Jacek Poremba
Dominik Wania
Poland
SEIFERT NIGHT: THE BEST OF POLISH JAZZ
Belgrade Youth Center, Main Hall
Dominik Wania - piano
Dominik Wania (1981) graduated in classical piano in Krakow and received a master's degree in jazz performance at the Boston New England Conservatory of Music. Almost immediately, the legendary trumpeter Tomasz Stańko hired him: in his band, Wania affirmed himself and established a friendship with his peer/alto-saxophonist Maciej Obara, moving on to record six Obara’s albums, including the last two with the ECM label – both declared releases of the year in a survey by the Polish magazine Jazz Forum.
As a leader, he made his discographic debut in 2013 with the album Ravel, presenting original arrangements of Ravel's Miroirs arranged for jazz trio, immediately winning two Fryderyks (the Polish equivalent of the Grammy), Jazz Album of the Year and Jazz Artist of the Year. However, he later focused on the work of a sideman: he toured notable world jazz destinations with Maciej Obara (they performed at the Belgrade Jazz Festival 2019), played with big names in jazz (Marcus Miller, Lee Konitz, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Marilyn Mazur, Dave Liebman... .), and recorded over fifty albums, with a significant collaboration with the renowned film composer Zbigniew Preisner.
Impressed by Wania's talent, Manfred Eicher signed him on the spot. They decided on a solo album, Wania walked into the studio without compositions or even drafts but was fully prepared to continue on the path previously taken by Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Paul Bley, Ketil Bjørnstad and Vijay Iyer. The release of Lonely Shadows (2020) is also the first ever solo album of a Polish musician with the ECM label, demonstrating the full power of Wania's classical refinement and jazz imagination.
