Anna Maria Jopek – Barefoot (2002)

Born December 14, 1970, vocalist Anna Maria Jopek is a native of Poland, and grew up listening to her native folk music. She studied classical piano at the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, and briefly participated in jazz studies at the Manhattan School of Music. She was a contestant in the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest, and is a recipient of the Michel Legrand Award. Her nearly dozen recordings have reached gold and platinum status in Europe. She prefers not to be pegged as strictly a jazz singer, though the influence of Keith Jarrett is quite prevalent in her music. Borrowing from pop music, Polish folk forms, and other ethnic sources, Jopek synthesizes a whirlwind of sound from various contemporary music sources, similar to her acclaimed Polish peer, Grazyna Auguscik. She played Carnegie Hall in January 2004. Collaborators over the years have included Tomasz Stanko, Pat Metheny, Richard Bona, Branford Marsalis, Christian McBride, Dhafer Youssef, Gordon Haskell, Mino Cinelu, and Manu Katche.