Acclaimed composer, saxophonist and clarinetist, Mikołaj Trzaska appears at Cafe OTO on 10th May for Trzaska Moving Movies, leading an international trio with Mark Sanders (drums) and Ollie Brice (double bass) playing songs from the soundtracks to the outstanding films of Wojciech Smarzowski including Rose, The Dark House, and Traffic Department. Trzaska is one of the most important figures in the Polish jazz scene in the broadest sense.

One of the creators of the revolutionary Polish form of jazz called 'Yass', he has been working with Wojciech Smarzowski for many years. His soundtracks have received exceptional recognition, both from fans and from music critics alike. Trzaska has also created music for a number of documentaries, including Iwona Bartólewska’s A Letter to My Son.


This event is part of the 12th Polish Film Festival: Kinoteka




MIKOLAJ TRZASKA / alto sax, bass clarinet

Mikolaj Trzaska is one of Poland's leading free jazz musicians. He has toured and recorded with his Clarinet Trio (with Ken Vandermark and Waclaw Zimpel), Peter Brotzmann, Joe McPhee and Lester Bowie, among many others. He is also a member of ken vandermark's Resonance Ensemble.

“Mikolaj's sound on alto is mesmerizing, even at his most lyrical there's the inner tension in the timbre, you could hide entire planets in there, even at his most expansive and screaming, there's something intimate and emotional to what he plays” - (Free) Jazz Alchemist

OLIE BRICE / double bass

Olie Brice plays double bass in a wide range of jazz and improv groups, as well as leading and composing for his own Quartet (with Mark Hanslip, Leon Michener and Jeff Williams) and The Carracks Project (with James Allsopp, Nick Malcolm, Alex Bonney and Mark Sanders). He has performed with Paul Dunmall, Ingrid Laubrock, Ken Vandermark and Louis Moholo-Moholo, among many others.

“Brice makes the entire body of his bass sing. He has the ability to deliver a fractal line that is as purposeful as any by the great jazz bassists, but to do so within an entirely abstract setting” – Brian Morton, Point of Departure

MARK SANDERS / drums

Mark Sanders has been acclaimed as “the most exciting, original and overwhelmingly powerful drummer alive” (Steve Reynolds, Jazz Corner) and his precise and propulsive drumming has graced projects with, to name but a few, Evan Parker, Jah Wobble, Broadcast, Agusti Fernandez, John Butcher, Roswell Rudd, and Otomo Yoshihde.

"ubiquitous, diverse and constantly creative, drummer Mark Sanders always outdoes himself, whether playing with restraint or erupting like a dynamo." Bruce L Gallenter, Downtown Music Gallery. NY

This concert has been made possible with the support of the Polish Cultural Institute