Krzysztof Dziedzic at Think Punk — Natural Grip Workshop + Drum & Box Heavyweights, 25 Sept 2026

A drummer who has spent the best part of two decades behind Nigel Kennedy. A heavyweight boxing fight on the big screen. One free evening in Dublin 8.

Krzysztof Dziedzic comes to ThinkPunk Studios on Friday 25 September for a compact night in three parts: a one-hour Natural Grip workshop for anyone who plays (or wants to), his Drum & Box Heavyweights performance, and then the jam — because there's always a jam. The whole thing is free. The registration form is at the bottom of this page; workshop places are limited by the size of the room.

Who's playing

Krzysztof Dziedzic is a Polish jazz drummer from Bielsko-Biała who started on piano at seven, switched to drums at fifteen and was playing in the Katowice Academy of Music big band before he'd finished school. His first recording session — Piotr Wojtasik's Quest, while still a student — put him in a room with Billy Harper, Buster Williams and Ben Riley. The decade that followed placed him at the centre of the Polish jazz scene: Tomasz Szukalski, Janusz Muniak, Wojciech Karolak, Henryk Miśkiewicz, Adam Pierończyk and many more, with stops at Jazz Jamboree, Warsaw Summer Jazz Days, the ERA Jazz Festival alongside David Murray, and North Sea Jazz in Rotterdam.

Then, in December 2008, Nigel Kennedy called. Since then Krzysztof has played over 200 concerts a year with Kennedy's various projects — Sydney Opera House, the Royal Albert Hall, the biggest halls in Germany and, yes, the National Concert Hall here in Dublin — recording for EMI and Sony and cutting the Bach/Fats Waller project at Abbey Road. Along the way: festivals with Jon Lord, a run with the legendary Polish band SBB, a Nick Drake recording (“River Man”) with Boy George, and his own album, Tempo (2017).

He's an official Zildjian and Gretsch artist. He is also one of Poland's most committed drum educators — founder of the Polish Drummers Institute, of the Polish Drummers community (the country's biggest online drumming forum), of the international Hit Like A Man drum contest, and of the monthly Drum Camp in Jaworki, running since 2015.

17:30 — The workshop: Natural Grip

Natural Grip is Krzysztof's name for the way the sticks want to sit in your hands — where they naturally land and rebound. Art Blakey played this way. The workshop covers how you hold the sticks and what that does to your sound, your position at the instrument, and the Moeller and Gladstone techniques underneath all of it — then what to practise and how, and how a swing feel can feed any style of music. It's hands-on and interactive: everyone plays. It doesn't matter whether you've been drumming for twenty years or twenty days.

19:00 — Drum & Box Heavyweights

This is the one we can't stop talking about. A heavyweight boxing fight goes up on the big screen. Krzysztof sits down at the kit and plays it — a live drum soundtrack to the fight as it unfolds. Percussion as commentary. The programme closes the Bielsko-Biała Street Photo Festival on 20 September; five days later it's in Dublin 8.

After — the jam

As always. Stay on, sit in.

Details

Friday 25 September 2026
17:30–18:30 — Natural Grip workshop with Krzysztof Dziedzic
19:00–20:00 — Drum & Box Heavyweights
After — jam session
Venue — ThinkPunk Studios, Dublin 8
Free. Registration required — form below.

Register

Dig deeper

YouTube: youtube.com/user/dziedzicmusic

Think Punk is a not-for-profit community arts space in Dublin 8 — a free night like this one happens because people show up and if they can they leave a donation.

Brought to you by Grześ Witkowski.