dr hab. Łukasz Żyta
Łukasz Żyta – received his initial musical education at the Arthur Rubinstein Primary and Secondary School of Music in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
He studied at and received his Master’s Degree from the Jazz Institute of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland in 1998.
His debut on the jazz stage was in 1993 – at Krakow’s Jazz Juniors competition – as a member of the group Youth Formation. He was awarded First Prize at that same competition in 1995, when he appeared with the group Joint Venture, with whom he went on to take top honors at the Jazz Standards Festival in Siedlce (1996), as well as a Most Promising Group award at the European Jazz Competition in Hoeilaart, Belgium (1996). In 1998, he was First Prize Laureate at the Jazz Drummers’ Competition in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, as well as receiving an Individual Distinction at the “Jazz On The Oder” Festival in Wrocław.
He has performed, toured and/or recorded with a wide range of musicians, including a number of internationally renowned artists, many of whom he continues to work with on a regular basis. He has worked or works with a number of Poland’s leading jazz musicians, including saxophonists Janusz Muniak, Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski, Tomasz Szukalski, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Andrzej Olejniczak, Henryk Miśkiewicz, Piotr Baron and Kuba Więcek; guitarist Jarosław Śmietana; trumpeter Piotr Wojtasik, trombonist Grzegorz Nagórski, pianists Kuba Stankiewicz, Michał Tokaj and Piotr Wyleżoł, as well as bassists Andrzej Cudzich and Darek „Oles” Oleszkiewicz, Jacek Niedziela, Michał Barański among many others. His experience in accompanying vocalists is extensive, having worked with a range of singers that represents several generations of Poland’s vocal jazz scene – Ewa Bem, Urszula Dudziak, Grażyna Auguścik, Iza Zając, and currently with Aga Zaryan. Some of the other artists he has worked with are: Lee Konitz, Bennie Maupin, Ishmael Wadada, Leo Smith, Dino Saluzzi, Dayna Stephens, Stephen Riley, David Murray, Chris Cheek, David Friedman, Bobby Watson, Brad Terry, Ingrid Jensen, Timucin Sahin, William Galison, Matt Pavolka, Jaromir Honzak, David Doruzka, Steve Logan, Josefine Lindstrand, and others.
He has performed at many festivals in Poland: Jazz Jamboree, Jazz nad Odrą, Komeda Jazz Festival, Festiwal Pianistów Jazzowych, Od Nowa Jazz Festival, Jazz Juniors, Muzeum Jazz Festival, Lublin Jazz Festival, Pomorska Jesień Jazzowa, Młyn Jazz Festival, Sopot Jazz Festival, Sopot Molo Jazz Festival, RCK Pro Jazz Festival, Silesian Jazz Meeting, Starzy i Młodzi czyli Jazz w Krakowie, Tarnów International Jazz Contest, Palm Jazz Festival, Ladies Jazz Festival, Zakopiańska Wiosna Jazzowa, Drums Fuzje etc.
and abroad:Ankara Jazz Festival, Berlin Jazz Festival, Brno Jazz Festival, Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Dusseldorf Jazz Rally, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, Getxo Jazz Festival, Izmir European Jazz Festival, Jazzahead (Bremen), Nine Gates Jazz Festival (Pekin), Roma Jazz Festival, St. Moritz Jazz Festival, Tokyo Jazz Festival, Trutnov Jazz Festival, Utsav Jazz Festival (New Delhi), White Nights Jazz Festival (St. Petersburg)
As a sideman he recorded over 50 CDs.
Since 2007 he is a drum teacher at the jazz faculty at the Academy of Music in Krakow.