Talk:Adam Makowicz

Piano virtuosity of Adam Makowicz

Witnessing his live performances on stage and in a Los Angeles studio was one of my most enjoyable musical experiences during the 1990s. Makowicz played his interpretations of classical, jazz, and popular pieces with impressive dexterity and finesse. After that experience, it was hard to find any other living pianist with comparable mastery of the piano, as at that time Oscar Peterson was already affected by stroke. Today many other pianists are demonstrating remarkable virtuosity, such as Benny Green, Eldar Djangirov, Eugene Maslov, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Shelly Berg, and Brad Mehldau, to name just a few. However, Makowicz remains a unique performer of cross-cultural and cross-style interpretations who is brilliantly blending various genres of music, mainly from European and North American jazz and classical schools. His stylistic finesse, inventiveness, and extraordinary technical virtuosity remains unparallelled. Steveshelokhonov 22:18, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Pianos played by Adam Makowicz and other pianists

Unique individuality of every musician may be better revealed and presented through a perfectly matching piano.

The brand of piano, its size and model are important because the instrument has to meet the needs of all parties involved: most importantly - the pianist and other musicians, studio engineers and record producers, and the audiences. Piano makers know how important for a pianist to be comfortable and confident in performance. A piano must be up to the job like a well serviced and tuned-up car ready for a race. Pianists usually make choices of a particular piano for specific conditions of every serious project, as well as for the best possible delivery of all details and nuances of music, because some pianos work and sound better in a live concert with a symphony orchestra, while other pianos are ok for smaller studios.

Oscar Peterson is a famous example of a musician who played a variety of pianos, switching from a Steinway to Bosendorfer in his later years, because the piano of his choice fit his mature style and worked well for him, and also because other related arrangements were comfortable for this particular musician.

Adam Makowicz has been playing a variety of pianos on stage and in studios, over the course of his career since the 1950s. His preferences for live performances at major concert halls were Stainway & Sons pianos, and Bosendorfer pianos, while his choices for studio recordings also included other brands of pianos. Here is the short list of pianos played by Makowicz, based on his comments, live observations, photos, records notes, comments by personnel at various studios, and other sources.

• Bösendorfer pianos - some live performances in the 1990s and 2000s, some recordings
• Steinway & Sons pianos - most stage performances with symphony orchestras, and solo from 1950s through the 2000s, some recordings
• Baldwin pianos - some performances in the USA
• C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik pianos - live performances and some recordings in Europe
• Bluthner pianos - some performances in Europe
• Fazioli pianos - some performances
• Fender electric piano - live recording in Europe
• Yamaha pianos - some performances and studio recordings

My long time impression has been that Makowicz delivered his better performances when he played a Bosendorfer, or a Steinway. I have a long experience listening to his recordings, as well as his live performances in support of this impression. He also played pianos of other brands, especially in Europe, where hundreds of piano makers eventually provided a very wide variety of pianos. Steveshelokhonov 22:18, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

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