"A stalwart of Polish contemporary jazz, the name of reedist and composer Marek Pospieszalski has popped up on many of the scene’s most stimulating records in the past decade.” – Antonio Poscic, The Quietus

Marek Pospieszalski Octet is a line-up that masterfully combines contemporary composition with improvisation. The band led by Pospieszalski is made up of some of the hottest names on the local jazz music scene – suffice it to mention respected and multi-award-winning instrumentalists such as Tarwid, Mucha, Dąbrowski, and Chęcki. Together, they not only implement the bold ideas of the leader, but also radically refresh the formula of a large ensemble.

Since the premiere of their phonographic debut, the octet has been hailed as the flagship Polish band, which was confirmed in the rankings summarizing 2022, led by the music critics' survey in the Jazz Forum magazine, in which the double album "Polish Composers of the 20th Century" was awarded the title of Record of the Year, and Marek Pospieszalski won in the most prestigious category of Musician of the Year.

The premiere of the first album also had an international significance, not only because of the great reception of the music by the foreign press, but also because the recording was released in the catalogue of the prestigious Portuguese label Clean Feed Records, which is one of the most important publishers of contemporary jazz music on the Old Continent.

Both the album "Polish Composers..." and the second disc "No Other End of the World Will There Be" constitute an unprecedented project in its scope, in which the work of composers of the last century serves as a starting point for a new sonic journey for improvisers with a jazz background. As a result, fragments of the DNA code of Polish philharmonic music are combined here with jazz, avant-garde, electronics, trance and experiment.

The ensemble presented this repertoire at the largest festivals in the country, but also performed outside Poland. The culmination of the tribute to the Polish school of composition was a concert at the Auksodrone festival, where the octet, accompanied by the AUKSO chamber orchestra, presented new arrangements prepared especially for this occasion by Marek Pospieszalski.

After such spectacular successes, the band did not slow down. At the end of 2024, the group's third album was released by the Instant Classic label (including Raphael Rogiński, Wacław Zimpel, Lotto), in which the American saxophonist Zoh Amba joined the galaxy of Polish improvisers. In the leader's new compositions, you can hear echoes of alternative rock, references to minimalist electronic music and modular synthesizers, but the focus remains on collective improvisation. The album was chosen as the best Polish jazz album of 2024 in the critics' vote "Jazz TOP 2024" by Jazz Forum magazine and won the recognition of music journalists around the world.

Marek Pospieszalski's chamber initiatives – both solo ("Joyous"), in a duet ("Malediwy") and in a quartet (Pospieszalski/ Stemeseder/ Mucha/ Andrzejewski) – have consistently achieved significant successes, but it is the octet that is the jewel in the crown of the bands led by the saxophonist.

"(…) Few Polish groups can match the octet’s range and rigor, and Pospieszalski’s octet have clearly bought in to his thinking, committing themselves fully to a music that privileges an ensemble approach that honors the ideas embedded with these compositions rather than merely using it as a device to provoke spirited improvisation. It’s another strong reason to pay attention to Pospieszalski.” – Peter Margasak, We Jazz Magazine

"Pospieszalski's band avoids flirting with the audience. Their music reminds us that artistic value is not synonymous with pleasing and seeking attention. It is also a clear countercultural gesture to organize such an all-star team not to gain applause, but to consistently propose a repertoire that is difficult and requires deep commitment and trust from the listener.” – Bartosz Nowicki, Dwutygodnik

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