Wojciech
Karolak

Pianist and Hammond organist, valued for his swinging, bluesy language and sense of humor.

Wojciech Karolak (1939 to 2021) was one of the most outstanding Polish jazz organists and the country's leading virtuoso of the Hammond B3 organ. He started out in 1958 as a saxophonist in the band Jazz Believers, which included Krzysztof Komeda and Andrzej Trzaskowski among others, then in 1961 he switched to piano, and in 1962 he founded his own trio. From 1967 he took up the Hammond organ, the instrument that became permanently associated with his name.

Karolak collaborated with the most important figures of Polish jazz. With Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski he co-created the group Mainstream, and his recordings featured musicians including Tomasz Stańko and Zbigniew Namysłowski. In the 1980s, with Tomasz Szukalski and Czesław Bartkowski, he formed the supergroup Time Killers, whose album is considered one of the most important Polish recordings of that decade.

His playing combined swing, blues and funk with masterful technique and a characteristic, warm sound. In jazz magazine polls he was chosen as one of the leading organists in Europe, and for his lifetime achievement he received a Golden Fryderyk in 2010. He remains a model for successive generations of Polish musicians playing the Hammond organ.