Kuba Cichocki is a Polish pianist, improviser and composer based in New York City. His influences range from contemporary jazz and avant-garde to classical music and Latin jazz. As a leader of his own groups, he has performed in NYC at such venues as Shapeshifter Lab, Terraza 7, Nublu, Spectrum NYC, Bowery Electric, Rockwood Music Hall; Baltimore’s Twins Jazz and Kosciuszko Foundation in Washington DC, as well as many venues in Europe and China. He has played at festivals around the world, such as Jarasum Jazz Festival (South Korea), Nine Gates Festival (China), International Solo Piano Festival (Prague, Czech Republic), NYC Multicultural Festival, The International Chopin & Friends Festival (NYC), The Mafrika Music Festival (NYC).
He has collaborated with influential artists from the NYC jazz and experimental scene, including 5-time Grammy Award winner, John Benitez, George Brandon (Blue Unity Sextet), Brandon Seabrook, Jorge Sylvester (ConCeptualMotion Orchestra), Nora McCarthy, Colin Stranahan, Lucas Pino and many others. To date, he has released three albums under his own name: “Audubon Lab Experiment” (2016), “Live at Spectrum” (2018 – Multikulti Project), and “Brisk Distortions” (2021), a duet with Brandon Seabrook, which was chosen as one of the best releases of 2021 by Cadence Jazz Magazine.
The Polish pianist Kuba Cichocki joins forces with the American guitarist Brandon Seabrook in this ferocious, highly improvisatory collection of duets enveloped in a bubble of kinetic energy.” -Filipe Freitas, JazzTrail
Their highly intuitive improvisational approach functions as one mind with two divergent sides that are at once seamlessly independent of other often moving in opposite directions as well as simultaneously interdependently moving together toward the same muse in absolute energy. -Nora McCarthy, Cadence Magazine
The benefit of Brisk Distortions’ approach is that each track is free to create its own small musical world, free from the forces of inertia typically acting on extended improvisations. -Matt Munz, Jazz Right Now
Brandon Seabrook is a NYC-based guitarist, banjoist, performer, and composer. As a guitarist, his work feeds off tactile sensations; rapid tremolo picking, contorted clusters, and a hyper-physical performance style. Described by the New York Times as “a man apparently hellbent on earning the title of World’s Least Rustic Banjo Player” he has been devoted to transforming an instrument largely associated to country and bluegrass, into a tool for rebellious exploration.
As a composer and band leader Seabrook has released eight albums of original music. In 2021 he was awarded a Shifting Foundation Grant to compose a new album for his octet Epic Proportions. This new set of material veers away from his usual dark, cacophonous approach and indulges in lyrical textures that run you through a gauntlet of emotions. They’re coming for you in 2023.
Brandon resides in Brooklyn and when he’s not at Bagel Hole you can find him touring and recording with his bands. Most recently, the Seabrook Trio featuring Cooper-Moore on diddley-bow and Gerald Cleaver on drums and electronics, released their second album “In The Swarm” to critical acclaim, as well as several sweaty, loud, and long sold out shows across Europe and the USA.
As a side-person he has collaborated with “downtown demimonde” Joey Arias, jazz icon Anthony Braxton, vocalist Cecile Mclorin Salvant, Darcy James Argue, Frank London, Allison Miller, Ingrid Laubrock, and Nels Cline. He has been profiled in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Premiere Guitar, Downbeat Magazine, Rolling Stone Magazine, Bandcamp Daily, Jazz Times, Jazziz, The Chicago Reader, Magnet Magazine, and The Wire.
Brandon is an accomplished solo artist, named Best Guitarist in New York City by the Village Voice 2012. His 2014 solo release “Slyphid Vitalizers” paired his 1920 Bacon and Day tenor banjo with the blasting beats of a 1980’s Oberheim drum machine, bridging epochs with ambient tranquility and dense virtuosity, standing ovations ensued. He has presented his solo work for banjo and guitar at Pioneer Works, Sonic Transmissions Fest, Secret Project Robot, NK Berlin, Lima Jazz Festival, The Smell, Lawrence University, The Stone, and Boston Hassle Fest. Seabrook culls a lot of inspiration from the raw energy of stripped down rock music, museum excursions, and his wife. He is grateful to all of the “heads” who have come out to his shows and the musicians who have requested his artistry onstage, in the studio, on the plane, in the van, and at the brasserie.