Univerity of Michigan, Copernicus Center for Polish Studies presents

Free Improvisation and
Jazz Avant-Garde in Poland:
From Tomasz Stańko to Mikołaj Trzaska

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From the event website: Maciej Lewenstein will present a historical review of free improvisation and jazz avant-garde, starting from the 1960s, as well as the early attempts to play free jazz by Tomasz Stańko or Leszek Żᶕdło. He will comment on the fusion-dominated 1970s and 1980s, then focus on the yass movement of the 1990s. The important role of the late Andrzej “Major” Przybielski will be stressed. He will sketch the present free improvisation scene in Poland, and describe a few of the leading figures of this scene: Mikołaj Trzaska, Rafał Mazur, Jerzy Mazzoll, Wacław Zimpel, Piotr Mełech, Paulina Owczarek, and more. The lecture will be illustrated with numerous musical examples. Maciej Lewenstein will also spend some time discussing the general condition of the Polish avant-garde: jazz clubs, concerts and festivals, as well as record labels.