MACIEK

I have been playing guitar since I was 11 years old and my influences come mainly from Jazz and Latin music. I was originally born in Poland and currently reside in London where I moved in 2003. I am mostly self-taught and started to work as a musician in local bands when since 13 and attended my first recording session at the age of 14. As a teenager I used to listen to all kinds of music but later on, in my late teens I was exposed to Jazz and Latin Music and both genres have influenced me greatly. Currently I am leading my own group which features Dado Pasqualini(Italy, worked with Antonio Forcione, Carmen Souza) on percussion and Jerelle Jacob(UK, from Speakers Corner Quartet) on double bass playing my original compositions. I am also involved in another originals project, a guitar duo, with Ryszard Graca on guitar. Sometimes you can catch me playing with my friend Susana Lang-Lenton from Spain and jazz singer Pepa Niebla plus other singers and musicians in a duo or trio format. In 2009 I have independently released a debut album entitled "Beyond Yourself" and a demo with my trio called "Discoveries". Throughout my time in London I have been a member of and have worked with various groups playing different styles of music including a jazz/funk/soul quartet called LV Project, latin group Tumba Libre, gypsy band Alejandro Toledo & Magic Tombolinos, Aesthetic Sounds house band, a soul band called The Indie Soul Movement with whom I was signed and had a world-wide distribution deal with Turmic Records, we have also appeared twice in the music magazine NME. I have recorded and played with Lunic form the US, German singer Bianca Bohl, Somalian singer Aar Maanta and British soul singer Sylvia Powell with whom I have appeared on BBC Radio, have done a UK Coffee House Tour endorsed by AER amps and performed for a celebrities party in Regent's Park during the National Family Week. Currently working on guitar arrangements with London based singer/songwriter Goran Kay (writer for G4, Eurovision 2006 contestant, winner of National Songwriting Competition 2006). I have also worked as a session musician with many recording studios across London and participated in a number of live projects ranging from Jazz, Soul, Rock to Funk. So far I have played well over few hundred live shows in the UK and Europe and appeared on many recording sessions. I had a chance to play with and meet some fantastic musicians and some of the world's greatest players. I was lucky enough to be able to hang out and spend time on numerous occasions with one of my heroes Al Di Meola and his band. Thanks guys! I have performed in a number of well know venues, radio stations and festivals: Ronnie Scotts, BBC Radio, Notting Hill Arts Club, Cobden Club, Jazz Cafe POSK, The National Theatre Foyer, Ray's Jazz Cafe at Foyles, The Ritzy, Hope and Anchor, The Sound Leicester Square, The Spice of Life, Purple Turtle, Inn On The Green, The Halfmoon Putney, Jazz After Dark, The Troubadour, Brasserie James, Van Der Valk Hotel, The Enterprise Camden, The Cuban, Pangea Project, Shot In The Dark Cardiff, Hansom Cab, Cock and Hen Fulham, The Garden Bar, Cafe Kino Bristol, Coffee Aroma, Boston Music Rooms, Sotto Casa Di Andrea Rome, Cafe 1001!, Oh! Bar Camden, The Playroom, My Place Hotel, Blag Bar, Finnegans Wake, Bincho Soho, Potion Bar, The Habit York, The Wardrobe Leeds, Kemptown Brighton, The Old Barn, The Icarus Club, Vibe Bar, Corn Rxchange King's Lynn, The North Pole, Greedy Buddha Fulham, Fernandez Bar&Grill, Museum Gardens Bethnal Green, The Waterway, Cobden Club, Sanctuary Cafe, Moondogs Reading, Ginglik, Oxjam, Road Trip, Acoustic Routes, Red Room, Bar Camino, Viva Viva, Malt Cross Nottingham, Somali Week Festival, to name a few!