Jan Byrczek

Jan Byrczek (born June 23, 1936 in Chełmek , † November 10, 2019 in Myślenice ) was a Polish jazz musician ( double bass ) and journalist .

Live and act

Jan Byrczek grew up near Jaworzno . He started playing the accordion at the age of five . In 1949, thanks to a scholarship, he was able to learn the double bass at a music school in Kraków . He studied at the local music academy .

The first jazz band Byrczek played in was Kolorowy Jazz , founded in 1956. Shortly afterwards he appeared in the Jazz Bevers group of Jan “Ptaszyn” Wróblewski and, at the Jazz Jamboree 1958, in the trio of Krzysztof Komeda . He was also a member of the Andrzej Trzaskowski Trio , the Andrzej Kurylewicz Quartet and the Jerzy Milian Sextet . Due to a hand disease, he had to end his active music career relatively early.

In the 1960s he was President of the Polish Jazz Federation ( Polska Federacja Jazzu ), since 1972 co-founder and general secretary of the European and later the International Jazz Federation. In the 1970s he emigrated to the USA . In 1965 he founded the most influential Polish jazz magazine, Jazz Forum , of which he was editor-in-chief until 1979. In 1990 he was again President of the Polish Jazz Association for one year.

In the late 1980s, Byrczek became a board member of Amerbank in Poland.

Discographic notes

• Andrzej Trzaskowski Trio Concert in Warsaw (1959)
• Andrzej Kurylewicz Quartet Somnambulicy (1961)
• Zbigniew Namysłowski Sextet (1963)
• Zbigniew Namysłowski Quintet (1964)

swell

• Paweł Brodowski: Jan Byrczek never żyje! Jazz Forum, accessed December 30, 2019 (Polish).