notes

Marcin Masecki considers that he has two parents, jazz and classical music. As a pianist, he is steeped in the tradition of learning piano as a young child with all the purity and precision that comes with that. In this interview, you get the sense of how that triggered Marcin’s disruptive streak, and how that has been central to his approach to music. There is reverence and intellectual rebellion. Like many accomplished musicians, there is music in his family. Marcin has spoken of his grandmother teaching him piano exercises, and it was on her vintage Steinway that he recorded his album, Die Kunst der Fuge: Bach/Masecki, with a dictaphone. Yes, with a dictaphone. In fact, this is a key point, because Marcin’s appreciation of the imperfect, the broken, and the cult of the Lo-Fi is what brings his soulfulness and natural feel for music to the fore. Such qualities can set musicians apart. Marcin has worked in many contexts, and there's a clear sense from his career, that it's important for him to be free to change his setup. He has recorded solo in a duo and sextet, in bands of nine and 10, as well as big bands. He's released classical jazz and alternative pop music, and even an album of Polish Carols sung in Arabic. In this interview, he focuses on his album of Polonaises. Using a 10-piece band, Marcin hoped to integrate this historical national dance of Poland with jazz and a bit of attitude, once again, bringing forward his appreciation of the defective and the unsettling. There is a picture of the complex journey this musician is on, one in which he continually challenges himself again and again. It's a fascinating insight into this artist.

Music from the episode

Deuxième Grand Polonaise from Marcin Masecki’s album ‘Polonezy’