Pianist and composer, born in 1958. He graduated from the piano class of of Barbara Hesse-Bukowska at the F. Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw in 1984. He also studied jazz composition, theory and arrangement at the Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg, graduating in 1990. In 2007 he obtained a PhD from the F. Chopin University of Music in Warsaw where he currently lectures on improvisation.
He has received awards at many national and international music competitions, including 1st Prize at the International Jazz Competition in Dunkirk (1984) and 2nd Prize at the International Composers’ Competition in Monaco (1988).
He has 21 records to his name to date, and has performed at the most notable and prestigious jazz festivals, including the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague (1998), European Union Jazz Festival in Athens (2006), Warsaw Summer Jazz Days, Jazz Jamboree in Warsaw, as well as at Classical music festivals, such as Wratislavia Cantans in Wrocław (with his Misterium Stabat Mater, 2003). His concert appearances and recordings have garnered international recognition: the Who is Who at North Jazz Festival 1998 magazine called him the “Vladimir Horowitz of jazz” while The Age daily hailed his tour of Australia as one of the musical events of the year 2002; leading magazine Down Beat called his album Turtles recorded with Randy Brecker, “excellent”.
He composes symphonic vocal-instrumental, ballet, theatre and film music, including two award-winning plays by Dorota Kędzierzawska, Crows and A Time to Die, the film Reverse directed by Borys Lankosz (awarded a Golden Lion at the 34th Gdynia Film Festiwal, and the Eagles from the Polish Film Academy), as well as international productions including Peter Greenaway’s Nightwatching and Marleen Gorris’ Within the Whirlwind. For his music to the radio feature Novecento on Polish Radio, he was awarded at the “Two Theatres” Festival in Sopot (2009).
His major achievements include the Misterium Stabat Mater (2000–05) and the jazz project Anhelli. In 2008 he completed and recorded, together with legendary trumpeter Randy Brecker, the Tykocin jazz suite, awarded Jazz Record of the Year by leading Polish newspapers as well as Jazz Composer of the Year 2009 from Los Angeles’ Jazz Station. Also in 2008, Włodek Pawlik released a double solo album Grand Piano featuring unique improvisations. He is the recipient of several Fryderyk awards and has repeatedly been voted Jazz Musician of the Year by cult Warsaw jazz club Akwarium.
In August 2013, the Summit Rec. label published a CD titled Randy Brecker plays Wlodek’s Pawlik NIGHT IN CALISIA. The same year, Pawlik’s music to the show Wieczorem, based on the poetry of Józef Czechowicz, was written on commission from the Stary Theatre in Lublin and recorded by Polish TV, as well as being nominated to a 2013 Fryderyk as Jazz Artist of the Year. Włodek Pawlik has sat on numerous juries including at the 5th American Jazz Piano Competition in Indianapolis (2001). He has lectured notably at the Eastman School of Music, Western Michigan University, during the IAJE Jazz Conference in Los Angeles (1999), and at the Royal Conservatoire in Brussels.
