River

[gra-jee-na] [au-goose-chick] 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, sharing 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, Terry Callier, Patricia Barber, John McLean, Ron Perrillo, and many others. Grazyna has recorded, produced and distributed 17 albums, 10 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 a Twirlie Nomination for Top Female Vocalist and was nominated for Best Female Vocalist of 2002 at the 22nd Annual Chicago Music Awards. She was named Best Jazz Vocalist of 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006 by the prestigious European Jazz Forum Magazine. In 2002 Fujitsu Concord Jazz Festival named her Top Vocalist, and her album Homage - Three for Brazil, recorded for Pony Canyon Records in Japan, was one of the Top 20 Jazz Albums in Asia. Her 2003 release Past Forward, featuring the remarkably talented accordion player Jarek Bester, once again resists easy classification because of it's musical eclecticism, but embraces jazz in all it's contemporary potential, in the pulsating, exhilarating, eastern musical origins that lead to the past and at the same time give an uncanny impression of wholeness. quot;Auguscik may be on the brink of innovation,quot; says a Chicago Tribune review. The LA Times says quot;Grazyna Auguscik is doing important work in advancing the potential for imaginative jazz singing. She is a singer to be watched.quot; 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 theChicago Tribune said about her performance, quot;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.quot; The albumAndanca received great acclaim at DownBeat Magazine radio stations around the country and abroad. Her concert Chopin World Sound at Millennium Park in Chicago in, 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, the Wynton Marsalis Septet, Frank Sinatra, Marcus Roberts, the Tropicana Orchestra, Danilo Perez, Oscar Brown Jr., and Igor Butman. In 2011 she received the Outstanding Pole Aboard award fr