Polish-born violinist, singer and composer Agata Kubiak has been active on London’s jazz and contemporary classical scenes since she moved to the UK in 2007. Some of her activities during this time include: the release of her debut album, Polarity, in 2014; running a monthly jazz night in Harrow; and completing research culminating in a doctorate on ‘Creativity in new music for strings‘ in 2019.
Back in 2022, she previewed the launch of a new project at Jazz Café POSK in a UKJN interview with Sebastian Scotney (linked below). It featured all-new music for an album in development called The Other, a follow-up to Polarity. Now, almost three years later, she discusses the much-anticipated release of The Other album on 6 June 2025 and goes into more detail about the music.
UKJazz News: You called your album The Other. What’s the story behind that title?
Agata Kubiak: I love my debut album Polarity, but I always felt that it came across as a bit timid and polite because of some artistic decisions I made. For my second record, I wanted to unleash those ‘other’ influences – the energy and a bit of darkness that seemed dormant in my first record. I wanted to explore the raw, honest, almost primal side of my expression in my playing and compositions. I believe we all have that ‘other’ in us, and I enjoyed not hiding it in this record.
UKJN: You discussed the launch of The Other project at Jazz Cafe POSK in an interview with Sebastian Scotney almost three years ago. In what ways did the concept develop from that performance up to the recording?
AK: Playing the material live, sometimes with different musicians, and just letting it mature, both from the craft side and for me, was important on a personal level. There seems to be a pattern in my creative process that also took place with my debut album. In each case, I needed at least two years between writing the material and releasing it. I found it frustrating the first time, but did not try to fight it with this record.
UKJN: Your band features Ralph Brown on piano, Tom Kenworthy on guitar, Charlie Pyne on bass, and Dave Storey on drums. Talk a bit about what they each bring to your music…
AK: I am incredibly lucky to be able to work with such amazing musicians who I can also call my friends. Each musician in my quintet is also a composer, so their fantastic understanding of modern jazz writing and performance made my job as a band leader easier. I was a fan of Dave’s trio before I asked him to join my project. His playing is so compositionally driven and brings a lot of energy into the quintet’s sound while remaining subtle. Charlie, apart from being a phenomenal bass player, is also a singer – I feel it brings us close as fellow singing instrumentalists. Her bass playing is so wonderfully melodic while remaining a powerful driving force in the band’s sound. I have been collaborating artistically with Ralph for almost fifteen years (he also recorded on my debut album). His compositional input (“Frozen Planet” and “Itzy Bitzy”) and his interpretations of mine and Tom’s writing are very musically rich – honestly, one of a kind. The way he hears is so profound, original and fascinating. Last but not least is Tom, my main compositional partner and fellow creative force behind the album. Honestly, he is my favourite jazz guitarist. I think he sounds like John Scofield, if John Scofield were also into death metal! We share a lot of musical influences, from metal, through late Coltrane to Contemporary Classical music. His take on harmonic expression made this album come to life, and I couldn’t be happier with the effect.
UKJN: When discussing Polish jazz violinists, a name that tends to come up is the late great Zbigniew Seifert. The title track on your album reminds me of some of his work – has his playing and music influenced you at all?
AK: Oh, that made my day! Seifert has been very influential on my playing – more than anyone, apart from John Coltrane, I would say. I only discovered him about twelve years ago, and I still remember how important that was. I also remember how shocked I was that, as a Polish national, I had not come across him. Last year, my band had the pleasure of putting together a concert titled ‘History of Jazz Violin’ at the Polish Jazz Cafe, in which we played some of his compositions. That was really fun.
UKJN: You talked before about the influence of the Polish jazz tradition and ECM sound world on your style, as well as how you wanted to generate a higher energy level on this recording. Are there any particular artists who (or recordings that) inspired the sound you were searching for?
AK: I tend to listen to such a chaotically diverse set of music, it’s always hard to recover particular influences. That said, I think the music of the Tomasz Chyła Quintet has definitely been an influence and also some work by Tigran Hamasyan, and John Taylor (who was briefly a teacher of Ralph!) has left a strong mark.
UKJN: It sounds like you enjoy exploring the boundaries of harmony, particularly in your string writing…
AK: Haha…Definitely! I think my experience of ten plus years of playing in a string quartet specialising in contemporary classical music has altered how I hear and interact with harmony. I tend to hear things very intervallically – I guess playing a non-harmonic instrument and being a fan of a lot of ‘post-tonal’ music is the cause. I enjoy the back and forth of playing with functional and non-functional harmonic language, but I think my aesthetic line of what’s acceptable stretches what’s typically thought of as ‘Jazz harmony’…I love it though! It’s like living in the wilderness – so many possibilities of where you can go. For me, each path is as rich and intense as another.
UKJN: On a track like “The Wheel”, your lyrics switch between Polish and English. How do you decide which language works best at a given moment – is it intuitive?
AK: Completely intuitive, I think. After eighteen years in the UK, I consider myself bilingual. However, some thoughts and feelings seem more natural to express in a particular language. It might sound like a cliché, but I try to go with what feels right in the moment when writing lyrics.
UKJN: All of the tracks are original compositions except Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile”. What about that standard in particular made you want to include it here?
AK: I always thought that this standard was quite a dark tune. When you read the lyrics alone, it’s already so clear. Despite that, most interpretations we hear are quite soft and happy, and they sound almost ‘pastel coloured’ to me. I wanted to try producing a version that will reach the other (no pun intended…) side of this standard and expose that bleakness I could hear every time I engaged with it in the past.
UKJN: Do you have any upcoming live performances of music from The Other?
AK: Yes, we do! We have an album launch concert at the University of West London on 6 June with a Q&A afterwards. The event is free, but we recommend booking your tickets in advance as seating is limited (booking link below).
UKJN: In 2019, you completed a doctorate on “Creativity in new music for strings” at the London College of Music. I understand you are now a lecturer there…
AK: Yes, I am. I love research and working with students in higher education. It’s such an intellectually and artistically stimulating environment. I feel that it gels well with my gigging musician’s life. I’ve always been interested in asking why and how we do things as well as actively doing them.
UKJN: What else are you working on at the moment?
AK: Working on the album release and growing my second child (I am currently over 7 months pregnant) has been consuming most of my energy recently. But I also run a monthly jazz night and jam session in Harrow (every last Friday of the month), and I am currently working on an academic paper investigating how jazz musicians understand mistakes in connection to their improvised language.
