Jazz in Poland
The development of jazz in Poland and its public perception differs in several ways from that in the “mother country” of jazz . Polish jazz history was strongly influenced by real socialism . Musically, “Polski Jazz”, which emerged in the 1950s, is considered a characteristic, independent style. In the 1990s, the Yass was another genuinely Polish jazz phenomenon.
Jazz in Poland between the wars
As in many European countries, jazz first came to Poland as a result of the growing fascination with American culture after the end of the First World War . Jazz was initially played as dance and entertainment music in appropriate pubs. The audience was limited to upper social classes in large cities ( Warsaw , Lviv , Krakow , Łódź , Gdynia , Katowice ), later also in health resorts such as Krynica-Zdrój or Ciechocinek .
The saxophonist Zygmunt Karasiński (1898-1973) in 1922 founded the well first Polish jazz group when he was a commitment in the Danziger local Hermitage received; His musicians also included the pianist and later Schlager composer Jerzy Petersburski . The appearance of the Karasińskis band at the General Exhibition ( Powszechna Wystawa Krajowa ) in Poznan in 1928 is considered an important turning point in the history of Polish jazz. The first two jazz orchestras, Karasiński i Kataszek and Gold i Petersburski , were formed as early as 1925 .
The first sound films and the concerts of the Afro-American revue orchestra The Chocolate Kids and the Utica Jubilee Singers choir , whose repertoire consisted mainly of spirituals and blues , had a decisive influence on the development of jazz in Poland after 1930 . In the larger cities, foreign orchestras with American repertoire were initially hired before more and more ensembles emerged in which only Poles played. Wileńczycy Leonard Ilgowskis , the O'Key Band Leon Mittelbachs , The Jolly Boys by Henryk and Stanisław Sperber and Jan Polocki's Melody Maker were among the best-known formations of the interwar period ; the most professional and well-known orchestra was that of Zygmunt Karasiński and Szymon Kataszek , which toured all major cities and popularized Dixieland and Chicago jazz . The Karasiński & Kataszek Jazz-Tango Orchestra toured Europe and the Middle East in 1934/1935.
Other popular bands of this era were the Lofka Ilgowski Orchestra (which was heavily influenced by Benny Goodman ) and the Petersburski & Gold Orchestra , led by Jerzy Petersburski and violinist Arthur Gold . The latter was Warsaw's most successful dance orchestra in the 1920s and played in the Adria restaurant . In the 1920s and 30s, both orchestras worked for the film industry in addition to their regular engagements; Recordings were made for the Syrena Records label, which was founded in 1904. One of the most important Polish jazz musicians of the interwar period, Henryk Wars , composed the music for around 50 films (around a third of all films made in Poland during this period).
In the early days of its development, jazz was controversial and was criticized early on in newspaper articles (e.g. for allegedly profaning the works of Frédéric Chopin ). This initially led to a ban on the employment of jazz bands by the Polish Musicians' Union ( Związek Zawodowy Muzyków Polskich ), which was not lifted until 1927. Also in 1927 the first European jazz magazine ( Jazz ) appeared in Poland , but only in one issue.
After 1933, the year the National Socialists came to power in the German Reich , Polish jazz flourished again when many Jewish musicians had to (re-) emigrate from Germany. Among them were the trumpeters Eddie Rosner (known in Poland as Ady) and Manny Fischer , the saxophonists Bobby Fidler , Eryk and Erwin Wolffeiler , the violinist Arkady Flato , the drummer Georg "Joe" Scharcstein and the singer Lothar Lempel . Ady Rosner was considered the king of jazz virtuosos in Poland ; a Polish critic wrote: Ady Rosner - Jazz sensation! and in the British Melody Maker the director of the Sweet and Hot Club of Brussels referred to him as the Polish Armstrong! .
The Polish musicians were also strongly influenced by the shellac records of the French label Swing with recordings by Rex Stewart , Barney Bigard and Coleman Hawkins . Added to this were the local record productions of the Syrena label , which were made under an American license. The years 1936–39 are regarded as a temporary high point of jazz development in Poland and at the same time as the swing era . Jazz became the dominant music genre on Polish radio.
The second World War
The outbreak of World War II did not initially interrupt the bands' playing opportunities, but the circle of musicians shrank. Thus, the popular band remained Szal of Franciszek Witkowski after their tour of the United States; Henryk Wars, Eddie Rosner and Zygmunt Karasiński went with their orchestras to the Soviet Union , where in the years 1939–1941 Białystok in particular became a refuge for the Polish jazz scene. Also Bronisław Kaper , who later a. a. wrote the Standard On Green Dolphin Street and became a sought-after Hollywood composer, emigrated. The orchestras that continued to play in Poland included the bands of Al Tumel , Bronisław Stasiak , Kazimierz Turewicz , Władysław Kowalczyk , Zbigniew Wróbel , Georg Scott and the big band of Bobek Brien with the Czech saxophonist Charles Bovery . “The majority of musicians simply practiced their profession in the conditions allowed by the occupation regulations and“ smuggled ”what they thought was jazz into their concerts. Some of them, e.g. B. the aforementioned Stasiak, who was deported to Auschwitz , had to pay for it with their lives, ”wrote Paweł Brodowski about jazz in Poland. Jazz was also played in the Warsaw Ghetto until 1943. The dance ban imposed by the occupiers intensified the development of jazz from dance to concert music.
Post-war period - catacomb jazz
The destruction of the jazz infrastructure built in the late 1930s led to a “democratization of jazz” after the World War, because newly opened bars where jazz was played were initially very widespread. “A role that should not be underestimated in arousing interest in jazz was played by the jazz clubs that were founded in the Polish branches of the YMCA ( Young Men's Christian Association ) in Warsaw, Krakow and Lodz,” wrote Paweł Brodowski on jazz in post-war Poland. The Warsaw Club was headed in 1946 by Leopold Tyrmand , who, along with Marian Eile and Stefan Kisielewski, was one of the most important supporters of the jazz scene at this time. It was thanks to Tyrmand's initiative that on May 30, 1947, the YMCA in Warsaw hosted the first public jazz concert after the war under the motto Jam Session. a. the saxophonist Charles Bovery, the singer Jeanne Johnstone Schiele , the clarinetist Juliusz Skowroński , the pianist Wiesław Machan and the drummer Janusz "Mrek" Beliński performed. As "Jazz" is played this time all kinds of American popular music , mixed with Swing -elements; Sources of information were the foreign radio stations - especially Voice of America - and the lectures and meetings in the YMCA clubs. These clubs had large collections of records. However, they were dissolved in 1949 when the cultural authorities declared “jazz to be bourgeois , decadent , suspicious and harmful ; a large part of the records were destroyed by members of the communist youth organization ZMP. Jazz became forbidden music and had to go underground . The heroic time of catacomb jazz began . ”This time was decisive for the“ founding myth ”of Polish jazz and was later stylized as a time of persecution and opposition. Swing was sometimes woven into Foxtrot pieces at dance events, but the jazz scene was relocated to private apartments and so-called "club basements".
"When the Iron Curtain hermetically shielded the entire Eastern Bloc from the outside world, jazz represented a window to freedom. His fans saw it as an expression of a different lifestyle, and as a" weapon of the Cold War "it was specifically used to transfer American values to the Eastern bloc used. Jazz became a new form of expression of the deeply rooted Polish striving for freedom and began to develop very independently in a vital scene. "
"Catacombs" were used to describe private apartments in which jazz concerts were secretly held in small groups; under these circumstances, "the first authentic Polish jazz group, Melomani from Warsaw, which had been founded by students from Krakow and Lodz." They included the woodwind player Jerzy Matuszkiewicz , the pianist Andrzej Trzaskowski , the bassist Witold Kujawski , the trombonist Witold Sobociński and the Drummer and trumpeter Andrzej Wojciechowski . Many of the musicians were students at the film school in Łódź and frequented the YMCA club there. Disconnecting from western jazz currents, Melomani played "a type of music they thought was jazz, in the manner of Jelly Roll Morton and WC Handy ." Critic Elliott Simon wrote:
"Melomani played a series of standards with enthusiasm exceeded only by their fans' obvious adoration ... it is however, the historical circumstance - when jazz was a high energy outlet for the creativity of a culturally repressed society."
Polish jazz after Stalin's death
After Stalin's death , jazz was soon allowed to be played again as "the music of the oppressed black proletariat". Many Poles regularly listened to jazz thanks to appropriate thematic broadcasts by Voice of America . The idea for the first jazz festival to be held in Poland soon arose, the I Krakowskie Zaduszki Jazzowe (First Krakow All Souls Festival) in 1954. Leopold Tyrmand played an important role in its organization. Jan Wróblewski recalls:
“... before this event we only played in dance halls in Poznań , and for an audience that consisted only of my colleagues. Tens of thousands from all over Poland came to Sopot for the festival . When the legendary rally (inspired by a parade in New Orleans) rolled through town, there was nowhere to set foot - it was full. The party dragged on for 24 hours, an extraordinary, fantastic party. People, free people everywhere, on the streets, on the Sopot pier and on the beaches. "
With the de-Stalinization that began in 1956 , Melomani had the opportunity to give regular concerts throughout the country; her appearance at the 1st National Jazz Festival in Sopot ( I Ogólnopolski Festiwal Muzyki Jazzowej Jazz 56 ) on August 6, 1956 gave jazz its breakthrough in Poland.
"The greatest discovery of the festival was the previously unknown sextet Krzysztof Komedas , the first Polish group to exclusively play modern jazz in the style of the Modern Jazz Quartet or Gerry Mulligans ."
The appearance of Krzysztof Komeda in Sopot is often considered to be the birth of a genuinely Polish jazz, Polski Jazz , which is characterized above all by its poetry.
Only eight groups performed in Sopot ( Sekstet Komedy , Drążek i Pięciu , Zespół Pawła Gruenspana , Zespół Jerzego Grzewińskiego , Zespół Kamila Hali , Andrzej Kurylewicz's band , Melomani , Pinokio ), including two foreigners from Burman the Trompeter, including Dave the Trompeter's band . According to Leopold Tyrmand, the “catacomb jazz” was followed by the “frenetic period when jazz music was no less popular than rock music is today ”; Joachim-Ernst Berendt , who was a guest at the Second Festival in Sopot in 1957, wrote euphorically:
“This enthusiasm, this drive that emerged at the time, became the driving force behind the development of the Polish jazz scene. Poland suddenly became one of the leading jazz countries in Eastern Europe. "
At the II. Festival in Sopot in July 1957, on the initiative of the then Secretary of the German Jazz Federation , Werner Wunderlich , several West German groups appeared, such as the Frankfurt All Stars with Albert Mangelsdorff and Joki Freund , the Spree City Stompers (the one with Jerzy Matuszkiewicz and Andrzej Kurylewicz), the singer Bill Ramsey and the clarinetist Albert Nicholas . In the same year Andrzej Kurylewicz performed at the Light Music Week in Stuttgart, the Polish All Stars Duduś Matuszkiewiczs with Zbigniew Namysłowski traveled to Denmark and the 22-year-old saxophonist Jan Wróblewski joined the International Youth Band of the Newport Jazz Festival invited.
From 1956 the monthly magazine Jazz was published, directed by Józef Balcerak, at that time the only such publication in the Eastern Bloc. On the initiative of the editors, the Polish Federation of Jazz Clubs was established in 1958, renamed the Polish Jazz Federation in 1964 and the Polish Jazz Society in 1969 . "It became one of the most dynamic national jazz organizations in the world, which also contributed to a large extent to the emergence of the European (now International ) Jazz Federation." Jazz clubs such as Stodoła and Hybrydy were also founded. On the radio there was a Leopold Tyrmand and since 1956 Stefan Rogiński moderated mission To jest jazz (dt. This is Jazz ). There was temporarily a state jazz orchestra, Państwowa Orkiestra Jazzowa Błękitny Jazz , which was dissolved after a tour in the Soviet Union .
When the security authorities no longer allowed a third Sopot jazz festival to be held because of fear of tumult and uncontrollable enthusiasm, the festival in Warsaw continued in the form of the Jazz '58 event , two years later as the Jazz Jamboree . 1960 was a guest there a. a. Stan Getz , followed by other international stars such as Duke Ellington and Miles Davis . Jazz Jamboree soon developed into "one of the most renowned jazz festivals in Europe, an international meeting place for Poles, a window to the western world."
The major impulses for Polish jazz included the tour of the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1958 and the first visit by Willis Conover , who, with his broadcasts on Voice of America, became the “jazz academy” for a whole generation of musicians since 1954 . Paweł Brodowski noted on this development:
"The profile of Polish jazz changed steadily as Polish musicians to make more and more frequently the possibility were given tours abroad, and also the visits by musicians from other countries, especially American jazz soloists, Poland nit the local jazz rhythm sections occurred, leaving a lasting impression. "
The 1960s
Since the 1950s, three jazz styles had established themselves in Poland: the traditional Dixieland , straight-ahead mainstream jazz as well as avant-garde and free jazz . Trumpeter and clarinetist Henryk "Papa" Majewski was one of the most famous bandleaders of the traditional scene with his band The Old Timers , who toured Europe with Albert Nicholas , Sandy Brown , Buck Clayton and Wild Bill Davison . Majewski also founded the Stodoła Big Band and numerous smaller ensembles. In 1962 the Jazz Band Ball Orchestra was founded , which is now the oldest Polish jazz band in traditional style. In the field of mainstream jazz, Krzysztof Komeda deserves particular mention, who is generally considered to be the most important Polish jazz musician; Polish free jazz was mainly represented by Andrzej Trzaskowski and later also Tomasz Stańko .
At the beginning of the 1960s, jazz musicians were given more opportunities to work on film music ; the most famous film composer in the field of modern jazz was Krzysztof Komeda, who contributed to the music of over 40 films and with Roman Polański (among others in Messer im Wasser , Tanz der Vampire and Rosemary's Baby ), Andrzej Wajda ( The Innocent Magicians ) and Jerzy Skolimowski ( The start ) worked together. Komeda's album Astigmatic (1965) is considered to be “the most outstanding record in the history of Polish jazz.” With Komeda, the trumpeter Tomasz Stańko, the alto saxophonist Zbigniew Namysłowski, the German bassist Günter Lenz and the Swedish drummer Rune Carlsson played on Astigmatic . In addition to Komeda, who died in 1969, the circle of jazz innovators also included the pianist Andrzej Trzaskowski, who was initially under the influence of Horace Silvers and joined the Free in 1965 with his quintet (with Tomasz Stańko, Janusz Muniak , Jacek Ostaszewski , Adam Jędrzejowski ) Jazz opened.
Alto saxophonist Zbigniew Namysłowski emerged from the groups of Komedas and Trzaskowski, who "developed his own, original musical language [...] by combining elements of American jazz with local folklore ." With his quartet of Włodzimierz Gulgowski (piano) , Tadeusz Wójcik (bass) and Czesław Bartkowski (drums) he recorded the album Lola in 1964 in London for Decca Records . “The third outstanding musician, alongside Komeda and Namysłowski, was Tomasz Stanko, who was one of the first European musicians to explore free jazz (with the Jazz Darings group ) in 1962. ” After the trumpeter had worked closely with Komeda in the mid-1960s , he continued his conception after his death (in January 1970 in Music for K. , with Zbigniew Seifert , Janusz Muniak, Bronisław Suchanek , Janusz Stefański ).
In 1963 the Polish Jazz Federation (Polska Federacja Jazzowa) was founded. A forerunner was the Federation of Polish Jazz Clubs (Federacja Polskich Klubów Jazzowych), founded in 1956 but now dissolved by Jan Byrczek , Roman Waschko and others, and in 1967 the successor, the Polskie Stowarzyszenie Jazzowe (PSJ, Polish Jazz Association), the Jan Byrczek emerged until 1975 (his successor was Zbigniew Namysłowski). The company organized a piano competition in Kalisz , workshops in Radost near Warsaw and Chodzież and the Pomeranian Jazz Autumn in Toruń and Bydgoszcz . In 1972 they were associated with the establishment of the Poljazz label and in 1982 with the establishment of the Polish Jazz Archive.
In 1964, Novi Singers, the first Polish vocal jazz band, was founded, which also enjoyed international success in later years. In the same year, Jazz nad Odrą (German: Jazz on the Oder ) took place in Wroclaw for the first time , the second important jazz festival in Poland alongside Jazz Jamboree . The film "Jazz in Poland" (director: Janusz Majewski ), produced by Joachim Ernst Berendt , was shot that year, which includes the Warsaw Jazz Stompers and a bossa band around Krzysztof Sadowski, the groups of Krzysztof Komeda, Zbigniew Namysłowski and Jan Wróblewski and presented by Andrzej Trzaskowski; in West Germany it was presented in the television series Jazz - Heard and Seen .
Jazz Forum was published for the first time in 1965 (publisher was the PSJ), a magazine that is still relevant to the Polish jazz scene today. It initially competed with the older jazz , but soon surpassed it in influence. As early as 1967, Jazz Forum appeared for the first time in an English-language edition. At around the same time, a jazz orchestra for the state radio was established. From 1968 Jan Wróblewski headed the Jazzowe Polskiego Radia studio . Also in the 1960s, the Polish jazz series was established by the state music publisher and label Polskie Nagrania . This gave expression to the perception that Polish jazz has been something of its own since Komeda at the latest. The 1960s and 1970s are often seen as the heyday of Polish jazz, when it was increasingly institutionalized.
The 1970s
In addition to Tomasz Stańko, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Adam Makowicz , Michał Urbaniak and Jan “Ptaszyn” Wróblewski were among the central figures of Polish jazz in the 1970s . The latter occupied himself more with free jazz; his place of activity was the Studio Jazzowe Polskiego Radia , founded in 1968 , in which workshops with musicians and composers took place. Another forum for Wróblewski's projects in the 1970s was the Stowarzyszenie Popierania Prawdziwej Twórczosci (or Chałturnik ), the Society for the Support of Real Creation . The violinist Michał Urbaniak released his album Fusion , recorded in the United States in 1973 , which combined Polish music, American jazz and jazz-rock elements. In the 1970s and 80s he experimented with fusion and funk, and in the 1990s with hip-hop . Adam Makowicz used jazz piano techniques by Art Tatum , Erroll Garner and Teddy Wilson with his own compositions; In 1977 he performed a recital at New York's Carnegie Hall at the invitation of John Hammond . After his quintet broke up in 1974, Tomasz Stańko continued his solo career, mainly focusing on free jazz, and since the 1990s associated with the Munich ECM label. Since then, Stańko has collaborated with international musicians such as Alexander von Schlippenbach , Don Cherry , Stu Martin , Dave Holland , Gary Peacock , Edward Vesala and Jan Garbarek .
"One of the Stanko quintets - Zbigniew Seifert, who was able to translate the language of John Coltrane and McCoy Tyners onto the violin , made a brilliant career, interrupted by his tragic death ", can be heard on the much-acclaimed albums Man of the Light and solo violin , both from 1976, as well as on Purple Sun by the Tomasz Stańko Quintet (1973). Seifert was also involved in the recordings of Hans Koller's Kunstkopffindianer ; the saxophonist and violinist is considered to be "one of the most impressive and creative European jazz musicians of his time", but who died in 1979 of cancer.
In addition to Michał Urbaniak and Adam Makowicz, it was above all the singer Urszula Dudziak who was successful abroad. Dudziak was considered "an innovator of a new style of jazz singing , the Scat - Vocalesen using the electronic alienated" as the duo album with Makowicz, Newborn Light to hear (1973).
As in its early days, Polish jazz developed particularly strongly in the context of film music. In addition to Krzysztof Komeda, Jerzy Matuszkiewicz, Andrzej Trzaskowski, Andrzej Kurylewicz, Włodzimierz Nahorny and Krzysztof Sadowski were among the most important jazz composers in this field .
In the 1970s, the institutional anchoring of the jazz scene became increasingly visible. The first institute to teach jazz was established at the Polish University of Music in Katowice in 1969. The state increasingly intervened in the scene by z. B. introduced a verification system according to which (jazz) musicians were divided into different classes, to which their fees were then based.
Jazz Forum magazine now had three language versions: Polish, German and English.
As a result of the 1972 agreement between Poland and the GDR on visa-free traffic between the two countries, East German jazz fans began to visit the Jazz Jamboree in Warsaw in large numbers. Since the GDR did not have its own major jazz festivals, the Warsaw Festival, which was attended annually by international stars, was very attractive for East Germans. After the legalization of Solidarność , however, the agreement was repealed in 1980 and the lively exchange ended.
The 1980s
The 1980s are often considered a bad time in the history of Polish jazz. At the 1981 Jazz nad Odrą only one Polish band made it to the final of the competition, only foreign guests were awarded. It was a huge loss for the local jazz scene. Then there were the political circumstances, especially the martial law proclaimed in 1981 . The Jazz Forum , the most important jazz magazine in the country, was not allowed to be published for a few months (afterwards the German language version of the magazine had to be abandoned). Festivals were not allowed to take place. The Jazz Jamboree was replaced in 1982 by a series of concerts in various cities under the title Manewry Jazzowe (German jazz maneuver ). Among the guests were u. a. Art Ensemble of Chicago and Sam Rivers . In some cases, the activity of Polish jazz musicians shifted abroad. Adam Makowicz took part in a TV show Let Poland Be Poland in the USA . a. even Frank Sinatra was involved. As a result, Makowicz later had problems with the Polish authorities. In Munich, Leszek Żądło , Władysław Sendecki , Janusz Stefański and Bronisław Suchanek founded the Polski Jazz Ensemble , whose concerts raised money for the Polish jazz scene.
Nevertheless, Polish jazz musicians celebrated successes abroad. Thus Extra Ball invited to a US tour, Tomasz Szukalskis The Quartet appeared in the famous New York club the Village Vanguard on. Tomasz Stańko made solo recordings in the Taj Mahal . Adam Makowicz achieved success in the USA. Michał Urbaniak took part in the recordings of Miles Davis ' 1986 album Tutu .
As early as the late 1970s, a new generation of young musicians entered the Polish jazz scene; In the early 1980s this was the Young Power Bigband with the composer and flautist Krzysztof Popek at the helm (which was in part heavily criticized by representatives of the older generations), as well as formations such as Janusz Grzywaczs Laboratorium , Krzesimir Dębskis String Connection and Jarosław Śmietanas Extra ball . An important band was the In / Formation by Sławomir Kulpowicz , founded in 1981 , which u. a. played with Stańko. Since the late 70s, developed in parallel another scene to the bassist Helmut Nadolski and drummer Wladyslaw Jagiello also with members of Kurylewiczs formacja Muzyki Współczesnej (dt. Formation of Contemporary Music ), which Krzysztof Popek, Włodzimierz Kiniorski and Wojciech Konikiewicz met. This process of a movement without a leader or even a manifesto was repeated with younger Polish jazz musicians in the 1990s under the label Jass or Yass - to set their music apart from conventional “jazz” and to add influences from improvised music .
In 1980/81 there were congresses of the Polish Jazz Association (PSJ), at which the direction of the organization was controversially discussed. In view of the political tensions surrounding Solidarność, many PSJ members expressed their sympathy for the independent trade union federation.
The Polish Jazz Archive ( Polskie Archiwum Jazzu ) was officially opened in November 1982, but was forgotten in the following years.
The 1990s
The transition from communism to the free market economy also meant a great change for jazz musicians who now had to assert themselves on the free market. In 1991 the Statute of the Polish Jazz Association (PSJ) was reformed, including: a. the division into ordinary (musicians) and extraordinary members was made, with only the former being entitled to vote. The PSJ also lost its "regular club" Akwarium in Warsaw, which was founded in 1976 and was privatized in 1990. Conflicts arose within the jazz scene. Partly in the media (in the Jazz Forum , but also in the Polityka ). New jazz magazines appeared, such as Jazz and Jazz á go-go . In 1991 two parallel international jazz festivals took place under the name Jazz Jamboree , in both of which renowned international jazz musicians took part.
New musicians who became known in the 90s included a. Marek Napiórkowski , Adam Cegielski , Marcin Wasilewski , Sławomir Kurkiewicz , Michał Miśkiewicz , Dorota Miśkiewicz , Maciej Sikała , Leszek Możdżer , Marcin Masecki , Piotr Wyleżoł and Marcin Oleś . The most important groups included Quintessence , Miłość , Acoustic Jazz Quintet (also as a sextet), Simple Acoustic Quartet (later trio). Musicians from the latter band soon got together with Tomasz Stańko, with whom they were to celebrate international success at the beginning of the 21st century.
Musicians of the older generation also celebrated success in the 1990s. Zbigniew Namysłowski was voted Musician of the Year by the readers of Jazz Forum for four years in a row . Tomasz Stańko recorded the important album Bluish , which he composed with Arild Andersen , and Litania with interpretations of Krzysztof Komeda's work. The latter album was awarded the 2000 German Record Critics' Prize. Adam Makowicz got his Polish passport again in 1989 and was allowed to enter his home country. In the 90s he made recordings with the likes of Charlie Haden , Jack DeJohnette and Cecil McBee . Michał Urbaniak recorded an album with Urbanator on which he combined jazz with hip-hop . In the recordings u. a. Herbie Hancock , Marcus Miller and Kenny Garrett attended. Other important musicians of the older generation were Jarosław Śmietana, Piotr Wojtasik and Sławomir Kulpowicz.
A lot happened in the field of jazz singing in the 90s. Stanisław Sojka , who has been the most important Polish jazz singer since the 1980s, explicitly distanced himself from jazz. In women, the older Ewa Bem and Urszula Dudziak and the younger Ewa Uryga , Lora Szafran and Anna Serafińska were successful. Basia Trzetrzelewska played a special role , whose album London Warsaw New York reached first place on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz List.
One of the most important figures in Polish jazz in the 1990s (and after) was the pianist Leszek Możdżer. He is characterized by great versatility, plays classical music, mainstream jazz and avant-garde, and has successfully cooperated with both established Polish and internationally recognized musicians (including Archie Shepp ). In the late 1990s, his duo performances with Adam Pierończyk were particularly successful.
Yass
At the beginning of the 1990s, Yass was created first in Gdansk , later in Bydgoszcz , in explicit opposition to the “jazz mainstream” (represented by the magazine Jazz Forum ) . This movement, which in addition to music also used elements of performance art , mixed seemingly contradicting influences from free jazz to rock and pop music . The most important representatives of Yass were Miłość , (Maestro) Trytony, Łoskot and Mazzoll & Arhythmic Perfection . The geographic hub of this very heterogeneous movement was the Bydgoszcz Club Mózg . The highlights of the Yass story included a. the collaboration of the band Miłość with Lester Bowie .
The yass scene came to a standstill in the early 2000s, but is considered to be one of the most important specifically Polish phenomena in the culture of the 1990s, as well as being an important guide for the subsequent development of Polish jazz. Some of the most important contemporary Polish jazz musicians emerged from it, including Leszek Możdżer, Mikołaj Trzaska , Jerzy Mazzoll , and Tymon Tymański , who is now more rock music .
21st century
The 21st century began with the election of Tomasz Stańko as Musician of the Year 2001 (again in 2004). The trumpeter's collaboration with musicians from the Simple Acoustic Trio was at its peak. In particular, their 2004 album Suspended Night was highly praised by the national and international specialist press. Probably the most important and most successful Polish jazz musician after 2000 is next to Stańko Leszek Możdżer, to whose success a. a. included a concert in Santiago de Chile in January 2004, where he performed in front of 15 thousand people. Also in 2004 he performed in the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall in a duo with Adam Makowicz. In the same year he was awarded the Paszport Polityki ; In 2011 he got a Fryderyk for Kaczmarek By Możdżer .
The singer Anna Maria Jopek is one of the most famous Polish jazz musicians of the new millennium. She took u. a. on albums with Pat Metheny , Richard Bona and Makoto Ozone . Within the Polish scene, she maintains close relationships with Leszek Możdżer.
The controversial debate about the music of Frédéric Chopin was described as the “most striking phenomenon of jazz in Poland at the turn of the millennium” . Many critics attacked Chopin's interpretations of jazz as distortions. Nevertheless, some well-known jazz musicians took part in the trend, including Leszek Możdżer, whose first well-known album was Chopin - Impressions .
Important new musicians of the 2000s were e.g. B. the pianists Sławomir Jaskułke and Mateusz Kołakowski . The brothers Oleś ( Bartłomiej and Marcin ), Adam Pierończyk, celebrated further successes and consolidated their position . Commentators noted that American jazz had a major impact on Polish youth at the turn of the millennium. In addition to the mainstream, modern trends were also active, including post-free, neo-hard bop and various variants of fusion jazz. The 20th edition of the Warsaw Summer Jazz Days festival was dedicated, among other things, to young Polish jazz - the specially organized showcase featured Mikrokolektyw ( Artur Majewski and Kuba Suchar ), Contemporary Noise Sextet , Sing Sing Penelope, Levity, Maciej Obara & Dominik Wania Quartet, Wojciech Mazolewski Quintet , Marcin Wasilewski Trio and the vocalist Aga Zaryan .
Another characteristic trend in the recent history of jazz in Poland is the examination of compositions by Krzysztof Komeda, which began in 1997 with Tomasz Stańko's Litania . In recent years, for example, entire albums with interpretations of Komeda's works by Baaba ( The Wrong Vampire ), Wojtek Mazolewski and Dennis González ( Shaman ), Leszek Możdżer ( Komeda ) or the Oleś brothers with Christopher Dell ( Komeda Ahead ) have been released.
In the field of avant-garde jazz and various experiments on the border with jazz, some groups that are often referred to as post-yass , because they sometimes have connections to the decayed yass scene, became successful . These include a. Pink Freud , Contemporary Noise Sextet, Jazzpospolita , Baaba or Mikrokolektyw. Jazz musicians often worked together with representatives from other music scenes, for example Mikołaj Trzaska with Fisz (in the Bassisters Orchestra project ), Leszek Możdżer with rapper LUC and the death metal band Behemoth . The DJ duo Skalpel , who were signed to the renowned British independent label Ninja Tune and used a large number of samples from Polish jazz recordings in their music, received international attention . The Polish avant-garde jazz scene in particular has a good international network. Trzaska and Wacław Zimpel in particular play regularly with representatives of European and US free jazz and free improvisation such as Joe McPhee , Ken Vandermark , Peter Brötzmann and Evan Parker . Mat Walerian recorded several albums with Matthew Shipp . Drummer Adam Gołębiewski performed with Thurston Moore in 2014 , the performance was released as Disarm in 2017 . Artur Majewski worked with Rob Mazurek and Noël Akchoté , among others .
Some musicians actively deal with the history of Polish Jews and combine jazz elements with influences from Jewish, especially Hasidic music: Mikołaj Trzaska, Wacław Zimpel, Raphael Rogiński , Macio Moretti . Joe McPhee appeared on the Trzaskas Ircha Clarinet Quartet's Watching Edvard album . The Cracow Klezmer Band recorded two albums with compositions by John Zorn , including one from his Book of Angels songbook.
Infrastructure
Festivals
A number of international jazz festivals take place regularly in Poland. The oldest are Zaduszki Jazzowe in Krakow (since 1955) and Jazz Jamboree in Warsaw (since 1958). The I Ogólnopolski Festiwal Muzyki Jazzowej Jazz 56 , which took place in Sopot in 1956, is regarded as a constitutive event in the post-war history of Polish jazz. Other important festivals are Jazz nad Odrą ( Wroclaw ), Old Jazz Meeting Złota Tarka (Iława), Jazz Juniors (Kraków) and Bielska Zadymka Jazzowa ( Bielsko-Biała ).
As part of the particularly successful Jazz Jamboree , many international artists came to Poland, including Miles Davis , Charles Mingus , Dizzy Gillespie , Duke Ellington , Ray Charles , John Scofield , Art Blakey , Gerry Mulligan and Gil Evans .
Competitions for young musicians are an important part of the Polish jazz festival landscape. Some of them take place as separate events (the most prominent example is the international Jazz Juniors in Krakow), others as part of larger festivals, e.g. B. Jazz nad Odrą , Bielska Zadymka Jazzowa . These competitions serve an important function because they regularly introduce new talented musicians to a wider audience.
Labels
There are a number of music labels in Poland that specialize in jazz. During the period of real communism, Muza Polskie Nagrania had a state-guaranteed monopoly on the Polish music market. In his Polish Jazz series , some of the most important records in Polish jazz were released. In 2016, the series began to reissue the albums.
After the fall of the Iron Curtain , many new record labels emerged. The best-known and in some cases also internationally active include GOWI, Not Two , For Tune , Instant Classic, Kilogram, MultiKulti and Bôłt. Not Two and For Tune in particular publish music by Polish musicians as well as albums by important representatives of free jazz and free improvisation music , including Peter Brötzmann , Ken Vandermark , Anthony Braxton , David Murray and William Parker .
media
In 1927, the first European jazz magazine, Jazz , appeared in Poland , but only in one issue.
Probably the most important medium of the Polish jazz scene was and is the magazine Jazz Forum , founded in 1965, which over time became the "organ" of the Polish Jazz Association (PSJ). In particular, the English-language edition of Jazz Forum, first published in 1967, helped Polish jazz to gain international fame. The authors of the first edition included u. a. Joachim-Ernst Berendt . In the 1980s the magazine was distributed worldwide and had correspondents in countries such as India , Mexico , Canada , Japan , Brazil and many countries in Europe.
On state radio there was moderated by Leopold Tyrmand and Stefan Rogiński mission since 1956 To jest jazz (dt. This is Jazz ), which helped to popularize jazz in Poland. From 1968 Jan Wróblewski headed the Studio Jazzowe Polskiego Radia (German Jazz Studio of the Polish Radio ). Since 1970 he has also moderated the program Trzy kwadranse jazzu (Eng. Three quarters of an hour of jazz ) on the Third Program of the Polish Radio .
Discographic notes
Basis: A survey of Polish Radio listeners from 2013 on the best Polish jazz albums (the first 20 positions) and a compilation of the best Polish albums of the 20th century; chronological order. Albums in bold were voted one of the top 10 Polish jazz albums by Jazz Forum in 2016 .
- Krzysztof Komeda: Knife in the Water , soundtrack to Das Messer im Wasser (1962) with various editions.
- Krzysztof Komeda: Ballet Etudes / The Music of Krzysztof Komeda , Metronome 1963.
- Andrzej Kurylewicz: Go Right , Polskie Nagrania 1963.
- Andrzej Trzaskowski Quintet: Polish Jazz Vol. 4 , Polskie Nagrania 1965.
- Komeda Quintet: Astigmatic , Polskie Nagrania 1966 (recorded 1965).
- Zbigniew Namysłowski Quartet: Zbigniew Namysłowski Quartet , Polskie Nagrania 1966 (recorded 1962).
- Krzysztof Komeda: Rosemary's Baby , Dot 1968.
- Jerzy Milian Trio: Baazaar , Polskie Nagrania 1969.
- Tomasz Stańko: Music for K , Polskie Nagrania 1970.
- Novi Singers: Torpedo , Polskie Nagrania 1970.
- Mieczysław Kosz : Reminiscence , Polskie Nagrania 1971.
- Adam Makowicz: Unit , Polskie Nagrania 1973.
- Zbigniew Namysłowski: Winobranie , Polskie Nagrania 1973.
- Jan "Ptaszyn" Wróblewski: Sprzedawcy Glonów , Polskie Nagrania 1973.
- Michał Urbaniak: Fusion , Columbia 1974.
- Wojciech Karolak: Easy! , Polskie Nargania 1974.
- Zbigniew Namysłowski Quintet: Kujaviak Goes Funky , Polskie Nagrania 1975.
- Tomasz Stańko: Balladyna , ECM 1976 (recorded 1975).
- Andrzej Trzaskowski Sextet feat. Ted Curson: Seant , Polskie Nagrania 1976.
- Extra Ball: Birthday , Polskie Nagrania 1976.
- Zbigniew Seifert: Man of The Light , MPS 1976.
- Janusz Muniak Quintet: Question Mark , Polskie Nagrania 1978.
- Zbigniew Seifert: Kilimanjaro , Poljazz 1978.
- Extra Ball: Extra Ball , Poljazz 1978.
- Zbigniew Seifert: Passion , Capitol 1979 (recorded 1978).
- Laboratory: Quasimodo , Polskie Nagrania 1979.
- The Quartet: The Quartet , Poljazz 1979.
- Kazimierz Jonkisz Quintet: Tiri Taka , Polskie Nagrania 1981 (recorded 1980).
- String Connection: Workoholic , Poljazz 1982.
- Witold Szczurek : Basspace , Poljazz 1984.
- Jarosław Śmietana: Talking Guitar , Polskie Nagrania 1984.
- Pick-up formation: Zakaz Fotografowania , Poljazz 1985.
- Karolak / Szukalski / Bartkowski: Time Killers , Helicon 1985.
- Tomasz Stańko: Peyotl / Witkacy , Poljazz 1986.
- Miłość: Miłość , GOWI 1993.
- Miłość: Taniec smoka , GOWI 1994.
- Leszek Możdżer: Chopin - Impresje , Polonia 1994.
- Mazzoll, Knuth, Diffusion Ensemble: Azure Excess , blauHOFFER multiple art 1995.
- Andrzej Jagodziński Trio: Chopin , Polonia 1995.
- Simple Acoustic Trio: Komeda , GOWI 1995.
- Miłość: Asthmatic , GOWI 1996.
- Tomasz Stańko: Litania. Music Of Krzysztof Komeda , ECM 1997.
- Tomasz Stańko Quartet: Soul of Things , ECM 2002.
- Leszek Możdżer: Piano , ARMS 2004.
- Robotobibok: Nawyki przyrody , Vytvornia OM 2004.
- Pink Freud: Punk Freud , Universal Music Polska 2007.
literature
- Paweł Brodowski: Jazz in Poland . In: Klaus Wolbert (Ed.): That's Jazz. The sound of the 20th century. A music, personal, cultural, social and media history of jazz from its beginnings to the present . Häusser Verlag, Darmstadt 1997, ISBN 3-89552-038-1 .
- Krystian Brodacki: Historia jazzu w Polsce . Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, Kraków 2010, ISBN 978-83-224-0917-6 .
- Krystian Brodacki: Traditional Warsaw Jazz Jamboree . In: Ernst Günther, Heinz P. Hofmann, Walter Rösler (eds.): Cassette. An almanac for the stage, podium and ring (= cassette ). No. 1 . Henschelverlag Art and Society, Berlin 1977, p. 158-164 .
- Igor Pietraszewski: Jazz w Polsce. Wolność improwizowana . NOMOS, Kraków 2012, ISBN 978-83-7688-085-3 . English Jazz in Poland: Improvised Freedom . Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2014, ISBN 978-3-631-64319-8 .
- Sebastian Rerak: Chłepcąc ciekły hel - Historia yassu . A KuKu Sztuka, Gdynia 2013, ISBN 978-83-925374-1-0 .
Web links
history
- Cezary Lerski: Polish Jazz for Dummies: 60 Years of Jazz from Poland. All About Jazz , 2005, accessed June 9, 2015 .
- A Foreigner's Guide to Polish Jazz. Culture.pl, accessed on June 9, 2015 (English).
- Poland: Jazz and all that politics. CNN, 2008, accessed June 9, 2015 .
- Collection of LP covers of Polish jazz , accessed June 9, 2015.
Current scene
- Polish jazz. Polish Jazz Institute, accessed June 9, 2015 .
- Bojan Krstulovic: Window to Freedom. Der Tagesspiegel , September 13, 2011, accessed on June 9, 2015 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Pietraszewski: Jazz w Polsce , p. 44.
- ^ Pietraszewski: Jazz w Polsce , p. 51.
- ↑ a b c d e f g A Foreigner's Guide to Polish Jazz at Culture.pl
- ^ A b Pietraszewski: Jazz w Polsce .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Brodowski: Jazz in Poland .
- ↑ a b c d Gertrud Pickhan: Polski Jazz: A window to freedom. Federal Agency for Civic Education , September 7, 2009, accessed on April 14, 2015 .
- ^ Pietraszewski: Jazz w Polsce , p. 55.
- ^ Pietraszewski: Jazz w Polsce , p. 56.
- ↑ a b Christian Schmidt-Rost: Hot Rhythms in the Cold War Listening to swing and jazz in the Soviet Zone / GDR and the VR Poland (1945–1970) . In: Contemporary historical research . tape 8 , 2011, p. 217-238 .
- ↑ a b c A History of Jazz in Poland
- ↑ a b Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed April 10, 2015).
- ^ Igor Pietraszewski: Jazz w Polsce , p. 73.
- ↑ Wolf Kampmann (Ed.): Reclams Jazzlexikon . Reclam, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-15-010731-7 , pp. 295-296 .
- ^ Krzysztof Komeda. Internet Movie Database , accessed June 24, 2015 .
- ↑ entry: Polskie Stowarzyszenie Jazzowe in New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Macmillan 1994
- ↑ Jazz in Poland (filmweb.pl)
- ↑ Igor Pietraszewski: Jazz w Polsce , pp. 84–85.
- ^ A b c Cezary Lerski: Polish Jazz for Dummies: 60 Years of Jazz from Poland. All About Jazz , 2005, accessed May 30, 2015 .
- ^ Martin Kunzler , Jazz-Lexikon , Rowohlt, 1993, volume. 2, p. 1046
- ↑ Wolf Kampmann (Ed.): Reclams Jazzlexikon . Reclam, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-15-010731-7 , pp. 479 .
- ↑ Tim Köhler: How Warsaw became a place of pilgrimage for GDR jazz freaks. (No longer available online.) RBB , May 18, 2016, archived from the original on November 20, 2016 ; Retrieved November 20, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Igor Pietraszewski: Jazz w Polsce , p. 90.
- ↑ Sebastian Rerak: Chłepcąc ciekły hel , pp. 136-137.
- ↑ Krystian Brodacki: Historia jazzu w Polsce , S. 435th
- ↑ Krystian Brodacki: Historia jazzu w Polsce , S. 470, 570th
- ↑ Krystian Brodacki: Historia jazzu w Polsce , S. 470th
- ↑ Tomasz Handzik: Osiem razy młody polski jazz. Gazeta Wyborcza , June 18, 2011, accessed April 15, 2020 (Polish).
- ↑ Mateusz Ryman: Seria Polish Jazz powraca! Jazz Soul, March 31, 2016, accessed May 10, 2020 (Polish).
- ↑ Komeda na czele jazzowego topu wszech czasów! Polskie Radio, May 1, 2013, accessed November 20, 2016 (Polish).
- ^ Najlepsze polskie płyty XX wieku. Porcys, November 11, 2014, accessed June 1, 2015 (Polish).
- ↑ Polski Jazz - Top Wszech Czasów. Jazz Forum, accessed May 10, 2020 (Polish).
