Foreigner’s Guide To Polish Jazz

The Adam Mickiewicz Institute has recently published “A Foreigner’s Guide to Polish Jazz.” In this ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ style article, readers are given many ways to digest the complex and glorious history (and present) of jazz in Poland. The article was adapted from Cezary Lerski’s article “Polish Jazz – Freedom at last” by Wojciech Oleksiak, who provided editing, comments, a foreword, a listener’s profile and the last two paragraphs.

The jazz adventure begins thus:

The prolific history of Polish Jazz may seem inaccessible for foreigners: so many characters, so many musicians and various streams of jazz music. If you want to get started on Polish jazz and discover the story of Komeda, Stańko or Seifert, try out’s Foreigners Guide to Polish Jazz.

Polish Jazz is approaching its 100th anniversary. What makes the history of Polish Jazz so unique is its role in the quest for democracy and political freedom during the communist period and its being deeply rooted in Polish traditional culture. In the 20th century, jazz was in the avant-garde of democratic processes in Poland and was strongly linked with all genres of art that struggled for artistic independence. The difficult circumstances of the communist period and the need to redefine its position after the political transformation left no space for stagnation.

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