"Mikołaj Trzaska
Born on 07.04.1966, Gdańsk (Poland)
Composer, saxophonist, bass clarinetist.

In 1989 he starts studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, Painting Institute in Gdańsk in Włodzimierz Łajming's atelier. At the same time fascinated by jazz from the 60-ties, especially by music of John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman he starts to learn by himself how to play alto saxophone.

Soon afterwards he joins the group of the bassist Tymon Tymański "Sni Sredstwom Za Uklanianie". This group was a germ of the biggest ferment in Polish jazz of the 80-ties and the 90-ties - Miłość.

In 1991 he leaves the Academy and devotes himself to music.

1992-2001 cofounder and saxophonist of Miłość, one of the main pillars of so called yass scene. The group cooperated with among others Lester Bowie and Tomasz Stańko. They recorded five albums together.

In 1993 he tries his hand at composing and as a leader, he founds Łoskot which made its debut on the first Gdynia Summer Jazz Days Festival.

In April 1994 together with Ryszard Tymański they found duet Masło, known of pure nonsense sense of humour. They performed their favourite rock and jazz standards in various, often strange versions.
In October 1994 the first common tour of Miłość and Lester Bowie crowned with recording of the album "Not Two".

In 1995 he records his first solo album ?Cześć, Cześć, Cześć? for Gowi Records publishing house. In the album he?s accompanied by Jowita Cieślikiewicz, Tomasz Hesse and Jacek Olter.

In 1996 Mikołaj starts a yearlong cooperation with Świetliki ? a group from Cracow, recording an album "Cacy, cacy Flaeishmaschine" with them. Later he decides to cooperate with Marcin Świetlicki in a project which combines poetry with improvisation on saxophone and bass clarinet. In 2000 they record the album "Cierpienie i Wypoczynek".

In July 1997 there was a second tour of Miłość with Lester Bowie resulting in recording of the album "Talkin' about life and death" in the studio of Radio Gdańsk.

In 1998 quartet NRD that is Jerzy Mazzol, Ryszard Tymański and Jacek Olter start their few months? activity. The lineup played a few concerts and recorded the album "Sport i Religia".

In 1999 project The Users together with Robert Brylewski, Marcin Świetlicki, Ryszard Tymański, Milo Kurtis. and Jacek Olter. Album "Nie Idź Do Pracy" is recorded.

In 2000 together with his wife Ola Trzaska he founded a publishing house Kilogram Records, which publishes Mikołaj?s albums and impro-free jazz music.

In 2001 he starts cooperation with Andrzej Stasiuk, writer and publicist, six years later they publish an album entitled "Kantry".

2001- 2004 he cooperated with an instrumental ? composing duet - Marcin and Bartłomiej Oleś. Their first album "Mikro Muzik" is thought to be a very important event in contemporary Polish jazz. Next albums are "La sketch up" and Trzaska's album with participation of Oleś brothers ? "Danziger Strassenmusik" ? recorded on the streets of Gdańsk. They also recorded an album "Suite For Trio + 4", together with a French trumpeter Jean Luc Cappozzo.

In 2003 when he was in Ukraine he created a music ? literary project with an outstanding Ukrainian writer and poet Yuri Andrukhowych. The result of their cooperation is the album "Andruchoid".
In Autumn 2003 he meets a French guitarist Noël Akchoté with whom he plays concerts and spends one day in the Warsaw Music Academy studio.

In May 2003 on the Festival ?Blooms Days? in Dublin he plays with Austrian cellist and composer Clementine Gasser, it is the beginning of a long cooperation in duet and other lineups.

In September 2003 during his stay in Scandinavia Trzaska starts a permanent cooperation with musicians who form Peter Brötzmann's rytmical section - bassist Peter Friis Nielsen and drummer Peeter Uuskyla. They record albums (2004) "Unforgiven north" and (2006) "Orangeada".

In Spring 2004 on the occasion of Polish Year in Germany Trzaska starts cooperation with musicians from Germany: drummer and electronic engineer Paul Wirkus and double bassist Johannes Firsch. They go on two concert tours in Germany.

In April 2005 Peter Brotzmann joins the trio Trzaska/Friis/Uuskyla. In this way North Quartet is founded and the album "Malamuth" is recorded.
Also in 2005 in trio with Danish musicians Peter Friis Nielsen and Peter Ole Jorgensen. In April 2007 in Copenhagen, the premiere of their common album "Volumen" published by a Danish publishing house Ninth World Music took place. The same year he cooperates with Paul Wirkus recording an album inspired by Andrzej Stasiuk's prose "Nacht".

In May 2006 project Shofar with participation of guitarist and composer Raphael Rogiński and drummer Macio Moretti is started. The idea of the project is to find a common denominator for traditional Jewish music and contemporary creative jazz. In 2007 their album "Shofar" is published.

In Autumn 2006 he starts cooperation with Joe McPhee and Jay Rosen - he records the album "Intimate conversations" with them. In 2007 he plays a common concert tour with Trio X, and shortly after that they record material for a common album under a working title "Magic".

In October 2007 on the occasion of Gunter Grass' 80th birthday he forms an orchestra consisting of twelve people: Johannes Bauer, Wacław Zimpel, Przemek Dyakowski, Tomasz Ziętek, Kristofer Winckel, Marcin Dymiter, Adam Witkowski, Olo Walicki, Kuba Staruszkiewicz, Michał Goss, Paweł Nowicki - Mikołaj Trzaska Mottlau River Band, the orchestra performs a suite devoted to the writer in St John?s church in Gdansk.

In November 2007 he is invited to join an international project of Ken Vandermark "Resonanse", where he cooperates with Tim Daisy, Steve Swelle, Magnus Broo, Yuriy Yaremchuk, Marek Tokar, Dave Rempis, Michael Zerang and Per-Ake Holmlander.

In December 2007 he founds a quartet with American pianist Noah Rosen, Danish drummer Peter Ole Jorgensen and Belgian double bassist Peter Jacquemyn ? they record an album as Trzaska/Rosen Quartet and go on a concert tour in Poland and Ukraine.
In January 2008 he records an album in trio with Peter Brotzmann and Johannes Bauer.

In Spring 2008 drummer from Chicago Tentet - Michael Zerang joins the duet with Clementine Gasser. They go on a concert tour in Poland and record material for a common album with a magic title Nadir & Mahora.

In Spring 2008 he implements two musical projects in Vienna together with Clementine Gasser and Bernhard Loibner for Essl Museum and with Joachim Roedelius and Clementine Gasser ? Secret Love. On that occasion he is invited to take part in Vienna Improvise Orchestra conducted by saxophonist and violinist Michael Fisher.

In June 2008 Mikołaj forms a quartet consisting of bass clarinets called IRCHA and invites Wacław Zimpel, Paweł Szamburski and Michał Górczyński to the group. The group has its debut on the Jewish Culture Festival in Cracow.

In October 2008 trio Trzaska/Gasser/Zerang goes on an international tour with concerts in Austria, Germany and Poland. At the same time Trzaska meets an Australian double bassist Clayton Thomas with whom he plays concerts in Germany and Poland and records material for an album in club Dragon in Poznań.

At the end of October 2008 the artist goes on a concert tour in the USA: he plays a few concerts in New York with Joe McPhee, Dominik Duval and Jay Rosen among others in The Living Theater within the program RUCMA series. Then he plays in New Haven, CT in Firehouse, concert and recording the material for an album. In Philadelphia in International House Philadelphia within a series prized by the critics Ars Nova Workshop. It was a tour promoting the album "Intimate Conversation" published by Not Two record company.
The second part of the tour are Mikołaj Trzaska's performances in Chicago during Umbrella Music Festival "European Jazz Meets Chicago" called by the critics the most important jazz meeting in Chicago. On 5th November in Chicago Cultural Center Trzaska performed together with Chicago jazz-impro stars ? bassist Kent Kessler and Michael Zerang. The tour was concluded by a concert in The Hideout club in Chicago on 8th November together with guitarist Evan O'Reilly, bassist Christian Weber and drummer Tomas Fujiwara. Moreover he played with Tim Daisy, Elizabeth Harnik and Taylor Ho Bynum.

When he comes back from the USA Trzaska implements a project planned a long time ago called Warsong with Raphael Rogiński on the guitar and Tomek Sowiński on the drum.

In the middle of November 2008 there was a tour of Reed Trio founded by Ken Vandermark accompanied by clarinetist Wacław Zimpel ended with the recording of the material for a CD and LP album. A few days later a British drummer Mark Sanders invites Trzaska to his trio where Peter Friis Nielsen also performs."-Mikolaj Trzaska Website (http://www.trzaska.art.pl/page16.html)
8/26/2026

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"After taking up the bass, around 1987, John Edwards co-formed The Pointy Birds who went on to win awards for their music for The Cholmondeleys and Featherstonehaughs dance troupes. The group appeared at festivals in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Moers, Leverkusen, Copenhagen. Around 1990, Edwards played his first gigs with London improvisers such as Roger Turner, Lol Coxhill, Maggie Nicols, Phil Minton.

Between 1990 and 1995 Edwards was a member of three touring groups simultaneously: B-Shops For The Poor, The Honkies and GOD. During this period he also became an increasingly regular player on the London improvised music scene and performed his first solo gigs; he composed and performed music theatre with the bass and cello duo The Great Explorers, street-busked a lot and appeared at many more festivals in Germany, Estonia, France, Italy, Czech, etc.

Since 1995 John Edwards has become a "mainstay" of the London scene, playing with just about everybody, an activity that has seen him clocking up between 150 and 200 gigs a year. He has become regular player with Evan Parker, in many groupings, and with Tony Bevan, Veryan Weston, and Elton Dean, often in collaboration with Mark Sanders on percussion. He has become a more frequent player on the European (and festival) scene, appearing at Taktlos, Ulrichsburg, Nickelsdorf, Budapest, New Zealand and in the USA. He continues to work on solo performances."

-EFI (http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/medwards.html)
8/26/2026

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"Mark Sanders has played with many renowned musicians including Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Derek Bailey, Henry Grimes, Roswell Rudd, Peter Brotzmann, Barry Guy, Otomo Yoshihide, Jah Wobble, Sidsel Endresen , Charles Gayle, Peter Evans and William Parker. He works with John Edwards in a duo and with groups including Evan Parker, `Foils` with Frank Paul Schubert and Matthius Muller and groups with Veryan Weston, John Tilbury, Agusti Fernandez and Mathew Shipp. Mark works in a regular improvising duo with John Butcher and also performing John`s composition `Tarab Cuts` which has played festivals in Rio de Janiero, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Glasgow, Bristol and London. In a trio with cellist Okkyung Lee, John and Mark have played in Belgium, France, England and Scotland. He also has a longstanding duo with Sarah Gail Brand which has featured on the BBC`s `The Stuart Lee Show`and in the film `Taking the dog for a Walk`.

He has performed solo for a Christian Marclay exhibition at The White Cube Gallery in London, Evan Parker`s festival`Unwhitstable` in Wroclaw, Poland for `Solos Festival` The 100 Years Gallery London, an improvised music series in Derby and Cafe Oto in London. Working with Christian Marclay in his `Everyday` piece for film and live music, he has performed in Aldeburgh, Ruhr Trienalle, Vienna Bienalle, Holland festival and London`s QEH and has also collaborated with him playing for the film `Screenplay`in London and Lisbon. In situations using composition in one form or another Mark works in various projects including `13 Vices` with Brian Irvine/Jennifer Walshe, Alex Hawkins Ensemble featuring Peter Evans, Simon Fell Ensembe, groups with Hasse Poulsen and Luc Ex , Sarah Sarhandi`s `Both Universe`, Elaine Mitchener`s `Sweet Tooth` and has played in the groups of Shabaka Hutchings including`Sons of Kemet` Conceptual Artist Sam Belinfante collaborated with Mark in his piece `On the One Hand, and the Other` in two exhibitions at Camden Arts Centre, London For Conceptual artist Henrik Hakensen`s film `The End` he has performed as an improvising soloist with orchestras conductedd by Jessica Cottis, playing the music of John Coxon in Glasgow, Sydney and Monte Carlo As a guest with New York`s ICE Ensemble he has performed John Zorn`s `The Tempest` in London and at Huddersfield New Music Festival.

Mark also works in the groups of Paul Dunmall including Deep Whole Trio with Paul Rogers, in duo and `Frisque Concordance` with Georg Graewe , and the ensembles of Mikolaj Trzaska, Uwe Oberg and Peter Jaquemyn. 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."

-Mark Sanders Website (http://www.marksanders.me.uk/biography.html)
8/26/2026

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