Tymon Tymański is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and composer. He was born on 30th September 1968 in Gdańsk.
He began his musical education at the age of eight with private classical guitar lessons. While still in primary school, he was the lead singer of a band called The Howling Dogs. In 1984, he founded Sni Sredstvom Za Uklanianie, a new-wave group inspired by Joy Division, in which he sang and played the bass guitar. In 1986, he began studying English Philology at the University of Gdańsk. In the meantime, he also worked with informal avant-garde group Totart.
He coined the term Yass (an alternative movement in Polish jazz which was developed in the Tricity area). In 1988, he founded the group Miłość, which was acclaimed the best Polish acoustic jazz band of the year four times in a row and voted as the most interesting group of the decade by the readers' and critics' poll of Jazz Forum Magazine. The group included Leszek Możdżer (piano), Mikołaj Trzaska (saxophone), Maciek Sikała (saxophone), Jacek Olter (drums), and Tymon Tymański (voice and double bass). After their first album Miłość was released in 1994, the group started collaborating with American jazz trumpeter Lester Bowie and recorded two more albums – Not Two and Talkin' About Life and Death. The band vanished from the music scene after Olter's death in 2002.
In 1992, Tymański founded the group Kury. Its second album P.O.L.O.V.I.R.U.S. was composed of original pastiche songs commenting on Polish popular music. In 1998, the album won a Fryderyk award for Alternative Album of the Year. Tymański invited many prominent musicians such as Olaf Deriglasoff, Leszek Możdżer, Jerzy Mazzoll, Grzegorz Nawrocki, and Larry Ok Ugwu to collaborate.
In 2002, Tymański founded the group Tymon & The Transistors which debuted with the soundtrack for Wojciech Smarzowski’s film Wesele. For the soundtrack he received the Orzeł prize from Polish Film Academy in 2005. Tymon & The Transistors have successful recorded many albums, especially the 2007 album Don't Panic! We're From Poland, Bigos Heart from 2009 and Rock'n'Roll from 2014.
Since 2003, the artist has performed with the yass music group Tymański Yass Ensemble, which is considered to be a continuation of Miłość.
Projects:
- Miłość (earlier Sni Sredstvom Za Uklanianie)
- NRD
- Czan (earlier Trupy)
- Kury
- Tymon & The Transistors
- Tymański Yass Ensemble
- Tymon Tymański & MU
Selected discography:
Miłość:
- Miłość (Biodro Records, 1992)
- Not Two (with Lester Bowie, GOWI Records, 1995)
- Asthmatic (GOWI Records, 1996)
- Talkin' About Life and Death (with Lester Bowie, Biodro Records, 2000)
Czan:
- Samsara (Biodro Records, 1998)
Kury:
- P.O.L.O.V.I.R.U.S. (Biodro Records, 1998)
- Na żywo w Pstrągu (FF Folk / Klub Pstrąg, 1999)
- 100 lat undergroundu (Biodro Records, 2001)
Tymon & The Transistors:
- Wesele (BMG Poland, 2004)
- Don't Panic! We're From Poland (Biodro Records, 2007)
- Bigos Heart (Biodro Records, 2009)
- Skaczemy jak pacynki (Universal Music Polska, 2013)
- Rock'n'Roll (Agora SA, 2014)
- Polskie gówno (yMusic, NCK, 2016)
- Zatrzymaj Wojnę! (yMusic, NCK, 2017)
Tymański Yass Ensemble:
- Jitte (Tone Industria, 2004)
- Free Tibet (Biodro Records, 2008)
Author: Marek Romański, January 2009; update: Magdalena Majkowska, April 2019