Grażyna Auguścik (born 17 August 1955) is a Polish

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

vocalist, composer, and arranger.''River'' CD. 2001 Grażyna Auguścik/GMA RecordsGrażyna Auguścik's web site http://www.grazynaauguscik.com/ She frequently uses

Polish folk music The music of Poland covers diverse aspects of music and musical traditions which have originated, and are practiced in Poland. Artists from Poland include world-famous classical music, classical composers like Frédéric Chopin, Karol Szymanows ...

Latin American music The music of Latin America refers to music originating from Latin America, namely the Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese-speaking regions of the Americas south of the United States. Latin American music highly incorpor ...

, and

klezmer Klezmer ( or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for listening; these wou ...

music.

Career

Grażyna studied guitar in her native

Słupsk Słupsk (; ; ) is a city with powiat rights located on the Słupia River in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland, in the historical region of Pomerania or more specifically in its part known in contemporary Poland as Central Pomerania ...

, Poland. Later she studied singing, graduating in 1992 from

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

in Boston. Her singing debut took place in 1977 at a festival in

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

. At the

National Festival of Polish Song in Opole The National Festival of Polish Song in Opole (, KFPP), commonly known as the Opole Festival () is an annual music festival in Opole, Poland. Together with the Sopot Festival it is one of the two most important music festivals in Poland. The Op ...

in 1979 she won in the category of first-time contestants. In 1981, she won prizes at the Student Festival of Song in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

and at the Festival of Traditional Jazz "

Złota Tarka Złota Tarka (Golden Washboard) is the International Festival of Traditional Jazz "Old Jazz Meeting - Złota Tarka" (), the jazz contest during the festival, and the award in Poland. The name comes from the washboard as a musical instrument in t ...

" in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. In 1988, Grażyna moved to the United States, where she has performed with

Michał Urbaniak Michał Urbaniak (born January 22, 1943) is a Polish jazz musician who plays violin, lyricon, and saxophone. His music includes elements of folk music, rhythm and blues, hip hop music, hip hop, and symphonic music. History He was born in War ...

and

Urszula Dudziak Urszula Bogumiła Dudziak-Urbaniak (born 22 October 1943) is a Polish jazz vocalist. She has worked with Krzysztof Komeda, Michał Urbaniak (her ex-husband), Gil Evans, Archie Shepp, and Lester Bowie. In 2007, her 1970s song "Papaya" gained wides ...

, Jim Hall,

Michael Brecker Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as a performer and composer, received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in ...

Randy Brecker Randal Edward Brecker (born November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer. His versatility has made him a popular studio musician who has recorded with acts in jazz, rock music, rock, and R&B. Early life Brecker was ...

John Medeski Anthony John Medeski (born June 28, 1965) is an American jazz keyboard player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avant-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood. He plays the acoustic piano ...

Patricia Barber Patricia Barber (born November 8, 1955) is an American songwriter, composer, singer, and pianist. Biography Barber's father Floyd was a jazz saxophonist who played with Bud Freeman and Glenn Miller. She played saxophone and piano from a young a ...

Paul Wertico Paul Wertico (born January 5, 1953, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American drummer. He gained recognition as a member of the Pat Metheny Group from 1983 until 2001, leaving the group to spend more time with his family and to pursue other musical i ...

Bobby Enriquez Roberto Delprado Yulo "Bobby" Enriquez (May 20, 1943 – August 6, 1996) was a Filipino jazz pianist. He was called "the Wildman" due to his energetic playing style. Life Born in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, his first love was the piano (h ...

Terry Callier Terrence Orlando "Terry" Callier (May 24, 1945 – October 27, 2012) was an American soul music, soul, Folk music, folk and jazz guitarist and singer-songwriter. Life and career Callier was born in the North Side of Chicago, Illinois, and was ...

John McLean John McLean (March 11, 1785 – April 4, 1861) was an American jurist and politician who served in the United States Congress, as U.S. Postmaster General, and as a justice of the Ohio and United States Supreme Courts. He was often discu ...

Kurt Rosenwinkel Kurt Rosenwinkel (born October 28, 1970) is an American jazz guitarist, composer, bandleader, producer, educator, keyboardist and record label owner. Biography Born in Philadelphia to a musical family, Rosenwinkel began taking piano lessons when ...

, and

Robert Irving III Robert Irving III (born October 27, 1953) is an American pianist, composer, arranger and music educator. A native of Chicago, Irving was one of a group of young Chicago musicians that, in the late '70s and early '80s, formed the nucleus of Mile ...

. She has participated in programs at the

Jazz Institute of Chicago The Jazz Institute of Chicago is a non-profit arts presenting organization that produces jazz concerts and runs educational programs. It was founded in 1969 by a small band of jazz fans, writers, club owners, and musicians to preserve the historical ...

, bringing "traditional Eastern European music into the jazz idiom, providing a new link to the universality of the language of jazz".''Past Forward'' CD. 2003 Grażyna Auguścik/GMA Records In 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006 she was named Best Jazz Vocalist by the European magazine ''

Jazz Forum ''Jazz Forum'' is a European jazz magazine based in Warsaw. It was established as a quarterly in 1964 by jazz bassist Jan A. Byrczek, who served as its editor-in-chief. It was the first jazz magazine published behind the Iron Curtain and allowed ...

''. Auguścik has toured all over the world. Some of her albums have been highly acclaimed and popular with jazz audiences and have consistently been placed in Top 10 Charts (e.g. by the ''

College Music Journal CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

''). Grażyna has recorded 15 albums, including two with Urszula Dudziak, her fellow top-ranking Polish female jazz vocalist.

Discography

* ''Sunrise Sunset'' (

Polskie Nagrania Muza Polskie Nagrania "Muza" ("Polish Records 'Muse' ", official name since 2005: "Polskie Nagrania Sp. z o.o", i.e., Polskie Nagrania Ltd.) is a Polish record label based in Warsaw. It has produced records in many genres including pop, rock, jazz, f ...

, 1988) * ''Don't Let Me Go'' (GMA, 1996) * ''Koledy'' with

(Voice Magic, 1996) * ''Pastels'' with

Bogdan Hołownia Bogdan Hołownia (born October 3, 1957) is a Polish jazz pianist."Bogdan Holownia". '' The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz''. 2nd edition, ed. Barry Kernfeld. He first played with Jan Wroblewski. Later in his career he played with Janusz Muniak ...

(GMA, 1997) * ''Fragile'' (GMA, 2000) * ''To I Hola'' (Selles, 2000) * ''River'' (GMA, 2001) * ''Past Forward'' (GMA, 2003) * ''Lulajze: The Lullaby for Jesus'' (GMA, 2005) * ''The Light'' (GMA, 2005) * ''Live Sounds Live'' (GMA, 2007) * ''Andanca'' with Paulinho Garcia (GMA, 2008) * ''The Beatles Nova'' with Paulinho Garcia (Agencja Artystyczna MTJ, 2011) * ''Man Behind the Sun'' (EMI, 2012) * ''Szeptem'' (Agencja Artystyczna MTJ, 2016)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Auguscik, Grazyna Living people 1955 births People from Słupsk Polish jazz singers Polish women jazz singers Polish jazz composers Polish women composers Post-bop jazz musicians

Career

Discography

See also

References

External links