JazzKLUB / Adam Baran & Helicopets / Winners of the Jazz Juniors 2024 Competition - NOSPR

A modern sound and collective improvisation transgressing the borders of genres  – this is how the music of the Helicopets quartet, awarded at the 2024 Jazz Juniors competition, can be described in a nutshell. In their work, the group courageously broadens listeners’ conception of jazz, reaching for inspirations ranging from minimalism, through ambient, to electronic music. The quartet consists of artists who come from the experimental scene. The spacious sound, with electronic and avant-garde elements, is created by: the leader and guitarist Adam Baran, the bass clarinetist Panilas, the drummer Józef Biegański and the bassist Piotr Zygma. The Helicopets debuted in October 2024, at the Jazz Juniors festival in Cracow, where they received a host of special awards (from NOSPR, Jazz Denmark, JazzFest Brno, Budapest Music Center and Jazz Vineyard), thanks to which the musicians will set off on a European concert tour. So far, they have released two singles online: Murakami and Army of Me, planning their debut album to premiere in 2025.

Julia Broniowska

No festival in Poland is more clearly part of the history of the Polish jazz scene. This is the 48th edition, and the Jazz Juniors International Competition for Young Jazz Ensembles has celebrated improvised music since 1976 (when Wojtek Gogolewski's Quartet was on the podium). It is a unique platform for exchanging experience and a meeting place between established masters and the young generation of jazz artists. It is a critical event for the winners as it opens doors to prestigious stages worldwide. It was Krakow's Jazz Juniors competition that created the current legends: Leszek Możdżer, Adam Bałdych, Paweł Kaczmarczyk or Piotr 'Pianohooligan' Orzechowski. The composition of the competition jury is variable. In the previous edition, musicians from different parts of the world were judged by an international panel chaired by Norwegian trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer.  

Maria Wilczek-Krupa 

Concert duration: approximately 90 minutes