Vitold Rek, born October 18, 1955 in Rzeszow (Poland), as Witold E. Zczurek, is a double-bassist, composer, and music educator. Krzysztof Pederecki, the Academy of Music’s rector at Krakow, taught him classical double bass. His playing “combines jazz influences with classical, East European folk elements”, and he focuses on live performance as well as composition. Rek has performed at many festivals, including Montreux Jazz Festival (London), North Sea Jazz Festival (The Hague), Willisau Jazz Festival), Berlin Jazz Festival and ISB Double Bass Convention USA. He also appeared at the Mexico Jazz Festival. He has also performed in concerts to Mexico, Cuba, and Mozambique. He has performed at the Purcell Room in London, and the Paris Olympia. Charlie Mariano and John Tchicai, Albert Mangelsdorffs, Karl Berger. Tomasz Stanko. Gunter Baby Sommer. Dom Um Romao. He also collaborates with the Frankfurt Radio HR Jazz Ensemble. Vitold enjoys working with German writers and combines spoken poetry with his own solo performance. He is close to Johann P. Tammen, and has worked with Oskar Ansull and Sarah Kirsch, as well as Kito Lorenc and Volker Braun. He is a jazz double bass teacher and coach at the Hochschule fur Musik in Mainz as well as the Hochschule fur Musik in Frankfurt. In 2008 Vitold Rek was honored twice: with Tomasz Stanko’s 5-CD album “1970-1975-1984-1986-1988” – Platinum Prize in Poland – and with Emil Mangelsdorff’s CD “Blues Forever” – Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2008 in Germany. Vitold Rek was the soloist in Jazz Concerto Grosso, a composition by Piotr Wirobel for double bass, flute (soloist Jadwiga Koutnowska) and symphony orchestra at the Polish Chamber Music Festival. From Wikipedia
