Piotr Baron & Jarek Bothur Quartet (Poland)

Piotr Baron (1961) made his professional jazz debut as a teenager in 1977.

In 1978 he was acknowledged as a soloist at the Jazz nad Odra festival. Four years later in 1984 Piotr won a Grand Prize as a soloist at the San Sebastian festival “Jazz Aldia” in Spain.

In 2005 Mr Baron has earned a Master of Fine Arts degree at the Academy of Music in Wroclaw. Throughout his successful career Piotr Baron has collaborated with all accomplished jazz musicians from Poland - Zbigniew Namyslowski, Jaroslaw Smietana, Krzesimir Debski, Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski and most of the European countries - Al Porcino, David Murray, Ray Charles, Bobby Watson, Eddie Henderson etc. Piotr Baron is featured as a sideman on more than 60 albums.

Some of the recordings include jazz legends as Art Farmer, Eddie Henderson, John Hicks and Victor Lewis. As a leader of his own projects, Piotr Baron has released six CDs. “Take One” (1995), “Tango” (1996), “Blue Rain” (1997), “Bogurodzica” (2000), “Reference” recorded in New York City (2004) with Eddie Henderson - trumpet, John Hicks - piano, Darek “Oles” Oleszkiewicz - bass and Victor Lewis – drums. For the last 20 years Piotr maintains the highest rankings in the Jazz Forum magazine readers poll as the best tenor and soprano saxophonist, and highly regarded as alto and baritone saxophonist. Besides his jazz touring, Piotr performs from 1988 occasionally with symphonic and chamber orchestras in jazz, pop, classical and contemporary repertoire.

He has conducted various jazz workshops in the United States at University Of California Irvine, California Institute Of The Arts in Valencia, at the Ankara Bilkent University in Turkey , Prague in Czech Republic, Lwow in Ukraine and annual summer workshop programs in various cities in Poland. Since 1998 Piotr Baron has been working as an educator, teaching saxophone and theoretical jazz subjects at the Wroclaw School Of Jazz and Popular Music (since 1998), University of Zielona Gora (since 2007).

Since 1994 Piotr hosts his own weekly radio jazz show at the Polish Radio Wroclaw. He has been freelancing as a reviewer and publicist for Jazz Forum European Magazine and Diapazon.pl. He was nominated to prestigious Fryderyk Awards as the jazz musician of the year in 2000, 2004 and 2008.At the present time, Piotr performs extensively in Europe with his own groups - trio, quartet or quintet and as afeatured sideman with top European bands - Piotr Wojtasik Group and Jaromir Honzak Quartet East.

For 30th anniversary of his artistic activity Piotr Baron was decorated with Bronze Medal “Meritorious to the Culture -Gloria Artis” and a Honor Distinction of Polish Jazz Society.