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Tomasz Stańko

… is a world-class trumpeter. In 1962, together with Adam Makowicz, he formed Jazz Darings, the first European Free Jazz band. In the 1960s he was also a member of Krzysztof Komeda’s quintet. His trumpet features on most of Komeda’s legendary film scores, as well as on his pivotal album Astigmatic (1966).
In 1968 he already had his own quintet, making international headlines not only for himself, but for Polish music in general. The band (which featured brilliant violinist and alto saxophonist Zbigniew Seifert) is still today regarded as a milestone in the development of jazz culture in Poland and in Europe.
In the 1970s Stańko also worked with Krzysztof Penderecki and Don Cherry. In the 1980s he experimented with rock and electro-acoustic music. His album Soul of Things (2002, recorded with Marcin Wasilewski, Sławomir Kurkiewicz and Michał Miśkiewicz) earned him a Fryderyk, one of career four in the Jazz Album of the Year category. Soul of Things is considered by many the blueprint of Stańko’s style, a definition of his unmistakable gloomy and intensive sound.
Tomasz Stańko has won a bundle of most prestigious music awards, including the European Jazz Award (2003, the first Pole to win it) and the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis for Green Hill (Album of the Year in 2000).
In 2011 he was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta (one of Poland’s highest orders of merit) for „outstanding contributions to national culture through artistic achievement.”
tomaszstanko.com

Photo: Caroline Forbes / ECM Records