Jazz guitarist and composer; born on March 29, 1951, in Kraków. Died on September 2nd, 2013 in Kraków.
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Jarosław Śmietana graduated from The Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, where he studied jazz and entertainment music. He made his debut with the amateur blues band Hall, with whom he won an award at the Jazz nad Odrą Festival in 1972. He has also played with the Cracow band Dżamble, and has recorded with the German Klaus Lenz Big Band.
In 1973 Śmietana founded the legendary band Extra Ball, followed by Sounds, Polish Jazz Stars and the Symphonic Orchestra.
During his student days, he played in the Big Band at the Academy of Music, with whom he took part in a number of jazz festivals. The group performed at the Jazz nad Odrą festival in Wrocław in 1975 and 1976, and in 1975 they participated in the Jazz Jamboree in Warsaw. He also helped found the Namysłowski - Śmietana Band.
Śmietana has given concerts and performed at festivals across the globe, playing alongside some of the greatest jazz musicians in Poland and, indeed, in the world. He has shared a stage with names like Art Farmer, Freddie Hubbard, Eddie Henderson, Joe Zawinul, Gary Bartz, Carter Jefferson, Vince Mendoza, John Abercrombie, Hamiet Bluiett, Idris Muhammad and Ronnie Burrage. He has also composed and written over 200 jazz tracks, and has recorded over 20 albums as a bandleader.
Projects:
- Extra Ball
Jarosław Śmietana - guitar, leader
Władysław Sendecki - el. piano, piano, synthesizer
Andrzej Olejniczak - tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
Jan Cichy - bass
Benedykt Radecki - percussion - Sounds
- Polish Jazz Stars and Symphonic Orchestra
- Namysłowski - Śmietana Band
- A Story Of Polish Jazz
Selected discography:
- Extra Ball, Aquarium Live (Poljazz, 1977)
- Zbigniew Seifert, Kilimanjaro (Poljazz, 1978)
- Phone Consultations (GOWI, 1996)
- Art Farmer Plays Standards (Starling, 1998)
- Speak Easy (Starling, 1998)
- African Lake (Starling, 2000)
- Out Of The Question (Not Two, 2001)
- Everything Ice (JRS, 2002)
- Autumn Suite (JSR, 2006)
- What's Going On? (JSR, 2006)
- Revolution (Distribution: CD Contact, 2008)
- The Good Life (JSR, 2008)
Opinions:
- Jarosław Śmietana Autumn Suite
"(...)The whole is designed not only for jazz lovers because form and orchestra sound go beyond limits of the class. If in the listeners' consciousness there are film associations, it will be without doubts in conformity with foundation, Krzesimir Dębski's hand is visible there. It is an important record.(...)" (Tomasz Szachowski, Jazz Forum)
Author: Marek Romański, January 2009