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Polish Radio Sessions 1970-91

Tomasz Stańko

Label: POLSKIE RADIO
Released: 2025
Views: 264

Tracks

Cats; Wilderness; Stress; Ballad; Lullaby from "Rosemary's Baby"; Wooden Music, pt. 2; Wooden Music, pt. 1; Piece for Diana; Placebo; Poacher; Stella by Starlight; Countdown; Giant Steps; Castle of Mist; Bluish; Few Shades of Blue, parts 1-4; First Free Etude; Second Free Etude; Third Free Etude; Almost Gama I; Now A; We; Airfield; Magic Time; Euforila II; Asmodeus; Eagle-Owls; Almost Gama II; Rue de la Tour; The Two First, the Third and a Few Others; Almost Black; My W.S.B. Friend; Trumpet One; Bass One; Mr DD; Babylon Samba; Purple Liquor; Hey!; End Jam

Personnel

Tomasz Stańko

trumpet

Zbigniew Seifert

violin

Janusz Muniak

saxophone

Bronislaw Suchanek

bass

Janusz Stefanski

drums

Czeslaw Bartkowski

drums

Adam Makowicz

piano

Tomasz Szukalski

saxophone, tenor

Janusz Skowron

synthesizer

Tadeusz Sudnik

synthesizer

Vitold Rek

bass

Apostolis "Lakis" Anthimos

guitar, electric

Jerzy Kawalac

bass

Andrzej Ryszka

drums

José Torres

congas

Album Description

The most famous Polish jazz musician, a world-renowned trumpet virtuoso and one of ECM Records' leading artists of the last three decades, was a regular guest at the Polish Radio recording studios in Warsaw between the 1960s and 1990s. During longer and shorter sessions, he was accompanied by top improvising artists.
In 2025, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the state Polish Radio and out of desire to present the unknown part of the legendary musician’s ouvrée, the idea of releasing a special collection - kind of radio portfolio of the Artist - was born. Its outcome is a collection of six unique records.

Both CD and LP versions of deluxe box-set come with a 48-page booklet full of photos of Tomasz Stańko's bands, reproductions of sheet music, comments from the musicians participating in the recordings, and never-before seen stunning portrait of the Artist painted by Joanna Stańko. The mastering was made by Grammy Award-winner Jacek Gawłowski, who, using modern technology, amplified the Master's brilliance, recorded years ago on magnetic tapes and stored in the Polish Radio Archives.
Anna Stańko, the Artist’s daughter and CEO of the Tomasz Stańko Foundation: “During a communism era Polish Radio was an absolutely unique place. An institution of the state, part of a political system, yet an enclave of freedom. A space for people operating outside the box. A hub of creativity, a cave of sounds, a spaceship transporting artists to a parallel reality. Freedom was not possibility there - it was a necessity. For me this is a new chapter in discovering my father's music. Recordings that are "old," yet remain fresh, new, unfamiliar, filled with the same tension and emotion he always brought to the studio. They feed the hunger to hear more, differently, more of him. The journey into the archives is a deeply personal experience for me. I know my Dad's music best from the time I worked with, from the early 2000s and later. I observed it emerge "from the inside": in rehearsals, on tour, in
studios, in dressing rooms. This makes returning to its source all the more exciting.”
Adam Domagała, editor: „The Artist's life was rich, marked by successful recordings and concerts all over the world. From today's perspective, this unprecedented success story of Poles-beloved trumpet player allows us to understand - at least a little - his decision to keep Polish Radio recordings unpublished. He had been creating too much and too quickly just to wait for the spare processing capacity of the music industry, in and oustide of Poland. He was a free spirit who did not care about what he did "yesterday". Only "today" mattered. Meanwhile, the radio chapter of his work, regularly documented since the end of the 1960s, gives the highest marks not only to him, but also to the musicians he gathered around. The sound engineers - Stańko used to consider them equally to artists - also deserved kudos.”
Jacek Gawłowski, the Grammy Award winner and the author of modern mastering: “I wanted to preserve the sonic character of this music. Beyond the obvious, like noise reduction and removing defects resulting from the degradation of old tapes, I emphasized dynamics, occasionally modified spatial effects, and brought out the clarity of the instruments. The musicians played wonderfully, like being inspired, oblivious to everything, including
technology. Years later, I merely allowed this expression to shine even brighter."