Rafal Sarnecki will join the faculty of the CEEC Jazz Camp organised by Jilin Academy of Arts. The list of topics which will be discussed during the classes includes: group interaction, groove, motivic development, modern jazz composition. The jazz camp will take place in Changchun between July 6-19 as a part of the Jazz Po Polsku project.
The CEEC Jazz Camp in Changchun is the first Summer jazz camp organised in China. The faculty includes musicians from Central-Eastern Europe: Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and top Chinese jazz artists. The majority of participants are students of Chinese music colleges, however some of the students will come from Europe including a drummer from Poland. The Summer jazz camp is a part of the program of collaboration between Eastern European and Chinese jazz scene which was initiated in 2017.
“Jazz had been banned in China for many years. Currently the jazz scenes in the largest Chinese cities are growing very rapidly. New college jazz programs, clubs and festivals are established every year. The Changchun Summer jazz camp shows that China really wants to be present on the “jazz map of the world”. The schedule of classes gives the students a lot of free time to go sightseeing, get to know the local culture, food and tourist attractions. Besides the instrumental, ensemble and theoretical classes the schedule will also include big-band, panel discussions and jam sessions.” – Sarnecki explains
Rafał Sarnecki – Originally from Warsaw, Poland, Rafał Sarnecki is a jazz guitarist and composer currently living in New York. In the twelve years that Rafal spent living in the Big Apple he has become one of the most sought after jazz composers of his generation. As a leader of his own projects Rafal has toured China, South Korea, Malaysia, Chile, Israel, the East and West Coast of the US and many European countries. He has shared the stage with many top names from the US jazz scene including: Ben Wendel, Ingrid Jensen, Alex Sipiagin, Joel Frahm and Gary Thomas to list a few.
Rafal has recorded four CDs as a leader. Two of them: Song From a New Place (2008, ARMS Records) and Cat’s Dream (2014, BJURecords) were nominated for the Fryderyk award, the Polish equivalent of a Grammy. The Madman Rambles Again (2011, Fresh Sound) was selected as among the best jazz albums of 2011 by Hi – Fi magazine and All About Jazz (Dave Sumner’s Best Releases of 2011). Rafal’s newest album Climbing Trees will be released on Outside in Music on July 27, 2018. Besides being active as a bandleader Rafal is also involved in a variety of New York based groups such as: Lucas Pino No-Net Nonet, Annie Chen Group and David Bertrand Quartet.
Living in NYC Rafal received his BFA degree from the prestigious Jazz & Contemporary Music Program at the New School and his MA in music performance from the graduate jazz program at the CUNY Queens College. While staying in the US in 2015 he received a Ph.D. in composition from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.
Sarnecki’s participation in the CEEC Jazz Camp in Changchun is a part of the Jazz Po Polsku Live in China 2018 project. The project is organised in collaboration with the Chinese Jazz Association (CJA), and supported by Polish Institute in Beijing, Culture Service of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Beijing and Plateaux Foundation.