A History of Polish Jazz
January 6, 2005 10:48 PM   Subscribe

 
"Polish Jazz for Dummies"? This amuses me.

I took a whole class on History of Jazz in college, and my professor, wouldn't you know it...

He forgot Poland.
posted by sdrawkcab at 11:13 PM on January 6, 2005


Thanks for this, Bighappyfunhouse. I would guess that even those who know more than a little about jazz would be hard pressed to name any of these people, except for Michal Urbaniak, and maybe his wife Urszula Dudziak. (I have three of his albums, one of hers.)

Actually, a group of young Polish jazzmen (I don't know their names) shows up here regularly on the Maine coast, thanks to the clarinet player (and premier jazz whistler) Brad Terry. He has become a link between jazz in Poland and the U.S. in recent years, and has recorded with the Krakow pianist Joachim Mencel.
posted by LeLiLo at 11:43 PM on January 6, 2005


There's some interesting jazz played here. For example, not long ago we saw (in an amphitheater in the forest near our home) the Jaskulke 3YO, with piano, bass, percussion, vocals (including rap), turntablist, and groovy light show.
posted by pracowity at 12:06 AM on January 7, 2005


I was looking for Jan Garbarek, and it took me a while to remember that he's from Norway.

Still, his name sounds Polish somehow...
posted by sour cream at 5:50 AM on January 7, 2005


Polish Jazz? Who knew? I guess I'm carrying on a tradition I never knew existed.
posted by tommasz at 6:00 AM on January 7, 2005


Krzysztof Komeda was one of the greatest jazzmen of the '60s; if you care about jazz you should get his classic album Astigmatic. And the trumpet player on that album, Tomasz Stanko, is still making tremendous music; you can get any of his albums and be happy, but From the Green Hill is a good place to start.
posted by languagehat at 6:01 AM on January 7, 2005


i recently discovered the world of polish jazz through a team of polish soundmasters who sample old polish jazz extensively. the duo is known as Skalpel and i would highly recommend their only cd.
posted by sophist at 8:44 PM on January 7, 2005


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