For a long time now, Kuba Stankiewicz has been among the very best of the Polish pianists, proof of which came this year when he was nominated for an annual Society of the Phonographic Industry award known as „Frederyki 2013” in the category of best jazz album. The album that earned Kuba this distinction was his 2012 CD entitled „Spaces,” which was also nominated for a „Prize of Wroclaw Music Award”.
Kuba’s pianism is marked by distinctively American roots. However, it leans more towards the romantically lyrical than the dynamically extreme. At any rate, it is genuine, hard-swinging jazz.
We can follow the career of the pianist since the second half of the 80’s, when he worked with the band of Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski and later, Zbigniew Namyslowski. Two albums, „Open” and „Song of Innocence” are the result of this cooperation, first in quintet and later quartet format.
From 1987 – 1990, he studied at Berklee College of Music (diploma in piano performance) and rounded off his education in the USA with the Oscar Peterson Award. He was also a semi-finalist in The Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition in Washington, DC. His time in the States was marked by a cross-country tour with The Artie Shaw Orchestra. Upon returning to Poland, he started to work with Miśkiewicz, Cegielski and Konrad.In ́93, the quartet recorded its first album, „Northern Songs.” It won over the hearts and minds of jazz fans very quickly and was chosen Album of the Year by Jazz Forum.
During the next few years, Kuba Stankiewicz worked to strengthen his position on the Polish music scene. In cooperation with a formation called Travelling Birds (Oleszkiewicz, Wojtasik, Baron, Konrad) he recorded two more CDs, „Travelling Birds Quintet” in ́94 and „Return to the Nest” in 95. In the outstanding circle of artists with which Kuba Stankiewicz has played,we find such surnames as saxophonist Scott Hamilton, trumpeter Art Farmer (Art in Wrocław), singer Sheila Jordan, Harvie Swartz, Janusz Muniak, Tomasz Szukalski and Anna Maria Jopek.
Kuba Stankiewicz is not only an appreciated artist, but a pedagogue as well. In May of 2009, he received a Ph.D. from the Academy of Music in Wroclaw (Poland). His professional knowledge has been also acknowledged by Apple (Apple Certified Logic Pro 9).