Modjeska Club has the pleasure of inviting its members and guests to a unique jazz concert "Polska i Brazylia" by famous Polish jazz vocalist Grazyna Auguscik with guitarist Paulinho Garcia, originally from Brazil, now living in California. The concert will take place on Sunday, April 7, 2024 at 7 pm at the Illusion Magic Theater (formerly known as Magicopolis: 1418 4th St, Santa Monica, CA 90401).
Free to Club members and $30 per person for guests. Dear guests: please make your checks payable to "Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club" and send to Modjeska Club, PO Box 4288, Sunland CA 91041-4288. Alternatively you can pay via PayPal to "prezes@modjeska.org."
Dear members: please RSVP to "prezes@modjeska.org" by April 2, 2024 to make sure you have a reserved seat. Do not bring any beverages or desserts; instead, purchase items from the venue's bar. Parking is on the same street, two buildings down.
Grazyna
Auguscik
Singer,
composer, arranger, and producer Grazyna Auguscik has won the praise and
admiration of music critics, jazz enthusiasts and even non-jazz audiences with
a singular voice that speaks a universal language. She is one of the most
intriguing contemporary vocalists on today’s world jazz scene. Her elusive style
challenges traditional definitions of jazz and shows a vocalist and musician
without boundaries. Her unorthodox approach to rewriting classic works pays
tribute to their authors and at the same time is an adventure into uncharted
territory. Her original music gives a fresh taste of uncanny flavor.
She began
her professional music career in Europe, and then completed her studies at the
prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1992. Since then she has
become a prolific collaborator shearing the stage with such jazz notables as
Michael and Randy Brecker, Jim Hall, John Medeski, Paul Wertico, Kurt
Rosenwinkel, Robert Irving III, Michal Urbaniak, Urszula Dudziak, Patricia
Barber, John McLean, Matt Ulery, Paulinho Garcia, Jarek Bester. Andrzej
Jagodzinski and many others. Grazyna has recorded, produced and distributed 21
albums, 13 of which were under her own record label, GMA Records, and has
appeared as a guest on as many projects.
Her album Pastels was chosen one of the best of 1998 by National Public Radio listeners. Her 2002 release River placed her as one of the hottest young jazz talents in the country. In 2003 Grazyna received Twirlie Nomination for Top 15 FEMALE VOCALISTS and was nominated for Best Female Vocalist of 2002 by 22nd Annual Chicago Music Awards. She was named Best Jazz Vocalist of 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2016 by a prestigious European Jazz Forum Magazine.
In 2002
Fujitsu Concord Jazz Festival awarded her with the TOP VOCALIST title, and the
album Homage - Three for Brazil
recorded for Pony Canyon Records in Japan was on a TOP 20 JAZZ ALBUMS list in
Asia.
REVIEWS
“Auguscik may be on the brink of innovation,”
says a Chicago Tribune critics
review.
Find out
why the LA Times says "Grazyna
Auguscik is doing important work in advancing the potential for imaginative
jazz singing. She is a singer to be watched.”
The Grazyna Auguscik Orkestar Universale Project, presented at Millennium Park in Chicago in 2006, received a standing ovation, reaffirming that music can communicate across boundaries of language. Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune said about her performance:
“Auguscik and her ensemble sound like nothing else you ever heard; they are out of this world. This must-see performer is one of the best voices to be heard today.”
The album Andanca received great review at DownBeat Magazine radio stations around
the country and abroad. Her concert
Chopin World Sound at Millennium Park in Chicago on July 25, 2010 with 14
musicians on stage, gathered over 10,000 people in the audience and was chosen
one of the 10 most important performances during last three decades in Chicago
area, next to Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Wynton Marsalis Septet, Frank
Sinatra, Marcus Roberts, Tropicana Orchestra, Danilo Perez, Oscar Brown Jr.,
and Igor Butman.
In 2011 she received the Outstanding Pole Aboard Award from the Teraz Polska foundation, and the Annual Award of the Polish Ministry of Culture.
In 2017 she received Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis awarded by Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland
In 2018 she received award from National Polish TV “Polonia Artist without Borders.”
In 2016 she established “Sound and Notes” non profit foundation and brought to Chicago “Chopin IN the City” - an 8-day arts festival in Chicago.
“She's a music machine.” – C. Loudon, Jazz Times
“... stunning use of her lithe, mobile voice ... she is doing important work in advancing the potential for imaginative jazz singing... result is a singer to be watched.” – Don Heckman, LA Times
“Grazyna Auguscik is emerging as an individual voice in a world of sound-alike singers ... Auguscik approaches the art of jazz singing with fervor and intensity. She treats even the most well-worn fare with a spirit of adventure.” – Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune
“Her name is Grazyna Auguscik and she is one of the hottest jazz talents in the country.” – American Jazz Scene
“Jazz Innovator Singer Grazyna Auguscik a fresh voice on a jazz scene ... powerful statements.” – Mark Guarino, Daily Herald
"One of Chicago's hidden treasures, singer Grazyna Auguscik is a jazz-rooted, genre-blurring provocateur.” – Michael Wojcik, Illinois Entertainment
“... she conjures otherworldly images of Yma Sumac sweating to an Esquivel beat.” – C. Loudon, Jazz Times
AUGUSCIK'S DISCOGRAPHY
Solo albums:
- 2023 2 The Light, GMA Records
- 2019 Bossa e Outras Nova, GMA Records
- 2019 Bossa e Outras Nova, Muzak Records
- 2016 Never mind the rain, GMARecords
- 2016 Koledy, MTJ Records
- 2016 Szeptem MTJ Records
- 2015 The Beatles Nova, Muzak Records
- 2014 Grazyna Auguscik Orchestar Inspired by Lutoslawski, Four tune Records
- 2012 Man behind the sun-Songs of Nick Drake GMA Records/EMI
- 2011 Personal Collection, MTJ Records
- 2011 The Beatles Nova, MTJ Records
- 2008 Andanca, GMA Records
- 2007 Sounds Live Sounds, GMA Records
- 2005 Lulajze - The Lullaby for Jesus, GMA Records
- 2005 The Light, GMA Records
- 2003 Past Forward, GMA Records / Jazz Institute of Chicago Sound Archive and Recordings
- 2002 Homage -Three for Brazil, Pony Canyon Records (Japan)
- 2001 River, GMA Records
- 2001 Don't Let Me Go, GMA Records (Remastered Release + BT featuring Michal Urbaniak)
- 2000 Fragile, GMA Records
- 2000 To i Hola, Selles Records
- 1998 Pastels, GMA Records
- 1997 Koledy, Voice Magic Records
- 1996 Don’t Let Me Go, GMA Records
- 1989 Sunrise Sunset, Polskie Nagrania
Some records featuring as a guest (selected projects):
- 2014 In the Ivory-Matt Ulery- Greenleaf Music
- 2012 By a Little Light -Matt Ulery - Greenleaf Music
- 2011 Muzyka Polska - Andrzej Jagodzinski Trio - SRMT Records
- 2010 My very life - Paulinho Garcia - Jazzmine Record
- 2010 Kobiety i Jazz- Trio Inspiracje - GRAMI Records
- 2010 Komeda Inspiration - Jan Bokszczanin, ARMS Records
- 2009 Krzysztof Komeda - Agora
- 2008 Music Box Ballerina - Matt Ulery’s Loom -Woolgathering Records
- 2007 Better Angels - John McLean - Origin
- 2005 John McLean - Welcome Everything Guitar Madness - JohnMcLeanMusic
- 2005 Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass - Cracow Klezmer Band - Tzadik
- 2003 -Bereshit Cracow Klezmer Band - Tzadik
- 2003 Batizado Scottinho - Scott Anderson
- 2003 Widow's First Dawn Rope - Family Vineyard
- 2000 Gephart Long Quartet - Corners Gephart, Long Records
- 2000 The City of Strangers,-Sepia Records
- 2000 The Surrender- Sepia Records
- 1999 Primordial Passage – vinyl, Peacefrog Records, London
- 1999 Primordial Passage – CD, Peacefrog Records, London
- 1999 The Sacred Spaces Epî-Underground Evolution Records
- 1998 Fernando Huergo Living these Times, Browstone Records
- 1998 Women Who Swing Chicago- Big Chicago Records
I was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
My first contact with music was very early in life, singing
in a Sundays children program at Radio Inconfidencia in my hometown.
Even though vocals have been my trade from the very
beginning I’ve also played some instruments, starting first on percussion
then drums, and lastly the bass, which then became my main performance
instrument.
The nylon string guitar (violão) has always been my
companion, for learning new songs, making arrangements or just entertaining
myself. It was only after I moved to the U.S. that it became my main instrument
having been discovered as a vocalist who could also simultaneously play.
Throughout my career I’ve played various styles of music, from boleros and tangos to rock and roll, to popular Brazilian genres. In my late teens I was introduced through recordings to vocal jazz i.e. Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé, Chet Baker…. , which increased my interest in moving to the U.S. and became the trademark of my performances.
I moved to Chicago in 1979 to join the group Breno Sauer’s Brazilian Sounds that soon after became Made in Brazil. I was part of the band until 1991 when I then started my own band, Jazzmineiro, whose eponymous 1996 CD received excellent reviews in the Chicago Tribune,Jazziz magazine, the Brazilian Music Review, and The Brazilians.
Awards
- Best Brazilian International
Vocalist – 2012 …by The Brazilian Press Award
- Chicagoan of the year in jazz –
2010 …by The Chicago Tribune
- Brazilian person of the year –
2010 …by The Brazil Club
- Chicago’s best jazz entertainer –
2001 …by The Chicago Music Awards – awarded to Two For Brazil
"Paulinho ought to be considered a Chicago treasure" - Howard Reich, Jazz critic - Chicago Tribune & L.A. Times
I am a world-touring musician, and regularly perform in
renowned jazz festivals, theaters and clubs, throughout Asia, Europe and
America.
Festivals abroad
- The North Sea Jazz Festival
(Holland)
- Elite and Fujitsu Jazz Festivals
(various halls, clubs in various Japanese cities)
- Jakarta Jazz Festival (Indonesia)
- Singapore Jazz Festival
- Jazz w museum and Jazz nad Odrq
(Poland)
- Moscow Vocal Jazz Festival
(Russia).
Festivals at home
- Chicago Jazz Festival
- Central Pennsylvania Friends of
Jazz-
- Newport Beach Jazz Party
- Sarasota Jazz Festival
- Miami Jazz Festival.
Music Halls
- The Esplanade Hall (Singapore)
- Catherine Palace Ballroom
(Pushkin Russia)
- Filharmonia Narodowy (Poland)
- Polish National Radio Symphony
Orchestra (Poland),
- Millennium Park (Chicago)
- Harris Theater (Chicago)
- Symphony Center (Chicago)
- Auditorium Theater (Chicago)
- Detroit symphony Orchestra
- Ford House (Detroit).
Clubs
- Cotton Club (Japan)
- Blue Note (Poland)
- The Jazz Showcase (Chicago)
- Green Mill (Chicago)
Cruises
- The Jazz Cruise
- Jazz Party At Sea.
My event production 50 years of Bossa Nova at
the Chicago Millennium Park on July 24th 2008 was seen by a record audience of
12000 people. Alongside my 12 pieces band I brought in, from Brazil, João
Donato trio for an unforgettable evening of music.
In December of the same year I shared the stage with Jeremy
Monteiro and Toots Tielemans for a sold out audience
of 1800 people at the famous Esplanade Hall in Singapore.
In 2016 I arranged, performed on and co-produced Mietek
Szcześniak’s Nierówni CD which reach Gold Record in Poland.
I’m also a clinician and has given workshops and concerts
at many prestigious universities such as:
- Northwestern University
- University of Wisconsin at
Milwaukee
- Cornell University
- University of Silesia in Katowice
Poland
- Hope College.
In 2009-2010 I taught in Russia at the Moscow College of
Improvised Music and gave live workshops on Russian TV.
I taught Brazilian guitar and vocals at Chicago’s Old Town
School of folk music for 13 years and presently I coach a Brazilian combo at
Roosevelt University.
"Garcia provides constant evidence of his mastery of the art of the Brazilian song. Endlessly inventive with styles, Garcia is an innovative composer with a firmly rooted tradition." - Dave Miele, Jazz critic - Jazz Improve Magazine, New York
"He becomes the epitome of the solitary troubadour - a romantic figure hardly visible anymore even in Brazil, where, like everywhere else, popular music has grown busier, louder, and rougher. Garcia's voice, an airy baritone, has less shadow and a bit more energy than Joao Gilberto's and his languid chords and cleanly plucked lines illuminate the complicated rhythms with the cool clarity of moonlight." - Neil Tesser, Jazz journalist and author of The Playboy Guide To Jazz.
I divide my music career into two periods: Brazil (before 1979) and USA (1979-present.)
Brazil
In my hometown Belo
Horizonte, I led the group Os Agitadores and played with the Celio Balona band.
Both groups were frequently part of Radio and TV programs. All while
simultaneously working as a successful Jingle composer for The Studio HP.
I also worked for a short period at the club Sambão e Sinhá in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro (owned by singer Ivon Cury ).
Chicago – 1979 – I joined the band
Breno’s Brazilian Sounds which later became Made in Brasil. Then in 1991 I
formed my own band Jazzmineiro. I produced large events at Grand Park,
University Of Chicago and Old Town Of Folk Music.
In Chicago I met my associated acts: Grazyna Auguscik,
Julie Koidin, and Greg Fishman.
Los Angeles – 2015 – Currently I sing, play guitar, compose, arrange, teach and produce recordings.
It's been a great musical journey,
learning, creating, and sharing my gift.
