Alec Baczkowski/guillaume Viltard/mark Sanders + Veryan Westons at EFG London Jazz Festival at Iklectik

Every now and then you stumble across a truly exceptional musician right at the beginning of their career and you just know that someday you will be able to say 'oh yes, I saw him when he started out'. 24 year old Alek Baczkowski, born in Chicago and now living in Poland, had never touched a saxophone until 6 years ago. Alek turned his back on college jazz training when he was told that Ornette Coleman was an example of how not to play. Instead he continued to hone his technique, studying privately with Leszek Nowotarski and Ryszard Krawczu in Krakow. He plays lead sax in the Polish group 'Tenpasten'. One of his favourite musicians is the world renowned British drummer and improvising percussionist, Mark Sanders, so it is appropriate that Alek makes his London debut in a trio that includes Mark alongside bassist Guillaume Viltard. Viltard, an intensely physical double-bassist, was one of cafe OTO's first associate artists - he has played and performed with musicians as d...

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Every now and then you stumble across a truly exceptional musician right at the beginning of their career and you just know that someday you will be able to say 'oh yes, I saw him when he started out'. 24 year old Alek Baczkowski, born in Chicago and now living in Poland, had never touched a saxophone until 6 years ago. Alek turned his back on college jazz training when he was told that Ornette Coleman was an example of how not to play. Instead he continued to hone his technique, studying privately with Leszek Nowotarski and Ryszard Krawczu in Krakow. He plays lead sax in the Polish group 'Tenpasten'. One of his favourite musicians is the world renowned British drummer and improvising percussionist, Mark Sanders, so it is appropriate that Alek makes his London debut in a trio that includes Mark alongside bassist Guillaume Viltard. Viltard, an intensely physical double-bassist, was one of cafe OTO's first associate artists - he has played and performed with musicians as d
iverse as Otomo Yoshihide and Kan Mikami, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Ken Vandermark and Evan Parker. Mark Sanders is a musician of extraordinary sensitivity. Every touch is imbued with delicacy, musicality and inventiveness. He has performed in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Morrocco, South Africa, Australia, Mozambique and Turkey, playing at many major festivals including Nickelsdorf, Riga, Ulrichsburg, Glastonbury, Womad, Vancouver, Isle of Wight, Roskilde, Berlin Jazz days, FMP, Mulhouse, Luz, Minniapolis, Banlieue Bleues, Son D`hiver and Hurta Cordel. Sanders has released more than 120 cd's.

Veryan Weston will play the solo piano work, 'Music in Black & White'. The title relates to the black & white keys of the piano, using the keys to generate sound where space, counterpoint and rhythm connects with line, illusion and geometry. Weston has prepared for many months, honing his physical and mental co-ordination to give a masterclass in jazz inflected contemporary music.

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