Aga
Zaryan

Jazz vocalist with a warm timbre, the first Polish woman to record for Blue Note.

Aga Zaryan, born Agnieszka Skrzypek, is one of the most highly regarded Polish jazz vocalists. She spent part of her childhood in Manchester, and after returning to Poland she studied singing at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. She made her debut in 2002 with the album My Lullaby, and her subsequent recordings achieved gold and platinum status. She is the first Polish artist to sign a contract with the Blue Note Records label.

Her repertoire combines jazz standards and original compositions set to poetry. The album Umiera piękno from 2007, the first recorded in Polish, contains pieces dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising, and the album A Book of Luminous Things is based on poetry selected by Czesław Miłosz. Her regular collaborators include the pianist Michał Tokaj and the guitarist Larry Koonse.

Zaryan has been awarded many times, including Fryderyk awards, and for many years she won the title of Vocalist of the Year in the readers' poll of Jazz Forum magazine. Her work, combining intimate singing with literary sensitivity, has cemented her position as one of the most important figures in contemporary Polish vocal jazz.