Imaginary Room Adam Baldych & The Baltic Gang

• 1Village Underground04:49
• 2Mirrors05:16
• 3The Room of Imagination07:05
• 4Cubism04:56
• 5K806:34
• 6Time Traveler03:04
• 7Rama hai05:34
• 8For Zbiggy03:40
• 9Nov 1604:43
• 10Zarathustra03:11
• 11Inspiration04:00
• 12Million Miles Away02:10
• Total Runtime55:02

Info for Imaginary Room

On 'Imaginary Room' one forgets every violin stereotype and gains an impression of why Baldych is nicknamed 'Evil' - because of his 'devilish' virtuosity, expressiveness and variability. His all-star Band dedicates itself to Baldych's latest compositions and provides amazingly inspirational energy for both, breath-taking solos as well as compelling melodies.

After a much celebrated appearance by Adam Baldych at the 2011 Berlin Jazzfest, critic Ulrich Olshausen raved in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper: 'He has, without doubt, the greatest technique of any jazz violinist alive today. We can expect everything of him'. High praise for a musician of just 26 years of age, and at the same time only fitting for a man who has been considered a prodigy in his native Poland for many years already. He discovered the violin at the age of 11, and jazz at 13; the music gave him the freedom of expression he was looking for, and at 16 he started his international career. After completing his jazz studies at the Katowice Academy with distinction, he was awarded a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston. Since then, New York has served as his home base for his musical journey around the world. Baldych has toured with greats such as Grammy winner Jim Beard, and his schedule has been getting fuller and fuller over the last three years. With his exclusively Polish band 'Damage Control' he has been wowing the world's jazz clubs and has produced some remarkable albums, including a duet with vocalist Mika Urbaniak, a collaboration with the 'Groove Razors', and not least of all 'Magical Theatre', inspired by Hermann Hesse.

On 'Imaginary Room' Baldych is now taking on new challenges and has gathered a top-class studio band around him: the Baltic Gang, with the world-class Swedish bassist Lars Danielsson, the Danish drummer Morten Lund (who normally performs his magic with Paolo Fresu and Stefano Bollani), and the Swedish pianist Jacob Karlzon (best known for his collaboration with Viktoria Tolstoy), forming the musical backbone. Two of the biggest talents on the Scandinavian jazz scene - the Finnish trumpeter Verneri Pohjola and the Norwegian saxophonist Marius Neset make up the brass section.

On 'Imaginary Room' this all-star ensemble dedicates itself to Baldych's latest compositions, which leave ample room for improvisation, breath-taking solos and the inspirations of his ingenious accompanists, despite all being based on a compelling melody. These run the gamut from an eastern European touch to elegiac Nordic, right through to the modern American sound of the big city. What doesn't change throughout is a violin the likes of which you will seldom have heard before. There is no lamenting or sobbing here; indeed, Baldych's technically stunning lines are more reminiscent of a wind instrument, and the polyphonic passages of a pianist's chords, with a throaty, bluesy undertone throughout.

On 'Imaginary Room' one forgets every violin stereotype and gains an impression of why Baldych is jokingly nicknamed 'Evil' - because of his 'devilish' virtuosity,

Adam Baldych, violin
Jacob Karlzon, piano
Lars Danielsson, bass & cello
Morten Lund, drums
Verneri Pohjola, trumpet
Marius Neset, saxophone
Nils Landgren, trombone (on track 05, 08)

Produced by Siggi Loch and Nils Landgren
Recorded by Arne Schumann, March 11-13, 2012 at Hansa Studio Berlin
Assistant engineer: Conrad Hensel
Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann

Adam Bałdych
"Without any doubt the greatest living jazz violinist. One can expect everything from him." Ulrich Olshausen from German newspaper „Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung“ about Adam Bałdych’s concert at Jazzfest Berlin 2011. Bałdych was born in Gorzów Wlkp in Poland in 1986.

His outstanding talent was detected early. He was celebrated a prodigy in Poland. “By the age of 9 I decided to visit a school of music” he remembers. He already was well aware of his home country’s music tradition. “Poland has a great music tradition, especially referring to piano music and since Henryk Wieniawski also referring to violin playing.” Only by the age of 11 he decided to start playing the violin with great role models in mind: “I was very much influenced by the famous East-European composers, such as Rachmaninoff, Chopin and Tschaikowski.“ A number of awards for young musicians in classical music proof his talent: In 1999 he became third in Polish national violinist competition in Poznan. The same year he was awarded the first price at regional violinist competition in Szczecin and at Baroque music competition in Gorzow.

By the age of 13 he finally decided to play Jazz. “Jazz offered me the musical freedom, I was searching for.” A noteworthy series of awards followed: In 2002 he won the „Jazz Celebration“ competition in Gorzów. Since 2001 he was annually awarded the „Key for Career Award“ by renowned Polish magazine “Jazz Forum”.

By the age of 16 his international career began. He toured through Europe and Asia. After finishing his jazz degree with merit at Kattowitz conservatory, he got a scholarship at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Ever since, New York is the place of departure for his musical journey through the world. In recent years he was touring with Grammy-award-winning pianist Jim Beard, other famous violinists like Didier Lockwood, Pierre Blanchard, Jerry Goodman, Krzesimir Debski or Christian Howes and he participated in Jaroslaw Smietana’s project „Tribute to Seifert“. He himself recorded several noteworthy albums in different collaborations –with Singer Mika Urbaniak or the „Groove Razors“. On his album “Magical Theatre“ he also dealt with author Herman Hesse’s famous novel “Der Steppenwolf”. He first gained international attention with his band “Damage Control”.

Besides his regular work for international theatre- and film productions, and even though he partly lives in the US, Bałdych always stays in touch with Polish musicians. It therefore is no wonder that Polish piano star and ACT-artist Leszek Możdżer got to know Bałdych in 2008. Together they wrote the soundtrack to the movie “Sir Arnes Schatz” by Swedish director Mauritz Stiller. Możdżer hereupon introduced Bałdych to ACT head Siggi Loch. Loch did not hesitate to ask Bałdych to join the ACT family.

Together with Loch and Nils Landgren as the producers and a first-class studio band, Bałdych started to record his ACT debut “Imaginary Room” (ACT 9532-2) in March 2012 at Hansa Studios in Berlin. Lars Danielsson, one of the leading bass players in contemporary jazz, drummer Morten Lund and Swedish pianist Jacob Karlzon form the rhythm section. Two of the greatest talents in Scandinavian jazz –trumpet player Verneri Pohjola and Norwegian saxophonist Marius Neset make up the brass section.

Booklet for Imaginary Room