In Bandcamp Daily I write about 11 young most interesting polish „jazz” bands in these scene report. We also speak what jazz means for them.
If you know anything about Polish jazz, it’s most likely because of the legendary album series released under that name, which launched in 1965 and wrapped up in 1989. The series boasted titles by the country’s most important jazz musicians—including Krzysztof Komeda, Tomasz Stańko, Jerzy Milian, Adam Makowicz, and Zbigniew Namysłowski—and its relaunch in 2016 did much to renew interest in the music.
Which is notable; for a long time, jazz in Poland had difficulty breaking through to a wider audience. That’s changed even more in recent years, as musicians like Kamil Piotrowicz, Emil Miszk, Szymon Gąsiorek, and bands like EABS and Immortal Onion, are blazing new trails and winning over new audiences. “We are the first generation that grew up with a sense of security and with supposedly unlimited possibilities,” explains pianist Kamil Piotrowicz. “We can offer contrast and ambiguity, we are culturally rich and strongly schizophrenic, which translates into freshness and originality.”
The artists in the list below reflect that spirit, bringing an array of styles and sounds into their music and making the jazz scene in Poland consistently unpredictable:
