Agnieszka Iwanska is an accomplished and gifted jazz vocalist, composer and lyricist. Her sultry and sensitive singing style stands out as a fresh and exciting voice in jazz. As a vocalist, Agnieszka has been hailed as the “voice of promise” by noted jazz critic Howard Reich from the Chicago Tribune. Mr. Reich also mentioned that “the size of her alto and and the obvious maturation of her delivery brings her to a new artistic level” . Brad Walseth of jazzchicago.net praised her style and performance by nothing that “Like Basia, Iwanska is a Polish singer who has taken on the Brazilian sound pioneered by Astrud Gilberto. She sings her well-written songs showing considerable ability, and charms the crowd with her fresh and honest approach.”
Agnieszka is a graduate of the Jazz Studies program at the University of Katowice, Poland’s only accredited jazz program. While in Poland, Agnieszka had the opportunity to perform with some of the country’s top jazz talents including Mieczyslaw Szczesniak, Jan Smoczynski, Sebastian Frankiewicz and Daniel Biel, who play with Michael Urbaniak.
After arriving in the US, Agnieszka formed her own band; a quintet featuring some of Chicago’s talented jazz musicians. Iwanska received an award Polonus 2008 as an Artist of a Year in most prestigious contest among the Polish community in Chicago.
Agnieszka and her band perform throughout the Chicago area, and have been featured artists in the annual All Soul’s Jazz Festival for the last six years. Among her numerous achievements, Agnieszka received first prize in the Krokus Jazz Festival and second prize in the International Competition of Jazz Vocalists in Zamosc, Poland. She was one of the featured artists on the Milwaukee Jazz Festival and Naperville Jazz Festival (Spyro Gyra the headliiner).
Working with keyboardist/composer Paul Scherer, Agnieszka completed her first full-length CD of original material. It's titled “All That I Am”. CD features songs in English and Polish, all written and arranged by Iwanska and Scherer. “All That I Am” got excellent reviews from jazz critics. It was on the playlist of 110 radio stations nationwide (including the biggest global platform Smoothjazz.com). It was also number 38 on the Top 50 National Indie Chart for 15 weeks.
Agnieszka was the first Polish born vocalist to sing the National Anthems at the Wrigley Field in Chicago.
Iwanska’s unique sound is not to be missed. Her unmistakable honesty and lack of pretension stand out as hallmarks of a talent worth getting to know.
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