Makowicz, Adam, 1940-

...THE ADAM MAKOWICZ TRIO, "MY FAVORITE THINGS"
THE MUSIC OF RICHARD RODGERS;
Adam Makowicz - piano, George Mraz - bass, Alan Dawson - drums
Concord Jazz, Inc. CCD 4631 U.S.A. Recorded in New York, September 7-8, 1993.
Amazon.com

ADAM MAKOWICZ & GEORGE MRAZ
Concord Duo Series vol.5
Adam Makowicz - piano, G. Mraz - bass,
Concord Jazz, Inc. CCD-4597 Berkeley, CA. May 22, 1993.
Amazon.com

ADAM MAKOWICZ TRIO, THE MUSIC OF JEROME KERN
Adam Makowicz - piano and arrangements, G.Mraz - bass, Alan Dawson - drums,
Concord Jazz, Inc. CCD-4575, U.S.A., September 1993.
Amazon.com

MAKOWICZ PLAYS GERSHWIN WITH THE MOSCOW SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Adam Makowicz - piano, George Mraz - bass, Krzesimir Debski - arranger and conductor;
released on CD
PARTUS RECORDS, Warsaw, Poland, July 1993.
Amazon.com

ADAM MAKOWICZ AT MAYBECK
Adam Makowicz piano solo
Maybeck Recital Hall Series vol. 24,
Concord Jazz, Inc. CCD-4541, U.S.A., 1993.
Amazon.com

ADAM MAKOWICZ PLAYS IRVING BERLIN
Adam Makowicz piano solo
released on CD
VWC Records, No VWCD 4102, U.S.A., 1992.
Amazon.com
SWISS ENCOUNTER - JAMES MORRISON & ADAM MAKOWICZ AT THE MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL
Adam Makowicz - piano, J. Morrison - trumpet, trombone, flugelhorn, Buster Williams - bass, Al Foster - drums, playing compositions of American composers, J. Morrison's and AM's;
released on LP,CD, and cassettes.
East-West Records Inc., distributed by Atlantic Recording Corporation, 91243-1,2,3, U.S.A., 1989.
Amazon.com

ADAM MAKOWICZ TRIO - INTERFACE
Adam Makowicz - piano, Palle Danielson - bass, Jon Christensen - drums, in all AM compositions;
released on LP,CD and cassettes.
Sonet Records LTD, Sweden - England, Sonet SNET-963, U.S.A. and Europe, 1987.
Amazon.com
ADAM MAKOWICZ - NAUGHTY BABY, honoring GEORGE GERSHWIN
Adam Makowicz - piano and arrangements, Dave Holland and Charlie Haden - bass, Al Foster - drums; all compositions by G. Gershwin;
released on LP,CD and cassettes.
RCA-Novus, 3022-1,2,3, U.S.A., 1987.
Amazon.com
ADAM MAKOWICZ - MOONRAY
Adam Makowicz - piano and arrangements, Jamil Nasser - bass, Frank Gant - drums, Deborah Henson Conant - harp, Ed Saindon - vibraphone; compositions of American composers and one by AM on CD;
released on LP,CD and cassettes.
RCA-Novus, 3003-1,2,3, U.S.A., 1986.
Amazon.com

THE NAME IS MAKOWICZ
featuring Phil Woods on Saxophone, Adam Makowicz - piano, Mark Johnson - bass, Bill Goodwin - drums, Gene Estes - percussions; all but one compositions by AM
; recorded live direct to disc and released on LP, CD & cassettes.
Sheffield Lab Inc., Lab 21, U.S.A., 1983.
Amazon.com

CLASSICAL JAZZ DUETS - ADAM MAKOWICZ AND GEORGE MRAZ
Adam Makowicz - piano, G. Mraz - bass, playing compositions of American composers;
recorded live at the "Bechet's", a New York jazz club.
Stash Records Inc., ST-216, U.S.A., 1983.

DUKE ELLINGTON - THREE BLACK KINGS
Adam Makowicz played piano concerto "NEW WORLD A-COMING" with the joint orchestras of the Warsaw Philharmonic and the Duke Ellington Orchestra; recorded live in Warsaw in October 1977.
An album including this concerto was produced without any credit given to AM or to the conductor of that concerto, Mr. Wojciech Rajski by MF Production Inc. PDL Corp., and released as a World Premiere Recording by Frog Box Inc. in Washington D.C., in 1980.
Amazon.com

ADAM MAKOWICZ - FROM MY WINDOW
Adam Makowicz - piano-solo in his own originals and compositions of other composers,
Choice Records, Inc. CRS 1028, U.S.A., 1981.
Amazon.com

ADAM MAKOWICZ - ADAM
Adam Makowicz - piano-solo in his own tunes and songs of other composers,
CBS Columbia JC 35320 U.S.A., 1977.
Amazon.com

ADAM MAKOWICZ - ZIMNI KVETY
Adam Makowicz - acoustic piano - solo in his own compositions only,
Supraphon 115 1987 H, Czechoslovakia 1977.
Amazon.com

REMEMBERING DUKE’S WORLD - Adam Makowicz with the Duke Ellington Orchestra (1977)
Amazon.com

TOMASZ STANKO AND ADAM MAKOWICZ UNIT
Adam Makowicz - el. piano, Fender bass and composer,
JG-Records JG 034, West Germany, 1975.

LIVE EMBERS
Adam Makowicz - acoustic piano - solo in his own originals and compositions of other composers,
Polish Jazz, vol. 43, Muza SX 1218, Poland.
Amazon.com
ALL STARS AFTER HOURS
recorded live at the Congress Hall in Warsaw, October 1973.
Adam Makowicz - acoustic piano,
Polish Jazz vol. 37, Muza SXL 1033, Poland.
Amazon.com
ADAM MAKOWICZ UNIT
Adam Makowicz - el. Fender piano, Fender bass, acoustic piano, in his own originals and compositions of others composers; solo and accompanied by Czeslaw Bartkowski
Polish Jazz, vol. 35, Muza SXL 0963, Poland.
Amazon.com

NEWBORN LIGHT - URSZULA DUDZIAK AND ADAM MAKOWICZ DUO
Adam Makowicz as a composer, soloist and accompanist,
Cameo 101 ST, Switzerland 1973, reissued by CBS Columbia Inc. KC 32902, U.S.A. 1974.
Amazon.com
NOVI IN WONDERLAND
Adam Makowicz as a leader of his trio with Novi Singers
Saba SB 15169 ST, West Germany.
Amazon.com
NEW FACES IN POLISH JAZZ
Adam Makowicz as piano-solo and pianist with Michal Urbaniak Group,
Polish Jazz, vol. 20, Muza SXL 0579, Poland.
Amazon.com

JAZZ JAMBOREE 1969
Adam Makowicz as a leader of his trio, with Lucky Thompson,
Muza XL 0563, Poland.
Amazon.com

4th INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL - PRAHA 1967
Adam Makowicz - piano with The Novi Quartet,
Supraphon SUA 15987, Czechoslovakia.
Amazon.com

JAZZ JAMBOREE 1967, vol.1
Adam Makowicz - piano with Big Bill Ramsey,
Muza XL 0443, Poland.
Amazon.com

15th INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR JAZZ FESTIVAL
Adam Makowicz with his trio and with Novi Singers,
Exlibris GC, Zurich, Switzerland 1965.

Adam Makowicz - jazz legend, master of improvisation, piano virtuoso, humanitarian.

European "Jazz Forum" magazine voted Adam a "Number One Jazz Pianist" six years in the row. Decorated with the Officer's Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland and many other important and respected acknowledgements, Adam recorded several dozens of albums and performed in the world's best concert venues.
Adam Makowicz was born in 1940 to Polish parents in Czech Silesia. From the age of six he was raised in Poland. "I studied classical music at the Chopin Conservatory of Music in Krakow, but dropped out because of my involvement in jazz," he recalled. "In the mid-fifties I discovered Willis Conover's broadcast of the "Music USA Jazz Hour" which was emitted every night by the Voice of America. It changed my life forever. I chose a new life of freedom and improvisation- considered by authorities to be 'decadent'- over the career of a classical pianist my parents and teachers envisioned for me." As a result, Adam was forced to leave his home and school, and spent two years of homeless, hand-to-mouth living until he discovered a small jazz club hidden in a cellar where he could play and sleep in exchange for doing chores.
After many years of hardship, Adam launched his professional career in 1964. A series of acclaimed performances and recordings enhanced his reputation in both Europe and the United States. In 1977 the legendary record producer John Hammond invited Adam to New York City for a 10-weeks engagement and to record for CBS Columbia a solo album called "Adam". By that time Adam had already performed worldwide and recorded 26 albums."John Hammond played a very significant role in my life, launching my career in the United States," Adam remembers. "He gave me important public exposure by arranging a six-week engagement at the Cookery in Greenwich Village and an appearance at Carnegie Hall with Earl Hines, George Shearing, and Teddy Wilson during a Newport Jazz Festival tribute to Errol Garner, who had died six months earlier."Imagine playing for the first time with these giants of jazz in the most famous concert hall in the world — I was scared to death! But I could not disappoint John, and I received a standing ovation from more than 2,000 people."
In 1978 Adam has settled in New York City and Manhattan, to this day, is a very special place he calls Home. When in December 1981 Polish communist regime imposed martial law to crush the Solidarity Movement, Adam, together with other Polish artists living in the US at the time, took part in the historically important TV show "Let Poland be Poland". This event was initiated by the former President Ronald Reagan and was widely broadcasted all over the world. As a result, he was banned from Poland until it gained its freedom in 1989. Adam, who became an American citizen in 1986, has performed worldwide; with groups, orchestras and solo, sharing stages with many jazz greats. Aside from American songbook standards Makowicz often includes the classical music in his repertoire. Especially the music of Frederic Chopin, whom, as Adam says, he "absorbed" in his youth and whose music he interprets in his own unique jazz fashion. Several CD's with jazz interpretations of Chopin's compositions are the only such releases in the United States.
Writing in the Toronto Star, Geoff Chapman summarized Adam's considerable musical appeal: "A rare artist who grips and holds attention, Makowicz handles the classics of the American songbook with an aplomb equal to the way he deals with the devastatingly complex structures of his own compositions. A gifted improviser with splendid technical prowess, the pianist can also offer warmth and affection in melodic lines, the balance of fine taste, pungent swing and a jubilant approach inevitably generating audience cheer."
Each Fall for past several years, in the Silesian city of Ustron (Poland), Adam has performed sold out recitals with the sole purpose of rising funds destined to help in financing the medical therapies and professional assistance to children and young adults afflicted with brain injuries.
Recently Adam Makowicz joined the illustrious group of 400 most influential polish emigrants in the 400 years of the history of the USA.
On October 12th, 2009 in Warsaw, Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage honoured Adam's contribution to the Arts with the Golden Medal "Gloria Artis" - a very distinguished and highest possible recognition an artist can receive

Adam Makowicz (born Adam Matyszkowicz; August 18, 1940) is a Polish pianist and composer living in Toronto.[1] He performs jazz and classical piano pieces, as well as his own compositions.

Adam Makowicz was born into a family of ethnic Poles in Hnojník (now in the Czech Republic), in an area annexed by Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II (see also: Polish minority in Czechoslovakia).[2][3] After the war, he was raised in Poland. He studied classical music at the Chopin Conservatory of Music in Kraków. Overcoming cultural restrictions under communism, he developed a passion for modern jazz. At the time, political freedom and improvisation were disapproved of by the pro-Soviet authorities. Nonetheless, he embarked on a new professional life by switching from the career of a classical pianist to that of a touring jazz pianist. After years of hardship, Makowicz got a regular gig at a small jazz club in a cellar of a house in Kraków. By the mid-1970s, Makowicz established himself as one of the leading pianists in Europe. He was named the "Best jazz pianist" by the readers of Jazz Forum magazine, and was awarded a gold medal for his contribution to the arts.


Adam Makowicz at Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay CA, mid-1980s
In 1977 Makowicz made a 10-week concert tour of the United States, produced by John Hammond. At that time he recorded a solo album titled Adam on CBS. In 1978 he settled in New York. Makowicz was banned from Poland during the 1980s after the Polish regime imposed martial law to crush the Solidarity movement. At that time he took part in Ronald Reagan's initiative called "Let Poland Be Poland", joining many artists and public figures.

During the 2000s, he moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and continued his career as a concert pianist and recording artist. In the course of his career spanning 40 years, Makowicz performed with major symphony orchestras, such as the National Symphony Orchestra, at the Carnegie Hall, at the Kennedy Centre, and other major concert halls in Americas and in Europe. Eventually he recorded over 30 albums of jazz, popular, and classical music, with his own arrangements of pieces by Chopin, Gershwin, Berlin, Kern, Porter, Rogers, and other composers. Makowicz also wrote and recorded his own compositions for piano.[4][5]

Makowicz has been building bridges between cultures by his numerous concerts performance and recordings of cross-cultural and cross-style compositions. He performed and recorded music by Chopin and Gershwin with the Warsaw Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony in Washington, London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and other internationally recognized companies. In 1999, in commemoration of 150th anniversary of Chopin's death, Adam Makowicz played his piano tribute to Chopin at the French embassy in Washington. His interpretations of classical pieces by Chopin and Gershwin are marked by finesse, inventiveness, and extraordinary technical virtuosity.[6]