Adam Makowicz
| Adam Makowicz | |
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Adam Makowicz, photo by Atael Weissman
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Adam Matyszkowicz |
| Born | August 18, 1940 |
| Origin | Poland |
| Genres | Jazz, classical piano |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Years active | 1965–present |
| Labels | Jaymz Bee |
| Website | [1] |
| Notable instruments | |
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Steinway & Sons pianos Fender Rhodes electric piano |
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Adam Makowicz (born Adam Matyszkowicz; August 18, 1940) is a Polish pianist and composer living in Toronto. He performs jazz and classical piano pieces, as well as his own compositions. Besides playing solo, he has worked with such musicians as Michał Urbaniak, Tomasz Stanko and Leszek Możdżer, as well as with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC, at the Kennedy Centre, at the Carnegie Hall, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, and other major orchestras at concert halls in Americas and in Europe. His technical skills as jazz pianist have been compared to that of Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and Erroll Garner among others. His specialty in classical piano since his studies in the 1950s has been the music of Chopin.
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). 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.
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