Tomasz
Stańko

Trumpeter with a distinctive, raw tone, one of the most important European musicians on ECM.

Tomasz Stańko (1942 to 2018) was a jazz trumpeter and composer, regarded as one of the most important figures in European jazz. He was born in Rzeszów, and his playing was marked by a raw, lyrical and recognizable trumpet tone. In 1962 he co-founded the band Jazz Darings, cited as one of the first European ensembles to play free jazz.

In 1963 Stańko joined the quintet of Krzysztof Komeda, with whom he recorded the famous album Astigmatic. Later he led his own bands and began a long collaboration with the ECM Records label. At the turn of the century, his recordings with a young Polish quartet that included Marcin Wasilewski, Sławomir Kurkiewicz and Michał Miśkiewicz brought him recognition in the United States as well.

In the later period, Stańko divided his time between Warsaw and New York, where he formed the New York Quartet with David Virelles, Thomas Morgan and Gerald Cleaver. His work, combining free jazz, lyricism and the European tradition, was of great importance to the development of contemporary jazz in Europe.