Vocalist Grzegorz Karnas, born in Upper Silesia, Poland, to a family devoid of musical traditions has worked with many of Poland’s jazz legends as well as top-line artists in the European jazz scene.
Grzegorz, who has travelled and performed in many countries with his band, has been awarded the Grand Prix of jazz vocal competitions in Bruxelles and Crest, France (2006 & 2007) and since 2008, has been the “spiritus movens” of the Intercultural Gathering for Creativity, Expression and Music “Voicingers” – an event contributing to both promotion of jazz singers at the very beginning of their
international careers as well as music education for non-professionals.
The New York City Jazz Record describes Grzegorz as a singer that merges his mother tongue and English into a deconstructed jazz scat-collage that Matisse would love, with an extraordinary range that dips into sensually warm chest tones and pure falsetto heights.
He started his Formula bands in 1998 – Quartets in different line-up configurations, that are far removed from the classical paradigm, with the group drawing on the trance-like nature of ostinatos and the abstraction of modal playing developed on the basis of simple melodic themes. A brief, general outline of a Grzegorz Karnas Formula performance would be: accoustic, energy-filled and groovily hipnotic music-making with a hefty dose of improvisation. The other members of his quartet include Grzegorz Masłowski (drums), Alan Wykpisz (double bass) and Indonesian piano player Sri Hanuraga.