Stańko, Tomasz

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Stańko, Tomasz

Trumpeter, band leader, composer

Tomasz Stańko is Poland's greatest jazz trumpeter, band leader, and composer, whose pioneering work in free jazz shows both European and American influences. The Times of London writer Alyn Shipton called him "Europe's most consistently inventive jazz trumpeter."

Tomasz Stańko was born on July 11, 1942, in Rzeszów, Poland. His father, a violinist as well as a lawyer, introduced him to music at an early age with lessons in classical violin and piano. Stańko found his true calling when he began to study the trumpet in 1959 at a Kraków music school. Jazz was new to Poland at the time; Poland's communist government had even outlawed the form until shortly before Stańko began to play. "Jazz," he explained to George Varga in the San Diego UnionTribune, "was outlawed because it was synonymous with the Western and American style of life." Even after playing jazz became legal, it still retained a subversive aura, although an attractive one, because, as Stańko has explained, it represented freedom for both listeners and performers.

Jazz recordings were hard to come by in Poland when Stańko was discovering the form, so his first exposure to jazz was the music he heard on American radio broadcasts. He later cited the American jazz musician Chet Baker as his earliest influence, followed closely by Miles Davis. In 1962, when he was 21, Stańko helped form a group called Jazz Darings with Adam Makowicz. At first the band played hard bop, but when Makowicz left and Janusz Manuak replaced him, the group turned to free jazzan unstructured style pioneered in part by American musician Ornette Coleman. The Jazz Darings became one of the first European free jazz groups and established Stańko as a pioneer in his own right. Stańko won the Polish Jazz Musician of the Year Award in this same year.

From 1963 through 1967 Stańko worked in a group with Krzysztof Komeda, Poland's most famous film composer and jazz musician (known for scoring many of the films of Roman Polanski, including Rosemary's Baby ). In later years Stańko would call Komeda his mentor and one of his greatest influences, as he told Rob Adams in the Glasgow Herald, "I took so much from him, his lyricism, his simplicityhe showed me how to play the music's essentials." Komeda's group made waves with its daring free jazz experiments, and became known to American musicians as well. Komeda emigrated to the United States and planned to bring Stańko over to join him after he got established, but he died in 1969 (some sources say 1968) following injuries sustained in a car accident. Instead of following his mentor to the United States, therefore, Stańko stayed in Europe, where he helped perpetuate Komeda's music in both live performances and his own recordings.

During the 1960s Stańko also worked with Andrzej Trazaskowski (from 1965 to 1969), and with the Alex von Schlippenbach-led Globe Unity Orchestra, which played in Europe's best-known jazz clubs. In 1968, Stańko formed and led a quintet that played in jazz festivals throughout Europe and was acclaimed for its Music for K, a tribute to Komeda. During this time, Stańko also recorded with the Studio Jazzowe Polskiego Radia orchestra, with the Don Cherry Eternal Rhythm Orchestra, and in a group led by Michal Urbaniak.

After his quintet disbanded in 1973 Stańko formed a quartet the following year. He also played and recorded with other groups, including ensembles led by Edward Vesala. Stańko teamed up with his old colleague Makowicz in 1974, when they both played in Urbaniak's group. In 1975, they formed the Tomasz Stańko-Adam Makowicz Unit, a group that also included Tomasz Szukalski and Czeslaw Bartkowski. The group toured Germany and cut two albums in the mid-1970s.

In 1978 the quartet disbanded, and Stańko began his career as a soloist, at first playing live concerts, and then recording. In 1980 he made a solo recording in India, at the Taj Mahal, and at the Karla Caves temple. He continued to play in other bands through the 1980s, including in a group led by Edward Vesala called Heavy Life, and in the Slawomir Kulpowicz-led In/formation. In 1981, Stańko teamed with influential American bassist Gary Peacock to cut an album. He appeared on numerous other recordings in the early 1980s, including a 1983 release as a member of the Edward Vesala Trio, and as a guest soloist with the NDR big band in 1984. In addition to playing with these groups, Stańko also performed in a trio consisting of himself, Jack DeJohnette, and Rufus Reid in 1983, and cut an album with the Cecil Taylor-led Orchestra of Two Continents in 1984.

For the Record . . .

Born on July 11, 1942, in Rzeszów, Poland. Education: Attended music school in Kraków, Poland.

Formed Jazz Darings jazz group, won Polish Jazz Musician of the Year Award, 1962; joined group led by well-known jazz musician and film composer Krzysztof Komeda, 1963; worked with numerous other jazz groups through the 1960s; played with Globe Unity Orchestra throughout Europe, 1960s; formed own quintet, 1968; released Music for K, 1970; recorded with numerous other groups, 1970s; formed own quartet, 1974; joined Tomasz StańkoAdam Makowicz Unit, 1975; began career as soloist, 1978; released Music from Taj Mahal and Karla Caves, 1980; appeared on the albums of numerous other artists through the 1980s; formed Freelectronic, 1985; played with Freelectronic at Camden Jazz Festival, 1985; featured on live album made at Montreux Jazz Festival, 1987; played with Cecil Taylorled European Orchestra, late 1980s; played with numerous other groups, 1990s; founded two new groups, late 1990s; signed with ECM Records, 1990s; released Leosia, 1996; Litania, 1997; From Green Hill, 2000; Soul of Things, 2002; awarded European Jazz Prize, 2002; launched first tour of the United States, 2002.

Awards: Polish Jazz Musician of the Year, 1962; European Jazz Prize, 2002.

Addresses: Record company Egger Innovationsund Handels-GmbH, Abt. ECM Export, Pasinger Str. 94, Gräfelfing D-82166, Germany, website: http://www.ecmrecords.com

In the early to mid-1980s, Stańko played with an ensemble that also featured Slawomir Kulpowicz. In 1985, Stańko formed Freelectronic, a group that played at the Camden Jazz Festival in 1985, and in 1987 was featured on a live album made at the Montreux Jazz Festival. As the 1980s drew to a close, Stańko again teamed with the pioneering pianist Cecil Taylor to play with the European Orchestra.

The 1990s saw Stańko still going strong, playing with numerous groups, cutting an album in 1991 with a group consisting of himself, reed player Vlatko Kucan, double-bass player Jay Oliver, and American expatriate drummer Billy Elgart. In 1991, 1994, and 1995, Stańko recorded several albums with Nicolas Simion. In 1993 he formed two more quartets, and as the 1990s drew to a close, founded two other groups, one of which specialized in the music of his old collaborator Krzysztof Komeda.

During the 1990s Stańko also signed with the German ECM record label and continued to record solo albums, including Litania, a Komeda tribute album. Released in 1997, it included work composed by Komeda for various film projects that had never been recorded as standalone musical compositions. In 2000 ECM released Stańko's From the Green Hill in the United States, a work composed by Stańko but heavily influenced by Komeda. Soul of Things, released in 2002, was a suite of untitled improvisations

In 2002, at the age of 60, Stańko was awarded the first European Jazz Prize. In the same year the Tomasz Stańko Quartet took its first concert tour of the United States. Starting at a small jazz venue in Philadelphia, Stańko looked forward to introducing American audiences to his work. As he told Tim Blangger in the Morning Call, "I am so excited ... [t]he United States is the source of this music and the audiences are also the best, very educated." In addition to his extensive work as a performer on stage and in the studio, Stańko has followed in the footsteps of his mentor, Komeda, in composing musical scores for both films and theater productions.

Selected discography

As unaccompanied soloist

Music from Taj Mahal and Karla Caves, Leo, 1980.

As leader

Music for K, Muza, 1970.

Purple Sun, Calig, 1973.

Balladyna, ECM, 1975.

Almost Green, Leo, 1978.

Witkacy-Peyotl, Poljazz, 1984.

Bluish, Power Bros., 1991.

Caoma, Konnex, 1991.

Bosonossa and Other Ballads, Gowi, 1993.

Matka Joanna, ECM, 1994.

Leosia, ECM, 1996.

Litania, ECM, 1997.

From the Green Hill, ECM, 1998.

Soul of Things, ECM, 2002.

Sources

Periodicals

Guardian (Manchester, England), October 17, 1997, p. T18.

Herald (Glasgow, Scotland), July 1, 1999, p. 14.

Morning Call (Allentown, PA), October 26, 2002, p. A53.

San Diego Union-Tribune, November 6, 2002, p. F10.

Times (London), November 25, 2002, p. 17.

Washington Post, November 1, 2002, p. T6.

Online

"Stańko, Tomasz," Grove Dictionary of Music, http://www.grovemusic.com (January 29, 2004).

"Tomasz Stanko," All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (January 29, 2004).

"Tomasz Stanko Biography," Polish Jazz Network, http://www.stanko.polishjazz.com/ (January 29, 2004).

Michael Belfiore

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