Kuba Wiecek

hoshii (which means 'to desire' in Japanese) is the latest project of the acclaimed saxophonist and producer Kuba Więcek, returning to the jazz scene with new ideas gathered over recent years while collaborating with various artists from the hip-hop and the alternative music scene. The music played by the hoshii band consists of beats initially created by Kuba, which are arranged for a jazz quartet and then produced in a way that aims to redefine the sound of contemporary jazz. The band also includes pianist Grzegorz Tarwid, whom Kuba studied with in Copenhagen, Max Mucha – a bassist known for collaborations with Christian Scott, and drummer Miłosz Berdzik, a recent graduate of the Berklee College of Music. The context for the music is a story about an entity (named hoshii) originating from a planet called Versus, located several galaxies away from Earth. Hoshii, bored with its perfect and predictable life, sets out on a journey to experience something new and ends up on Earth. Initially faced with rejection from humans, over time, the situation changes, and the entity begins to gain acceptance in the eyes of the new environment. Downbeat magazine picks Kuba Więcek as one of the musicians who has potential to shape the sound of jazz in the future alongside names like Shabaka, Yussef Days and Joel Ross.