Program Notes: A dream of Polish bassist and composer Lech Wieleba was to take selected songs that he had previously written for his jazz quartet Poetic Jazz, and have them performed by an orchestra. This dream took five years to come to fruition. In 2013 he contacted long time Polish conductor/composer Bohdan Jarmolowicz and composer/arranger/Berklee College of Music professor Jerry Gates to create orchestral arrangements of the previously composed songs. The world premiere of these new arrangements and orchestrations were performed by Polska Filharmonia Baltica, located in Slupsk, Poland in the fall of 2014. Since the premiere, the program now titled Poetic Jazz Symphonic, has had additional performances in Slupsk, Gdansk and Lodz, Poland. In October of 2017, the music for “Poetic Jazz Symphonic” had its American debut featuring both Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Berklee College of Music students. This performance, under the direction of Larry Isaacson was the inaugural program for Mr. Isaacson’s “Spectrum Project,” which will feature faculty compositions each year. In the CD liner notes of Lech Wieleba's Poetic Jazz Symphonic is stated: “Music that makes you feel more elevated, pure and genuine must necessarily correspond to a spiritual truth, otherwise life would not make sense. The music is imbued with magical lightness, formed from the primordial power of Jazz, the autumnal-pastel melodies of the Slavic tradition and the high art of classical composers.” (Program Notes by Maria D‘Ambrosio, Larry Isaacson and Jerry Gates) 1140 Boylston Street Boston, Massachusetts www.Berklee.edu