(Vocal Jazz, Contemporary Jazz) Anna Gadt (with RGG Trio) - Breathing - 2013, MP3, 320 kbps

Anna is not an easy artist to describe. Her characteristic features may actually seem contradictory: gentleness, restless soul, mystery, sensitivity, as well as a strong personality and a sense of humour. In her music, Slavic origins interlace with European inspirations. Improvised music is what fascitates her most. She seeks forms of expression through the word, the sound and most of all, through the silence.
What she finds particularly interesting is the philosophy of Ayn Rand (individualism of opinion) and the poetry of May Angelou, an American poet who used to work with Martin Luther King. Angelou’s texts turned out to be an excellent subject to write music to. That is how songs “Alone”, “They Went Home” and “Still I Rise” came into being. The last one is also the title song of the album released in 2010. In her music, she oscillates in an intriguing way between singing, whispering and talking. In inprovisation, she’s not afraid to use her voice in an unusual way.
At first, she studied classical music. She would love to spend long hours playing Bach, Chopin or Grieg on the piano. Actually, her inclination for classical music, especially for Jan Sebastian Bach, has remained strong up to now. The direction that she’d chosen when she was only 10 years old changed suddenly when she listened to the solo of Toots Thielemans on a Pat Metheny’s record Secret Story. She was so impressed by his improvisation, that she wished to continue her education in jazz music.
In 2002 she was accepted to the prestigious Jazz Institute of the Academy of Music in Katowice, where she currently works as a teacher.
She was awarded the prize of Jazz Struggle contest and got introduced to the competition’s jury president, Billy Harper. That was the moment in her artistic life which she finds crucial. “This award helped me believe in myself. During that concert I played my own songs, so my musical feeling and aesthetics were appreciated. This award boosted my spirits, especially because Billy Harper, whom I adored and really admired, was the president of the jury”.
Anna has already recorded 2 albums. Her debut record “Na mojej drodze”(On my way), was published in 2008. It contained original songs sung in Polish and it aroused interest among the critics and listeners. The record was nominated to the Fryderyk Music Award, the Jazz Debut Album of the Year – a prestigious award of the Polish music industry. Anna presented her album at numerous concert, among others, at Szczecin Music Fest, where she opened Suzanne Vega’s performance.
The release of her second album Still I Rise (2010) was followed by many concerts in various places, including Polish Radio Studio – one of the most important concert venue in the country.
Apart from her individual work, she supports her friends’ projects. She is connected with the Voicingers festival and also cooperates with Jazz City Choir, the only jazz vocal formation in Poland.

Anna Gadt - vocal
RGG Trio:
Lukasz Ojdana - piano
Maciej Garbowski - bass
Krzysztof Gradziuk - drums