Between Business & Asylum: The Polish Jazz Club Scene
The history of Polish jazz is set in very diverse scenery – from spacious philharmonic halls to tiny flats, buildings destroyed by war to loud student clubs. Regardless of their decor, these places have often provided a spiritual retreat for music lovers.
The period before the Second World War was a pioneering time for Polish jazz. Early articles noting this new music phenomenon were published in the press, although they usually approached it with distance at best. This attitude towards jazz would change in the mid-1930s, with the growing popularity of swing and the international career of artists such as Benny Goodman. However, Polish musicians didn’t need such an impulse.
According to Krzysztof Karpiński, author of the book Był Jazz: Krzyk Jazzbandu w Przedwojennej Polsce (There Was Jazz: The Cry of the Jazz Band in Pre-War Poland), the first concert where the audience could have heard this genre of music took place at Oaza in Warsaw. In 1922 Zygmunt Karasiński’s quintet performed there. This event is described in an exhibition by the Warsaw Jazz Museum:
The musicians presented jazz-influenced dance music. The owners of the venue took care of everything – if someone didn’t have a dance partner, tax dancers were on duty.
Trans. JB
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
The Melodyst-Bundzik Jazz Band, with Alfred Melodyst (on the banjo) at the helm, 1929, photo: Henryk Schabenbeck / NAC / audiovis.nac.gov.pl
Jazz in pre-war Poland was played mainly in hotels, restaurants and cafes. In Warsaw, Kraków, Łódź, Poznań or Vilnius, this music often accompanied the meetings of local elites. In his book Historia Jazzu w Polsce (The History of Jazz in Poland), Krystian Brodacki quotes saxophonist Aleksander Halicki regarding the Łódź-based club Tabarin:
There was work there! Sometimes the night-time playing would end at noon. The club was open as long as the clients requested, if they only had money, obviously. It was frequented by prosperous audiences: industrialists, merchants, though also shop-assistants and salesmen.
Trans. JB
In the mid-1930s, jazz orchestras were growing, together with the swing fashion. Concerts organised in Warsaw’s Cafe Bodega and the Bristol Hotel or in Kraków’s Cyganeria and Esplanada – where the orchestras of Karasiński and Szymon Kataszek, Henryk Gold or Alfred Melodysta performed – were turning into dance parties. An exception was the ensemble of the trumpeter Ady Rosner, who, as Aleksander Landau reported in the weekly As, stunned the Cracovian audience with his virtuosity:
The scale that this musician had at his disposal filled almost everyone present in the hall with admiration. Not a single dancing couple stepped onto the dance floor.
Trans. JB
The YMCA organisation also played an important role in the pioneering stage of Polish jazz. Its branches were located in Warsaw, Kraków, Gdynia and Łódź, where jazz sections were functioning actively.
Out from the underground & back
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
A concert of the jazz band Melomani; pictured: Andrzej Trzaskowski, Witold Sobociński, Andrzej 'Idon' Wojciechowski, Krzysztof (Komeda) Trzciński i Jerzy 'Duduś' Matuszkiewicz, Ustronie Morskie, 1958, photo: PAP
Some Warsaw and Kraków-based venues didn’t close down with the outbreak of war. During the occupation, the Nazi Germans allowed Polish artists to engage in selected cultural practices. Under those circumstances, performing entertaining and danceable music must have raised moral dilemmas, but some musicians decided to pursue their careers in the General Government. Jazz could be heard in Warsaw’s Hotel Bristol and at the Momus theatre, where the orchestra of trumpeter George Scott was performing. In 1942, at the invitation of a Nazi German agency, the Czech saxophonist Charles Bovery and his band came to this city. The artist, who was supposed to entertain the occupants, gradually performed more and more often for Polish audiences. He often played at Cafe Lucyna. Jazz was also played in Kraków. The Casanova and Feniks clubs hosted, amongst others, Kazimierz Turewicz’s orchestra.
In 1945, the Second World War ended, which reduced many Polish cities into ruins. For this reason, the post-war jazz scene developed faster in Kraków and Łódź than in the completely destroyed Warsaw or Wrocław. In the capital of Lesser Poland, there were vibrant music venues: Casanova, Cyganeria, Feniks and Maxim. They featured the jazz orchestras of Kazimierz Turewicz and Zbigniew Wróbel, which were listened to by young mavens of improvised music: Jerzy Matuszkiewicz and Witold Kujawski. In a few years, they became the backbone of Melomani, the leading ensemble on the Polish scene. This example shows what a crucial role music venues have played in the development of jazz.
Despite the enormous scale of the destruction in Warsaw, jazz could already be heard in 1945. More precisely: in the Roma hall and the surviving section of the Europejski Hotel. In 1947 to 1948, three Polish departments of the YMCA opened jazz clubs. Wojciech Brzozowski and Leopold Tyrmand were active in the Warsaw-based venue on Konopnicka Street. They organised numerous concerts including one called Jam Session – Hot Jazz – Swing – Boogie that reverberated around the jazz scene. Some music groups, including Melomani, were formed at YMCA-supported venues. However, this trend didn’t last long. The Stalinist period marked the end of private business initiatives and the banning of the YMCA. Around 1949, jazz became prohibited as well.
The first half of the 1950s is known as the ‘catacomb period’ of Polish jazz. In order to avoid repercussions, artists would play their music in their friends’ flats. One of them was Kujawski’s apartment in Kraków, which – according to Brodacki – had the additional advantage of being situated next to an institution for the deaf. Musicians shared such verified addresses in all larger cities amongst each other.
During these years, young artists also performed at dancing parties organised by universities, which turned a blind eye to the syncopated rhythms. The pianist Andrzej Kurylewicz drew from jazz during dancing parties in the Rotunda club in Kraków. His efforts did not escape the attention of the authorities that in turn expelled him from the university. Perhaps it would have been easier to reach for the works of American artists by playing them in pubs and restaurants in smaller towns and health resorts. This is how jazz was introduced to listeners in Szklarska Poręba or Cieplice by the big band of saxophonist Jan Walasek.
Students clubs everywhere
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Sopot Festival Jazz in Poland, third from the left: Leopold Tyrmand, the Polish writer and promoter of jazz, 1957, photo: Janusz Uklejewski / PAP
The end of the Stalinist period is generally considered to be 1956 – also known as the Polish October, when a certain liberalisation of the system began to take place. The signs of the coming changes on the jazz scene had already been noticeable sooner.
Back in 1954, the first edition of The Kraków Jazz All Souls’ Day Festival took place. About 300 people gathered in the rented hall of a primary school. The following year, Tyrmand organised his first concert in Warsaw since 1948. It took place in the club room of the Ministry of Communication in Warsaw. The event, which had the format of a one-day festival, was held under the name Jam Session No. 1. The authorities may have begun to accept similar events, being aware that in the summer, tens of thousands of international youths would come to Warsaw as part of The Fifth World Festival of Youth and Students – hence a certain degree of openness seemed inevitable.
Nevertheless, 1956 was still a breakthrough year for Polish jazz. Not only was the country’s first jazz festival held, but the first student clubs started to operate as well. It was the Central Student Club of Warsaw University of Technology, Stodoła, which had the honour of being the pioneer. The following year saw the foundation of other clubs operating under the control of the Polish Students’ Association: the Jazz Club in Łódź and the Hybrydy Club in Warsaw. Similar venues were established at each university. There was the Kraków Jazz Club in Kraków and Club Żak in Gdańsk, amongst others. Usually, they were managed by groups of musicians and enthusiasts, operating within the framework of the Polish Students’ Association. Being subsidiary to the party, the association paid for travel, arranged accommodation, and also paid small fees. Such support depended heavily on the informal relations between clubs’ representatives and the local authorities. Sometimes this meant difficult compromises. At the Hybrydy Club, for example, a conflict between its members arose when its leaders decided to take part in the May Day parade.
At the same time, Polish jazz moved from the catacombs to the most prestigious halls in Poland in no time. Musicians, who only recently had to crowd in flats, played on the stages of Kraków Philharmonic (since 1957) and the National Philharmonic (since 1958). They performed in the Congress Hall and the Forest Opera in Sopot. Jazz was no longer the enemy of the authorities.
The student clubs were a cornerstone of the Polish jazz scene until 1989. It is worth mentioning the Kraków Jazz Club, which had its premises granted directly by the city. Two of the first professional clubs established on the initiative of the Polish Jazz Association operated in Warsaw and Wrocław. These were Akwarium, established in 1977, and Jazz Klub Rura, which opened three years later. In both venues, concerts were held with great regularity, up to six days a week. In the 1970s, there was a common saying that the Akwarium was the only professional jazz club between West Berlin and Tokyo.
Free jazz versus the free market
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
A concert during the Jazz Jamboree Festival '85 at the Akwarium jazz club, Warsaw, 1985, photo: Piotr Cieśla / RSW / Forum
With the emergence of the free market in Poland, the situation of jazz clubs changed fundamentally. Student clubs still operate, but under different conditions. The Polish Jazz Association or local cultural institutions suddenly faced competition from private initiatives. The media’s most notable example of such a clash was Akwarium – which was privatised by one of its employees, Mariusz Adamiak, behind the association’s back. That said, the young promoter understood the new realities better than his superiors. He was not afraid of acquiring sponsors and setting high ticket prices to attract world stars to the club. Eventually, Adamiak focussed on organising jazz festivals, and Akwarium didn’t make it to the 21st century.
Due to periods of turbulent economic transitions, few of the jazz clubs founded in the 1990s have survived to this day. Kraków is exceptional in this respect, with the clubs U Muniaka, Alchemia and Harris Piano Jazz Bar still operating. Other jazz venues have entirely changed their character (Warsaw’s Tygmont) or opened up to a different audience (Blue Note in Poznań). The latter trend is justified, as today’s music lovers are rarely so focused on specific genres.
Before 1989, frequenting a particular club was associated with a certain lifestyle and constituted the identity of the club-goers. Today, clubs rarely play such a role – specially since they have to compete more than ever with music festivals, which are transforming the way we participate in culture. However, from the perspective of 2021, one may wonder whether the pandemic and the restrictions it implies will not reverse such a trend in the long run.
Written by Jan Błaszczak, Sep 2021
[{"nid":"5688","uuid":"6aa9e079-0240-4dcb-9929-0d1cf55e03a5","type":"article","langcode":"en","field_event_date":"","title":"Challenges for Polish Prose in the Nineties","field_introduction":"Content: Depict the world, oneself and the form | The Mimetic Challenge: seeking the truth, destroying and creating myths | Seeking the Truth about the World | Destruction of the Heroic Emigrant Myth | Destruction of the Polish Patriot Myth | Destruction of the Flawless Democracy Myth | Creation of Myths | Biographical challenge | Challenges of genre | Summary\r\n","field_summary":"Content: Depict the world, oneself and the form | The Mimetic Challenge: seeking the truth, destroying and creating myths | Seeking the Truth about the World | Destruction of the Heroic Emigrant Myth | Destruction of the Polish Patriot Myth | Destruction of the Flawless Democracy Myth | Creation of Myths | Biographical challenge | Challenges of genre | Summary","topics_data":"a:2:{i:0;a:3:{s:3:\u0022tid\u0022;s:5:\u002259609\u0022;s:4:\u0022name\u0022;s:26:\u0022#language \u0026amp; literature\u0022;s:4:\u0022path\u0022;a:2:{s:5:\u0022alias\u0022;s:27:\u0022\/topics\/language-literature\u0022;s:8:\u0022langcode\u0022;s:2:\u0022en\u0022;}}i:1;a:3:{s:3:\u0022tid\u0022;s:5:\u002259644\u0022;s:4:\u0022name\u0022;s:8:\u0022#culture\u0022;s:4:\u0022path\u0022;a:2:{s:5:\u0022alias\u0022;s:14:\u0022\/topic\/culture\u0022;s:8:\u0022langcode\u0022;s:2:\u0022en\u0022;}}}","field_cover_display":"default","image_title":"","image_alt":"","image_360_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/360_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=ZsoNNVXJ","image_260_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/260_auto_cover\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=pLlgriOu","image_560_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/560_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=0n3ZgoL3","image_860_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/860_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=ELffe8-z","image_1160_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1160_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=XazO3DM5","field_video_media":"","field_media_video_file":"","field_media_video_embed":"","field_gallery_pictures":"","field_duration":"","cover_height":"991","cover_width":"1000","cover_ratio_percent":"99.1","path":"en\/node\/5688","path_node":"\/en\/node\/5688"}]