SHORT BIO

  • performer, composer, arranger, music producer and DJ
  • Toronto session musician (guitar, bass, violin, cello, trumpet, sax, vocal, percussion)
  • performer, artistic director, arranger and event coordinator for TWM entertainment
  • faculty at the Centennial College Music Industry Arts and Performance Program

2019 – 2022 live session work, concerts and festivals

  • leader and arranger for Jarek Dabrowski Group
  • guitar and bass for Ensemble Topaz, recipient of Toronto Arts Council Award
  • guitar and violin for John Gora and Gorale four-time Grammy nominated band
  • guitar for Ed Guca and The Polish Canadians, Polka Hall of Fame inductee
  • singing, guitar, trumpet violin and saxophone for Impulse Band
  • bass for Cosa Polska Polish-Latin salsa band
  • guitar and cello in Benson Wong Band

Humble Beginnings

My first. musical instrument was a partly broken one-string acoustic guitar. That fact alone set me straight as a lead guitarist by a default. In a few months I was lucky to finally upgrade to a properly functioning instrument with all six strings attached and in tune (well, at least most of the time). Those were the humble beginnings.

One of the most memorable places back then for me was a backstage rehearsal room at the town’s community centre that had a drum kit, bass guitar, a few amps, speakers. There was my initiation into a music band lifestyle, drums, electric guitars, bass, loud amps, smoke filled rehearsals and spontaneous jam sessions where I could watch in amazement the “older” veterans.

My First Band

Right there I started my first band where I played guitar and sang while still struggling with bar chords, joined by a drummer friend with a poor sense of rhythm but – who cares at that age – full of positive energy. Then there were the two other guys that have never touched an instrument before and unfortunately faded away after a few weeks. A few weeks later an aspiring bass player joined in and … Yes! That was it. The band, though it only lasted for a few months before the summer came along, it was a great experience! For that short period of time whenever the music room was available we were there making a lot of noise and sometimes a little bit of music, if you know what I mean.

In between the music Bohemia and the world of academia

The school years can be summed up as a display of passion, persistence, personal development in the area of technic and musicianship, exploration, never saying no to any band opportunity or orchestra call, lots of jamming and spontaneous projects, in general learning as much as possible about all aspects of musical arts at a high intensity and with a lot of curiosity. Private lessons, high school and university bands, orchestras, theory and studio courses, classical, jazz and world music ensembles and along that the first attempts at composition, arranging and production. With more involvement into the academia, I also studied performing on non-western instruments from places like Persia, China, the Middle East, Africa and Cuba. In addition to a few more rock and jazz projects that I got myself involved into at that time, I spent relatively more time on composition, arranging, scoring, recording and production. All that led me to regular gigging with a few local bands, world music ensembles and dance groups, including larger ensembles such as the Toronto Chinese Orchestra, Tapercussion, and the Middle Eastern Ensemble.

Looking back at all those years I had the privilege of working with some of the best artists in Canada, US, Asia, and Eastern Europe, learned much from every single one of them and had the opportunity to connect with great audiences across many cultures and communities in this country and abroad… and yeah, it’s definitely not over yet :))))