Marek Balata (Ba-wa-ta) is a leading male vocalist in the realm of improvised music. His wide ranging creativity has also engaged him deeply in visual arts ( graphic art, audio-visual performancend, theatre -The Magician of Lublin by I.B.Singer, Bloody Wedding by F.G.Lorca and Story of a sin by Stefan Zeromski ). He has performed and recorded with the great Polish jazz musicians as Zbigniew Namysłowski, Jan Pataszyn Wroblewski, Andrzej Jagodzinski, Slawomir Kulpowicz, Artur Dutkiewicz, Krzysztof Scieranski, Tomasz Szukalski, Henryk Miskiewicz and GRAMMY awards 2014 Wlodek Pawlik ... and has also performed in Poland with original (USA/PL) formation (vocals and bass only) CANTABILE IN JAZZ featuring Urszula Dudziak, Michele Hendricks, Judy Niemack and Anthony Jackson. Balata has produced a CD of his own compositions entitled “Voice Paintings” (1994), in which he has taken the rich, folkloric roots of his native Krakow and merged them with his considerable understanding of American blues and bebop and the harmonic language of F.Chopin. He has a daring virtuosity and imagination, a startlingly wide range and flawless intonation. Singing or even rapping in both English and Polish, Balata has a gift for both languages and tone colour. He is also a founder of TRILOGY with great American pianist Art Lande and Austrian flute-player Gunter Wehinger. The group`s 1997 tour in Poland concluded with a brilliant concert broadcast nationally at the Polish Radio Studio in Warsaw. This resulted in the trio`s CD “Trilogy” released in 1998 on the GOWI label in Poland. And then in April 1999 the group had successful tour in USA (California and Colorado) with special guest Paul McCandless at Yoshi ’s - Oakland. He came back to America in 2003 this time as soloist with the Oratorio THE LORD CALLS US performed at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and Toronto . He was back in Toronto in 2005 to sing at The John Paul II Legacy concert with the Oratorio DEVINE MERCY at Roy Thomson Hall and also in Chicago in 2007. In July 2007 he was back to Toronto to sing at the big concert Come a little closer ...benefiting University of Toronto Epilepsy Research Program and in 2011 at Roy Thomson Hall, Totus Tuus for Blessed John Paul II. Marek Balata has also performed with such jazz luminaries as: Billy Hart, Steve Davis, Ernie Adams, Ronnie Burrage, Frank Lacy, Peter Madsen, Jeanfrancois Prins, Jack Van Poll, Marco Piludu, Andy Manndorff, and many others. Lately, he has performed in Europe with the Austrian quartet SONGLINES featuring Heinrich Von Kalnein , Uli Rennert, Achim Tang and Gregor Hilbe as well as KLEZMOKUM and KLEZ EDGE, led by Burton Greene. As a graphic artist, he creates and performs multimedia presentations which he calls ŚPIEWOBRAZY-SINGING PICTURES, that combine his own video creations with song, dance, and live drawing. His latest notable productions are the concert NIEMEN-WSPOMNIENIE and the SMALL ORGAN MASS of J. HAYDN and then MAREK BALATA INTERCOM with John Betsch, Joris Teepe, Dominik Wania and Marcin Kaletka and unique duet MAREK BALATA & DOMINIK WANIA IMPROMPTUS.
He has won the annual JAZZ TOP Readers Poll by Jazz Forum magazine 16-times, in the category Jazz Vocalist.
Discography:
WLODEK PAWLIK / Baczynski 100 ( 2022 )
MAREK BALATA & DOMINIK WANIA / KOLEDY IMPROMPTUS (okoArt)
ZAGAJEWSKI & PAWLIK / Mów spokojniej - N.Wilk, M.Balata, L.Jemiola, Weezdob Collective (gap)
MAREK BALATA & KRZYSZTOF SCIERANSKI na żywo w radiu Koszalin / DVD&CD
STRUNY NA ZIEMI / Wlodek Pawlik, L.Szafran, M.Balata, P.Panta,C.Konrad, R.Wieckiewicz
KRAJOBRAZ RZECZY PIEKNYCH – Andrzej Zarycki (zaszafie.pl)
SONGLINES / H.V.Kalnein / M.Balata / U.Rennert / A.Tang / Gregor Hilbe (TCB – Montreux )
KLEZ EDGE - Burton Greene / P.Robinson / M.Balata / L.Fishkind / R.Haliffi (Tzadik)
Marek Balata, Z.Namyslowski, J.Niedziela, K.Scieranski / EWA KARPF WIERSZE (Trans Art)
T R I L O G Y / Marek Balata / Art Lande / Gunter Wehinger - (Gowi)
Marek Bałata - V O I C E P A I N T I N G S (KochJazz)
Marek Bałata - K O L Ę D Y (KochJazz)
Sławomir Kulpowicz featuring Marek Balata - S A M A R P A N S O N G S (KochJazz)
Krzysztof Scieranski - F A R A W A Y F R O M H O M E (Soundpol)
- Nahorny / B. Loebl - K O L E D Y N A C A L Y ROK (Polonia)
POP ORATORIUM MIŁOSIERDZIE BOZE (Lum 001)
PSALMY DAWIDA (Lum 003)
www.balata.art.pl
