Anna Maria

Originally released in 2002 in Europe and Japan, Upojenie (Ecstasy) is a collaboration between Pat Metheny and superstar Polish vocalist Anna Maria Jopek. It came into being after Jopek approached the guitarist at a jazz festival in Warsaw in 2001. Her original idea was to perform some of her own work, some of Metheny's, and some Polish folk songs (exactly what happened). The collaboration was recorded over four months in Poland; it is something wholly other than the sum of its parts might suggest. Co-produced by composer Marcin Kydrynski (Jopek's husband) and Metheny.

"Secret" is a wonderful album to the novice Anna Maria Jopek fan. Most, if not all songs are sung in English, she does several covers on this album such as "Cherry Tree", "Thousand Years" and "Moondance". Certainly this album has led me to purchase other's of her's sung in her native Polish. I have to say the nature of the language makes no difference, Anna Maria is fabulous in Polish, even though I don't understand a word she's singing, her emotions shine through regardless.

Every new release by the Polish Diva Anna Maria Jopek is a celebration of Culture and a major musical event on an international scale, especially so when it involves a revered Jazz superstar like saxophonist Branford Marsalis. Jopek, famous for her consistent independent Artistic vision, managed to create her own universe, where she does not need to compare or compete with the rest of the world, which enables her complete freedom of expression and self-determination, which only very few Artists worldwide were able to achieve over time.

The worlds of the crossover album and of the ECM music label don't overlap much, but this is a crossover album unlike any other released up to this time. For one thing, it deals with the Renaissance lute song, not a form in which new pieces have been written often. And for another, the vocal middle ground between Renaissance vocal styles and the rock background of the contemporary composers is unique. What is here are Renaissance lute songs from England and Spain, plus songs by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Tony Banks of Genesis, and, at the end, Sting, expanding on his Dowland album of a decade ago.

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.