Mietek Szczesniak, the great Polish superstar who has garnered awards throughout Europe and hits in Poland in genres ranging from pop, jazz, gospel, film, theater and tv, made his first in English--his first for the western market-- with Grammy nominated veteran songwriter and producer Wendy Waldman, in 2011. Mietek's compelling story is riveting: growing up and launching his career in almost impossibly difficult times in communist Poland, and going on to triumph in spite of terrible odds. Such stories as being jailed during Poland's historic and brave Solidarity demonstrations which led to the downfall of communism in Eastern Europe, not being "allowed" to record, even after he had taken first prize in every contest he entered throughout Europe, being beloved by audiences in Poland while being chastised by the music industry for insisting on singing gospel, soul, and inspirational music as well as pop and jazz, always with a message of hope--Mietek has achieved a monumental victory in building his magnificent career.
Written with Waldman, and recorded on two continents the first album, Signs, is a marvelous cast of veteran American and Polish musicians. It features, most notably, the American legend HB Barnum, producer, writer and arranger for artists from Frank Sinatra to Aretha Franklin--and his gospel choir "Life Choir." Barnum is one of Mietek's great supporters, claiming that he is one of the finest and most soulful singers he's ever heard.
Mietek has since released a second, marvelous English language project entitled “Songs From Yesterday” on Sony, recorded with the great Krzystof Herdzin and his jazz trio. This album, which has achieved platinum status for sales in Poland, features some great standards done in a fresh new style, as well as elevating some contemporary work to the level of standard. Additionally Mietek has another cd, “Nierowni,” which is a collaboration with the world renowned Brazilian guitarist/artist Paulinho Garcia and others—Brazilian flavored music set to the poetry of the revered Polish national treasure, Jan Twardowski. This album has gone beyond gold status in Poland.
A third English language project is in the works for Mietek: a collaboration between HB Barnum, Life Choir, Mietek, and Wendy Waldman. This album promises to be quite an event project.