A band playing Polish pre-war jazz. Contrary to popular belief, jazz did not reach Poland through Radio Free Europe, listened to in secret. The first Polish jazz songs were created in the late 1920s. Outstanding composers, such as Henryk Wars, Jerzy Petersburski or brothers Artur and Henryk Gold, listening to the records from overseas or Berlin, created hits that appeared in film, cabaret, theatre and revue, and for record labels, such as Columbia or Syrena Record, whose numbers were increasing at that time. In this way, thousands of compositions and recordings with outstanding instrumentalists, singers and actors had been made before 1939. The Second World War prevented carriers, discontinued and ended the thriving of the young Polish show business, but luckily not for good!
Marcin Masecki, an outstanding Polish pianist, together with Jan Emil Młynarski formed a band which draws on the tradition of Polish jazz orchestras of the interwar period. Their repertoire includes commonly unknown swing songs and unique tangos that brought fame to the Polish composers all around the world. The undertaking focuses around the spirit of Adam Aston, the most outstanding Polish pre-war light music singer and Henryk Wars, the most significant Polish pre-war pianist, arranger and composer. Marcin Masecki and Jan Emil Młynarski make up for the lost opportunities of the whole generation of entertainment artists who had to flee, fight, die, emigrate in the prosperity period, depriving the Polish light music in a irreparable manner. Their arrangements gave a new breath to the whole, making the music current and functional for dancing and eliciting emotions.
The band members are:
Jan Emil Młynarski – vocals, banjola
Marcin Masecki – piano, arrangement, music director
Jerzy Rogiewicz – drums
Piotr Wróbel – sousaphone
Tomasz Duda – saxophone
Jarosław Bothur – saxophone
Michał Fetler – saxophone