Polish Jazz for Dummies
© Cezary Lerski
After 1945, like the rest of the Eastern and Central Europe, Poland fell under
the dominance of Stalinist Russia - and the Soviets certainly did not swing!
Consequently, only certain musical forms were allowed to flourish, particularly
those with folk rhythm, without syncopation. One tempo was prescribed for
everybody and army marching bands rose in importance. The process of political
and cultural oppression intensified after 1949 and jazz music was outlawed as
the music of the enemy. In Stalinist Poland, jazz music was banned along with
modern art, decent toilet paper and the right to travel abroad.
Thankfully not everybody toed the party line. Young people in Poland with no
taste for Russian recipes and political doctrines rediscovered jazz. Being
banned and sometimes even persecuted, jazz went underground, or, as was said,
into 'the catacombs'. Jazz could only be played at private homes and private
parties. Since late 1940s jazz embraced the spirit of independence,
nonconformity and cosmopolitanism in Poland.
One band came to dominate the hidden landscape of the Polish jazz scene. The
name of this group was Melomani ('the Music Aficionados'). The ensemble was
established in 1947 from among the hippest cats of the day. Many of them were
students of the Lodz Film School, famous for establishing one of the leading
European film movements and commonly referred to as the 'Polish School.'
Musicians of the Melomani hung out at the Lodz YMCA, one of the few existing
oases for nonconformists and independent thinkers in the Poland of late 1940s.
The lineup of Melomani fluctuated and many musicians passed through the band.
Having been separated from the development of western jazz and without any jazz
recordings or publications, Melomani played the sort of music that they thought
was jazz, such as Jelly Roll Morton and W.C. Handy. The quality of the music,
technical abilities of musicians and obsolete repertoire would not have met the
standards of any reputable jazz club in Western Europe or the United States at
the time. But that did not matter for Melomani's fans. They embraced it because
it was illegitimate and because it was theirs.
Still, of course, there was no jazz music on the Polish radio, no jazz records
in the stores, no books and no sheet music for sale. However, there was the
will, the enthusiasm and the Voice of America. Instead of listening to reports
about the success of the Soviet Union and achieving heaven on earth, jazz fans
and aspiring jazz musicians tuned their Soviet-made radios to Willis Conover
programs. For Polish jazz devotees of the late 40s and early 50s Poland, Willis
Conover was a musical messiah. Conover's programs allowed access to the desired
alternative: the right stuff and the real thing. His contribution to Polish jazz
would never be forgotten.
After Stalin's death in 1953, the perception of jazz in Poland changed. The
underground period ('the catacombs') for Polish jazz was over. It became
acceptable to listen to jazz, to talk about jazz, to write about jazz and, most
importantly, to play jazz. Polish Radio resumed its national broadcasts of the
swing concerts. Official jazz festivals began to appear in the second part of
the 1950s. The first legal jazz gathering took place in Krakow on November 1st
1954. Other events soon followed. The first official jazz festival took place in
Sopot in 1956 and initiated a tradition of regular jazz festivals in Poland. The
following year, crowds of fans cheered the second Sopot festival; and, from
1958, the Jazz Jamboree festival in Warsaw has continued the tradition.
In the late 1950s, for the first time, jazz fans in Poland had a chance to
listen to musicians from outside of the country. This changed everything,
especially the perception and interpretation of what was jazz and what it
wasn't. The foreign musicians that came to Poland in those early years - and
what they played - had an extremely important influence on the development of
jazz in Poland. Dave Brubeck was one of the first, visiting in 1958.
Consequently, his brand of 'cool' jazz influenced a generation of Polish jazz
musicians and fans.
In February 1956, after having overcome many difficulties, the first issue of
the monthly music magazine called 'Jazz' was published in Poland. Created by
chief editor Jan Balcerak, 'Jazz' magazine came to be the only jazz magazine
published behind the Iron Curtain. Polish journalists finally got a forum where
they could not only write strictly informational texts, but could also venture
into the previously unreachable territory of daring polemics.
Another development in the Polish jazz scene of the 1950s was the creation of
the first official jazz clubs. Amongst the most prominent were the 'Stodola' and
the 'Hybrydy' in Warsaw. For the next few decades, these jazz clubs were
thriving venues. Young jazz enthusiasts, such as Jan Borkowski of 'Hybrydy'
fame, got their own format where they were able to cultivate their love of jazz
and hunger for western culture. By the end of the 1950s, the jazz clubs in
Poland had created their own first semi-official association: the Polish Jazz
Federation, with bassist Jan Byrczek at the helm.
One man was especially important for jazz to develop and become an important
fixture in the Polish cultural landscape - Leopold Tyrmand, a writer and enfant
terrible of Warsaw's cultural elite. Well dressed and articulate, he was
fiercely anticommunist and very knowledgeable on the subject of jazz music.
Tyrmand wrote and published the first books and articles about jazz in Poland,
helped to organize the initial jazz gatherings and is credited with the creation
of the most famous festival, the Jazz Jamboree.
1960s and 1970s - The Golden Age of Polish Jazz
Growing from its infancy into the 1960s, Polish jazz became more diverse, more
sophisticated and more stylish. Along with the political stabilization of 'real
socialism' in Poland, art and culture began to stabilize as well. During the
1960s, Polish jazz evolved into three basic styles: Dixieland (traditional),
straight-ahead (mainstream) and avant-garde (free).
Many bands played their own version of 'the original New Orleans style' of jazz,
basically mimicking the Dixieland revival that had taken place earlier in
Western Europe. They toured frequently, recorded many popular records and helped
Polish jazz gain acceptance amongst the wider public. As time passed, Dixieland
jazz became more professional and produced many excellent players.
The increased interest in jazz also blossomed into a growing acceptance of more
demanding styles. It is difficult to clearly mark the distinction between
mainstream and avant-garde jazz in the Polish jazz of the 1960s; too many
musicians walked the fine line between the two. Perhaps the best approach to
analyze the modern jazz of the 1960s in Poland is to focus on the leading
figures.
Not surprisingly, Komeda, Kurylewicz and Trzaskowski, all of them formerly of
Melomani, became leading figures. Interestingly, another 'giant' of Melomani
fame, 'Dudus' Matuszkiewicz, followed a much more lucrative livelihood as a
composer of popular music for television and cinema. During the 1960s, both
Kurylewicz and Trzaskowski were exponents of the so-called Third Stream, the
hybrid of jazz and philharmonic music. This fascination with more 'serious'
music and an attraction to contemporary techniques of composition overlapped
with composers of contemporary Polish music such as Baird, Schoefer and
Penderecki. Although controversial and not always satisfying, Third Stream
experiments expanded the vocabulary of jazz and enhanced both artistic
sensitivity and its overall image.
Krzysztof Komeda's role in Polish jazz cannot be explained in merely a few
words. Genius, composer, visionary, collaborator and leader cannot fully
describe him. How could this very average pianist and rather dull improviser
with a background in medicine make such a great impact on Polish jazz? How could
all of the musicians who played with him emphasize what an overwhelming impact
his music and his personality made on them? His music is still alive, inspiring
new artists and conquering new hordes of listeners more than three decades after
his tragically early death at the age of 38. The music of Komeda escapes simple
classification and description. During his life, Komeda released only one album
'Astigmatic,' but a release with more influence on Polish jazz has yet to be
recorded.
In 1962 a young trumpet player called Tomasz Stanko, created the 'Jazz Darings',
later described by jazz critic J.E. Berndt as the "first European free jazz
combo." During the late 1960s, many avant-garde musicians in Poland were
discovering the free jazz concepts of John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman.
Interestingly, due to the isolation of the country, the Polish style developed
independently. Some of the new names soon became very significant, such as
trumpeter Andrzej Przybielski, bass players Helmut Nadolski, Jacek Bednarek and
Czeslaw Gladkowski and alto saxophone player Zbigniew Seifert. In 1968, Seifert
joined the newly formed Stanko Quintet, switched sax for electric violin, and
the next chapter of European jazz history began…
Besides such musical talents, the 1960s saw the creation of the Jazz Federation,
one of the first professional associations of jazz clubs, musicians and
professionals in Europe. In 1965 the Federation obtained the permission of
government authorities still suspicious of jazz for its own independent
publication, 'Jazz Forum.' Initially only a pamphlet, from 1972 Jazz Forum
became a national periodical and the most prestigious jazz publication in
Poland. Soon after, they established an international Jazz Federation, annual
jazz gatherings and a series of essential recordings. Additionally, jazz started
to appear in other art forms such as films by directors such as Roman Polanski,
Andrzej Wajda and Jerzy Skolimowski, as well as in theatrical plays and even
ballets.
Gradually, as the 60s came to an end, new talents emerged and fresh musicians
began to play more important roles. Some had already made their mark, such as
the Zbigniew Namyslowski Quartet, Wlodzimierz Nahorny and the debut album from
the best Polish vocal group ever, NOVI (Singers). Others, such as the
extraordinary pianists Mieczyslaw Kosz and Adam Makowicz, the saxophonist (and
soon violinist) Michal Urbaniak and the flutist Krzysztof Zgraja, carried the
legacy of the jazz art form into the next decade.
The 1970s
Five names dominated and defined the Polish jazz of the 1970s: Zbigniew
Namyslowski, Adam Makowicz, Tomasz Stanko, Michal Urbaniak and Jan 'Ptaszyn'
Wroblewski. All of them played distinctive and different types of music but all
had something in common: world-class jazz.
The 1970s, the third decade of Wroblewski's career, he truly became an
indispensable ingredient in the many flavors being created. Wroblewski was
already an accomplished tenor and baritone player in a variety of bands, leading
his own small groups with straight-ahead inclinations and a love of Horace
Silver phrasing. But the accomplishments of 'Mainstream' have become obscured by
his much closer association with free jazz and 'Studio Jazzowe Polskiego Radia.'
Created in 1968, the Studio was a unique blend: part venue for free expression
by virtuosos and soloists and part workshop for musicians and composers. It
would be virtually impossible to find any important Polish jazz composer or
soloist who at one time or another in their career had not been involved with
the Studio. Musicians, composers and soloists had a chance to test their own
ideas and have them confronted and discussed in a peer-group setting. Without
the Studio and without its leader, Wroblewski, Polish jazz would not be the
same.
What might have been initially a joke, or the result of the willful consumption
of too much liquid distillated from Polish potatoes, another forum for
Wroblewski's expression in the 1970s was 'Stowarzyszenie Popierania Prawdziwej
Tworczosci' (or Chalturnik), a natural extension for the Studio's experiments.
However, Chalturnik had a more intimate and relaxed atmosphere and used musical
persiflage or banter. Nevertheless, the premise remained the same: to
experiment, to confront taboos, to challenge judgments and to take new
unorthodox approaches to attitudes never before questioned. Wroblewski also
created many popular hits that were later to become evergreens of Polish pop
music and worked as a DJ.
In 1973, Michal Urbaniak released “Constellation in Concert.†This LP, recorded
live at Warsaw Congress Hall was not the first release under his own name nor it
has never been critically acclaimed as his finest but it very accurately
presents Urbaniak as a leading force of not only Polish but European jazz. All
elements of his artistic personality are already there: straight-ahead
expression paired with Slavic ingenuousness, musical eclectics, contemporary
articulation and the influence of Polish folk music, all flawlessly incorporated
into the vocabulary of American jazz.
Urbaniak has always been very sensitive to new trends in jazz music. After
becoming a leader of his own groups he has been able to find excellent partners
to help him to fulfill his musical ideas while maintaining originality, not only
the lineup from “Constellation†but other musicians like Kenny Kirkland, Marcus
Miller and Larry Coryell. In the years since, Urbaniak has continued his hunt
after cutting edge styles, sounds, genres and technologies from the jazz-rock of
1970s to the fusion and funk of the 1980s to the hip-hop of the 1990s. Michal
Urbaniak found inspiration in his own folk tradition and created homogenous and
very unique form of musical expression in a truly unique jazz art form.
The Young Powers and the Invisibles
Without these founders, jazz in Poland and perhaps in the entire of Eastern
Europe would be less creative, less original and less interesting. Composers
like Komeda, Trzaskowski and Kurylewicz expanded the boundaries of jazz by
taking it to concert hall styles of musical harmonies and composition
techniques. Musicians like Namyslowski and Urbaniak defined the concept of jazz
in Poland in terms of Slavic sensitivity.
Starting in the late 1970s, the focus of Polish jazz began to shift. The jazz
oligarchs were still playing, composing and recording new albums but in the
meantime a new generations of musicians were ready to claim their place on the
jazz map. In the early 80s, "the Young Power" movement began questioning
existing dogma. At the same time electric groups like Laboratorium, String
Connection and Extra Ball have been slowly taking over with concertgoers and
record buyers.
The process only intensified during the next decades. But despite being verbally
critical and musically adventurous, the Young Power movement soon ran out of gas
and blended into theexisting jazz spectrum. The same happened to members of
Laboratoriums, String Connections and Extra Balls who merged into jazz
establishment and soon, like in the case of Extra Ball leader Jarek Smietana,
took over the role of the oligarchs. So, after another decade it seemed like
nothing changed. The number of the Oligarchs increased but basically everything
was going the same way and under the same leadership.
Of course there were exceptions to those rules. Since the late 70s, a parallel
jazz scene has been developing with some of the most creative and important
works in the history of Polish jazz. Initially represented by diverse
personality such as bassist Helmut Nadolski and drummer Wladyslaw Jagiello,
along with members of Kurylewicz's "Formacja Muzyki Wspolczesnej" (Formation of
Contemporary Music). Composer and flutist Krzysztof Popek, saxophonist
Wlodzimierz Kiniorski and many other creative and not-that-jazz-media-friendly
musicians like pianist Wojtek Konikiewicz expanded and incorporated the creative
force of the Young Power movement.
The new movement had no leader, no single ideology, no manifesto, no logo and no
simply defined style. Actually there was not even recognition of the
cohesiveness among the members of the movement who lived and worked alone. Only
the following decades proved that the same ideas were developed, tested and
finally articulated by various but artistically cohesive musicians. But the
entire process and the musicians who were creating the new face of Polish jazz
were not visible and has not been recognized by the jazz society, "the
Invisibles." The Invisibles were different and they did not meet any
artistically dogmatic criteria.
It is somehow difficult to define what distinguished the Invisibles from the
rest of the crowd but a few elements stand out. They were more Ornette and less
Parker, more solo and quasi-big band than trios and quartets, more diverse
musical influences and less traditionally defined borders. Moreover, it is
difficult to compare the Invisibles' with anyone else before them. The
Invisibles have never gained great prominence or recognition but their influence
on the creative freedom, artistic sincerity and musical independence in Polish
jazz cannot be underestimated.
The 80s were coming to and end and with it, the end of systems which dominated
the landscape of Polish life, not only jazz but throughout the political and
social systems, too.
Polish Jazz Now
If one had to choose one word to describe a contemporary jazz scene in Poland,
then it would be "diversity."
The jazz landscape is very different, intense and richly populated by several
generations of creative artists. From “Old Masters†to young talents, from 1980s
Young Power / Harmolodic generation to the 1990s era dissidents of jass music,
from traditional Dixieland styles to veterans of the avant-garde, jazz knows no
borders and Polish Jazz 2005 is an art form that long ago crossed geographical
boundaries. Polish musicians live and work in New York, Frankfurt and Los
Angeles.
Now, hundreds of small, vibrant jazz clubs can be found all over the country:
from Krakow’s Alchemia to Mozg (the Brain) in Bydgoszcz to the biggest jazz
festivals such as Jazz Jamboree – JVC Festival, Era Jazzu and Warsaw Jazz Days.
Jazz records are offered by hundreds of small, independent labels such as
NotTwo, GOWI, PowerBros and Biodro as well as from catalogues of major record
companies such as Sony and BMG.
Today, Polish jazz is a mature but still vibrant and evolving jazz form. The
form with a deep respect and understanding of tradition but at the same time an
art form that explores places, concepts and emotions previously unknown. Polish
Jazz Network is proud to welcome you to the world of Polish jazz.
