Unusual and innovating guitar parts and superb compositional skills
Adam Baruch – The Soundtrack Of My Life
Kuba Wójcik – guitarist, composer, educator and traveller. Author of projects on the borderline of jazz and avant-garde: Minim feat. Sainkho, Mad Ship, Kuba Wójcik’s Threak; he also co-creates a duo with Piotr Damasiewicz. As a solo artist, he explores ambient sounds by combining guitar and electronics.
He has released 7 original albums, highly acclaimed by critics and listeners (including Minim Experiment – ,,Dark Matter” acclaimed as Debut of the Year 2016 and Minim feat. Sainkho ,,Earth”, which was ranked 2nd among all jazz releases in 2020). He has collaborated with Rolf Kuhn, Sainkho Namtchylak, Nils Davidsen, Peter Bruun and Piotr Damasiewicz, as well as with the Cracow Improvisers Orchestra and Prof. Leszek Kulakowski’s Big Band. He took part in the international programme ,,You Me – Young Musicians play Europe”. He was the first Pole to take part in the prestigious UNCOOL artistic residency in Poschiavo in the Swiss Alps.
He has performed at festivals at national and international level, including Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the Czech Republic, Austria, the Netherlands, India, Bangladesh and Nepal. As a composer, he is interested in the achievements of the minimalists, which he transfers into the contemporary jazz language. He is inspired by nature and traditional cultures; their songs, rituals and shamanic techniques (he spent a month in the Amazon jungle, observing and learning from shamans of the Shipibo tribe).
Graduate of the Academy of Music in Gdańsk, majoring in Jazz and stage music. Scholarship holder of the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. In the Jazz Forum critics’ ranking he was ranked 3rd among guitarists for 2020. He is an organiser of the ,,Spontaniczne Kompozytorskie Spotkania” (Spontaneous Composers’ Meetings). He received the Artistic Scholarship of the City of Warsaw for 2021.
“Earth” is an album flowing freely and naturally, yet it is a genre rollercoaster. Everything is skillfully subdued under the cover of elegant minimalism – large portions of it could easily be bought for an ECM collection by Manfred Eicher – and closed with a wide clasp of multicultural ritual (where the two-part Ritual – an excellent first part sets the tone for the album, and the second brings a spectacular dialogue between Wójcik and Sainkho – seems to be an example of the most spontaneous jamming) (…) The music is future-oriented with references to the present.
Bartek Chaciński – Polifonia / Polityka
The music is absolutely unique, to some extent continuing the ideas put forth on the debut, but exploring many new dimensions obviously inspired by the strong personality of Namtchylak and her vast experience. The result is an absolutely innovative amalgam of cross-genre music making, encompassing such diverse explorations as electronics, World Music, Avant-Garde, Jazz, Rock, and a plethora of other named and unnamed genres and sub-genres, all intermixed into a kaleidoscope of sounds, which is irresistibly beautiful (…) This album is certainly one of the most interesting recordings released on the Polish scene in 2020.
Adam Baruch – The Soundtrack Of My Life
It is clearly one of the best free minimal music records ever recorded in Poland.
Maciej Lewenstein
Despite slight but noticeable differences between “Earth” and “Manifesto,” Minim remains a band that provides many reasons for excitement with their music and makes you want to return to their recordings. Rafał Zbrzeski – JAZZ FORUM
Perhaps in the context of the entire previous year, “Dark Matter” is the biggest positive surprise. Hats off!!!
Polish Jazz Blog
Overall this is a brilliant debut album, one of the best Polish Jazz debuts of 2016 and perhaps even one of the best albums of this year…
Adam Baruch – The Soundtrack Of My Life
Dark Matter is an album precisely thought out, intelligently balancing elements and artistic needs…
Maciej Krawiec
Unusual and innovating guitar parts and superb compositional skills by Wójcik.
Adam Baruch – The Soundtrack Of My Life
Rhythm capturing, interactive melodies amazing, how can you not succumb to the beautiful theme at the end of the composition Between. Every sound is spot-on.
Konrad Beniamin Puławski – Laboratorium Muzycznych Fuzji
Music from “Diavolezza” will help endure difficult moments in late autumn in Poland. At the same time, it has a lot of quite universal beauty.
Bartek Chaciński – Polifonia / Polityka
Sounds that are impossible to pass by indifferently. They linger in the mind and soul for a long time. “Krew” has received – I’m not afraid of this word – metaphysical music: sometimes irritating, at other times soothing the pain of existence. In a word: an excellent antidote to the banality of life.
Sebastian Chosiński – Esencja