Szymon Ratajczyk PHOTOGRAPHY - Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski Quartet

Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski

April 13, 2024 will go down in many private chronicles of the residents of Kalisz, especially those lucky jazz lovers who managed to buy a ticket, as a very special day.

As Jan Cegiełka rightly pointed out, announcing the concert on the big stage of the Center for Culture and Art in Kalisz, a "homecoming" took place that evening. Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski, the Polish doyen of jazz and a unique artistic personality, returned to his small homeland, Kalisz.

The musician, known to all Polish jazz listeners as "Ptak" is a legendary saxophonist because no other words can be used to describe him since he fuses the origins of Polish jazz music with contemporary jazz.

Ptaszyn is not only an honorary citizen of Kalisz, but a native "Kaliszanin" (Kalisz resident) and an "Asnykowiec" (an alumnus of the No. I High School named after Adam Asnyk in Kalisz) and a student of the Henryk Melcer State Music School in Kalisz!

On the stage at Łazienna Street, which was renovated last year, "Ptak" performed with his quartet, which consists of pianist Wojciech Niedziela, drummer Marcin Jahr and bassist Michał Kapczuk.

Among other things, the musicians performed several of Ptaszyn's original compositions, including his arrangement of Kurt Weill's "Mackie Majcher" from Bertolt Brecht's "The Threepenny Opera".

The leader of the ensemble, despite his 88 years, showed incredible vitality and consistent virtuosity.

It should be noted that Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski, who has continuously hosted the radio program "Trzy kwadranse jazzu” (Three quadrants of jazz) Europe's longest running Jazz Program on Polish Radio since 1970, also in Kalisz surprised and amused the concert participants with brilliant anecdotes.

The evening was topped off with a standing ovation accompanied by a thunderous applause and the handing over of a commemorative painting depicting a Kalisz street (Piskorzewska) by the members of the Asnykowcy Association to the legend "Ptak".

The musicians returned the favor with the best possible gift, playing a Masterpiece with the intriguing title "Zamiast” (with the english translation of "Instead") as an encore.