Polish jazz
Encyclopedia
Polish jazz before Communism
The beginning of jazz in Poland is difficult to determine. Still by the 1930s clubs in WarsawWarsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, Rzeszów
Rzeszów
Rzeszów is a city in southeastern Poland with a population of 179,455 in 2010. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River, in the heartland of the Sandomierska Valley...
or Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
would play some jazz. This tended to be swing (genre)
Swing (genre)
Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...
and some of it was influenced by more classical influences like George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
. Eddie Rosner
Eddie Rosner
Adolph Ignatievich Rosner, also known as Eddie Rosner was a Polish and Soviet Jazz musician called "The White Louis Armstrong" or "Polish Louis Armstrong" in different sources. This is in part because of his rendition of the St. Louis blues...
might be one of the first jazz musicians of significance in Poland. A great many Polish jazz musicians in this era were Jewish, German, or members of other ethnic minorities.
Stalinist repression
The period of Communist takeover saw initial repression of jazz. Although groups like Melomani existed, jazz was officially condemned and forbidden from the radio.Liberalisation
After the death of Stalin jazz in Poland gained renewed freedom. In 1958 Dave BrubeckDave Brubeck
David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...
visited Poland and the nation's jazz scene became influenced by cool jazz
Cool jazz
Cool is a style of modern jazz music that arose following the Second World War. It is characterized by its relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the bebop style that preceded it...
. By the sixties three strands had emerged as dominant; trad jazz
Trad jazz
Trad jazz - short for "traditional jazz" - refers to the Dixieland and Ragtime jazz styles of the early 20th century in contrast to any more modern style....
, "mainstream", and free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
.
Polish jazz musicians
- Marek BlizińskiMarek BlizinskiMarek Bliziński - Polish jazz guitarist and composer. Played with Michał Urbaniak, Wojciech Karolak and Zbigniew Namysłowski.Marek Bliziński was the first Polish world-class jazz guitarist...
-Guitarist. - Stanisław Domarski-Saxophonist
- Urszula DudziakUrszula DudziakUrszula Bogumiła Dudziak-Urbaniak is a leading Polish jazz vocalist. She has worked with such artists as Krzysztof Komeda, Michał Urbaniak , Gil Evans, Archie Shepp, and Lester Bowie...
-Singer - Marcin Grochowina-Pianist and composer.
- Maciek GrzywaczMaciek GrzywaczMaciek Grzywacz is a Polish jazz and classical guitarist.Grzywacz studied classical guitar in Warsaw, Poland, and for 8 years in Munich, Germany. While in Germany, he performed solo classical guitar concerts, and played at jazz clubs in Munich. He leads the ‘Maciej Grzywacz Quartet’, which includes...
-Guitarist, also classical. - Bogdan Hołownia-Pianist
- Andrzej Jagodziński-Pianist.
- Marcin JahrMarcin JahrMarcin Jahr , Polish jazz drummer, studied drums at The Music Academy in Katowice, Poland. He finished his studies in 1992 earning a diploma of jazz music . Before that, he had taken part in jazz competitions during Jazz Juniors Festival in Cracow, winning prizes and distinguishing rewards...
-Drummer - Wojciech KarolakWojciech KarolakWojciech Karolak is a notable Hammond B-3 organ player who refers to himself as "an American jazz and rhythm and blues musician, born by mistake in Middle Europe". He has also played saxophone and piano professionally.In 1958, he started working with the band the 'Jazz Believers' playing alto...
-Describes himself as"an American jazz and rhythm and blues musician, born by mistake in Middle Europe." - Krzysztof Kiljański
- Krzysztof KomedaKrzysztof KomedaKrzysztof Komeda was a Polish film music composer and jazz pianist. Perhaps best-known for his work in film scores, Komeda wrote the scores for Roman Polanski’s films Rosemary’s Baby, The Fearless Vampire Killers, Knife in the Water and Cul-de-sac...
-Composer - Sławomir Kulpowicz-Pianist
- Sławomir Kucharski-Guitarist and Pianist, currently lives in Sydney, Australia.
- Stan Lalowski-Pianist
- Marcin MaseckiMarcin MaseckiMarcin Masecki is an avant garde pianist. His father was a clarinetist who started playing musical games with him at age 3 and by age 7 Marcin took up piano. He began playing at clubs at age twelve and by the time he was fifteen, he had his own trio. In 2005 he won the main prize at the...
-Pianist - Adam MakowiczAdam MakowiczAdam Makowicz born Adam Matyszkowicz is a Polish-Canadian pianist and composer living in Toronto. He performs jazz and classical piano pieces, as well as his own compositions...
-Pianist, currently lives in Toronto. - Marcin Małecki-Composer and pianist
- Jerzy MatuszkiewiczJerzy MatuszkiewiczJerzy Matuszkiewicz is a Polish jazz musician and composer. He was a pioneer of the post-WWII jazz movement in Poland. Between 1950-58 he was head of the well-known Polish jazz group, Melomani. Throughout 1964 he performed both inside and outside of Poland. In 1965 he began to mainly produce music...
- Henryk Miśkiewicz
- Leszek MożdżerLeszek MozdzerLeszek Możdżer is a Polish jazz pianist. He is also a music producer and a film music composer.He has graduated from the Academy of Music in Gdansk, Poland...
-Pianist - Włodzimierz Nahorny-Pianist and saxophonist who won a FryderykFryderykThe Fryderyk is the annual award in Polish music. Its name refers to the original Polish spelling variant of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin's first name...
. - Zbigniew Namysłowski-Saxophonist
- Bartlomiej OlesBartlomiej OlesBartlomiej Brat Oles is a jazz and free improvisation drummer, composer and record producer. He is the twin brother of Marcin Oles and Art-director of the Polish independent Jazz Label Fenommedia....
-Drummer, free improvisation. - Marcin OlesMarcin OlesMarcin Oles is a jazz and free improvisation bass player, composer and record producer. He is the twin brother of Bartlomiej Oles....
-Bassist, free improvisation. - Zbigniew SeifertZbigniew SeifertZbigniew Seifert was a Polish jazz violinist.Seifert was born in Kraków, Poland in 1946. He played alto saxophone early in his career and was strongly influenced by John Coltrane...
-Violinist. - Jarosław Śmietana-Guitarist
- Tomasz StańkoTomasz StankoTomasz Stańko is a Polish trumpeter, composer and improviser. Often recording for ECM, Stańko is strongly associated with free jazz and the avant-garde....
-Trumpeter, avant-garde - Alex Tarkowski-Jazz Flute
- Szymon Tarkowski - Bassist, off - jazz
- Mikołaj Trzaska - Composer, saxophonist, bass clarinetist
- Andrzej TrzaskowskiAndrzej TrzaskowskiAndrzej Trzaskowski was an eminent Polish composer and jazz musician who, between 1959 and 1990, composed the music and/or conducted the score for some thirty films....
- Tymon Tymański-Multi-instrumentalist and poet
- Jan Ptaszyn WróblewskiJan Ptaszyn WróblewskiJan "Ptaszyn" Wróblewski is a Polish composer and tenor saxophonist most linked to jazz.He began his musical career in 1956 at Polish festivals. He went on to tour around the world and for a decade, starting in 1958, he directed the Polish Radio Jazz Studio...
-Composer - Michał Urbaniak-Violinist
- Marcin WasilewskiMarcin Wasilewski (pianist)Marcin Wasilewski, born 1975, is a Polish pianist and composer.Wasilewski established a musical partnership with bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz as the Simple Acoustic Trio in the early-1990's which led to Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stańko mentoring the group for several...
-Pianist