Polish jazz has a history that spans periods of both acceptance and political repression.
The beginning of jazz in Poland is difficult to determine. As early as the 1930s, clubs in Warsaw, Kraków, Rzeszów or Poznań would play some jazz. This tended to be swing and some of it was influenced by the traditional classical music. American popular music (particularly of George Gershwin 's) was in great demand. Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong and Eddie Rosner might be some of the first jazz musicians of significance in Poland.
After the Communist takeover, jazz was initially repressed. Although groups like Melomani existed, jazz was officially condemned and forbidden from the radio. Musicians learned about jazz by listening to a shortwave radio broadcast of Willis Conover's Voice of America Jazz Hour or smuggling jazz records from abroad.
After the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, jazz in Poland gained renewed freedom. In 1958 Dave Brubeck visited Poland and the nation's jazz scene became influenced by cool jazz. By the sixties three strands had emerged as dominant; trad jazz, "mainstream", and free jazz. Krzysztof Komeda became the leader of a modern jazz movement that did not copy the American way of playing but developed its own "European" style, especially with his 1966 album Astigmatic.
Hanna Banaszak – vocalist
Darek Oleszkiewicz - bassist
Jacek Bednarek – bassist
Marek Bliziński – guitarist
Krzesimir Dębski – violinist, pianist, composer
Urszula Dudziak – singer
Maciej Fortuna – trumpeter
Bogdan Hołownia – pianist (Berklee College of Music graduate)
Marcin Jahr – drummer
Sławek Jaskułke – pianist
Kazimierz Jonkisz – drummer
Anna Maria Jopek – vocalist
Wojciech Karolak – Hammond organist, keyboardist, pianist (describes himself as "an American jazz and R&B musician, born by mistake in the middle of Europe.")
Jacek Kochan – drummer, composer
Krzysztof Komeda – composer, pianist, movie scoring (associated with Roman Polanski)
Janusz Kowalski – tenor saxophonist (Berklee College of Music graduate)
Sławomir Kulpowicz – pianist, composer, (influenced by the music of India and the music of John Coltrane)
Andrzej Kurylewicz – pianist, trumpeter, trombonist, composer (also classical music)
Adam Makowicz – pianist (currently living in Toronto)
Marcin Masecki – pianist (Berklee College of Music graduate)
Dorota Miśkiewicz – vocalist
Michał Miśkiewicz – drummer
Leszek Możdżer – pianist
Janusz Muniak – saxophonist
Zbigniew Namysłowski – alto saxophonist
Marek Napiórkowski – guitarist
Bartlomiej Oles – drummer (free improvisation)
Marcin Oles – bassist (free improvisation)
Włodzimierz Pawlik – Grammy award winner for Night in Calisia pianist, composer
Andrzej Przybielski – trumpeter
Zbigniew Seifert – violinist, saxophonist, (influenced by the music of John Coltrane)
Stanisław Sojka (Stan Soyka) – vocalist, pianist, guitarist, songwriter
Tomasz Stańko – trumpeter (ECM Records featured artist)
Adam Taubitz – violinist (also classical with the Berlin Philharmonic)
Andrzej Trzaskowski – pianist, composer
Michał Urbaniak – violinist, saxophonist
Marcin Wasilewski – pianist
Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski – tenor and baritone saxophonist, composer, arranger, (jazz DJ at the Polskie Radio Program III)
Aga Zaryan – vocalist (Blue Note Records recording artist)
Andrzej Zaucha – vocalist
Adam Pieronczyk – Saxophonist
