Poland has a great history in Jazz. In the 1960s and 70s, Polish Jazz was expanded by pioneers like Tomasz Stańko and Zbigniew Namysłowski to incorporate elements of the avant-garde and traditional folk music. A particularly important artist was Michał Urbaniak, one of the originators of jazz-funk fusion. The jazz scene in Poland went to new levels when he started collaborating with some of the biggest names in American jazz at the time.

An instrument you can recognize in a lot of Polish Jazz gems is an incredible bass. Krzysztof Ścierański, likely Poland’s greatest bass player, has performed on over 150+ albums as a featuring artist for many of the best jazz and rock bands in Poland. For example, the work of String Connection and Air Condition where he played with Zbigniew Namysłowski are well worth exploring. But also beyond that, Poland is a goldmine for rare music gems with Jazz sound, which the newsletter will dive deeper into.