BFF-58 Poland’s visionary jazz trumpeter Stanko dies: public radio

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BFF-58

POLAND-MUSIC-JAZZ,OBIT

Poland’s visionary jazz trumpeter Stanko dies: public radio

WARSAW, July 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Polish trumpet virtuoso Tomasz Stanko
died on Sunday at the age of 76, Polish public radio announced citing the
artist’s daughter.

A seminal figure in European jazz, the veteran trumpeter was one of the
stalwarts of prestigious German jazz disc house ECM and regularly toured the
world.

Born in Rzeszow in southeast Poland, Stanko filled concert halls to
capacity across the US and Europe.

He belonged to a generation of Polish jazzmen who embraced the music form
in the 1960s, thanks notably to broadcasts on Voice of America radio.

“To my mind, everything began with modern jazz: Miles Davis, John Coltrane
Chet Baker,” Stanko told AFP in 2005. After hearing his idols, he traded in
his piano and violin for a trumpet.

“At the time, I was steeped in existentialism, French new wave cinema and
Italian neo-realism, art, books by Faulkner and Joyce, Parisian ‘bohemia’…
they all inspired me.”

He became known for creating darkly atmospheric soundscapes that contained
surging bursts of rhythm.

“Everything inspires me, be it the music of Poland, Turkey, north Africa,
Jamaica or Portugal, anywhere,” Stanko told AFP .

He was the first winner of the European Jazz Prize from the Austrian Music
Office in 2002.

In 2013, the French Academy of Jazz awarded him its coveted Prix du
Musicien Europeen.

BSS/AFP/SSS/1924 hrs