Janusz Skowron - Polish Radio Jazz Archives, Vol..35, Janusz Skowron (2022) Hi-Res

On May 13, 2022, the 35th album in the Polish Radio Jazz Archives series published by the Polish Radio Music Agency was released for sale.

Janusz Skowron, who died in 2019, was a unique figure in Polish jazz. A blind pianist from the Institution for the Blind in Laski near Warsaw, who just after graduating from high school in the mid-1970s went to jazz workshops in Chodzież, and from there to... the pantheon of Polish jazz music.

Janusz Skowron was one of the most wanted so-called sidemen in Poland. For four decades of his activity, he has participated in the recording of over 70 albums, not only jazz ones. He was a man fascinated by new technologies, which he used diligently. He was also known for his extraordinary sense of humor and tendency to play pranks on his fellow musicians.

Janusz Skowron played and recorded in the most important bands for Polish jazz at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries: Kazimierz Jonkisz Quartet, String Connection, Tomasz Stańko's Freelectronic, Zbigniew Namysłowski Quartet, Krzysztof Zawadzki's Walk Away. He has collaborated with the greats of Polish jazz: Zbigniew Lewandowski, Krzysztof Ścierański, Maciej Strzelczyk, Piotr Rodowicz, Zbigniew Jaremka and Zbigniew Wegehaupt, but also with the outstanding performer Andrzej Mitan.

Skowron also recorded with representatives of popular music, such as Maryla Rodowicz, Hanna Banaszak, Łucja Prus, Ewa Bem, and even the rock groups Lady Pank and Perfect.

The recordings on the album "Janusz Skowron Polish Radio Jazz Archives 35" come from the years 1981-1998 and, like all others in the series, were extracted from the radio archives. Most of them have not yet been released on CDs. Each of the tracks was colorfully described by Tomasz Tłuczkiewicz in the text accompanying the album, and the descriptions are supplemented with quotes from statements about Janusz by fellow musicians: Kazimierz Jonkisz, Krzesimir Dębski, Krzysztof Ścierański, Tomasz Stańko, Witold Szczurek, Cezary Konrad and Piotr Wojtasik.

This album is in fact a unique summary of Janusz Skowron's activity in the last two decades of the 20th century.

In the "Polish Radio Jazz Archives" series, published by the Polish Radio Music Agency, you can find the most interesting recordings of jazz sessions and concerts from the Polish Radio Archives. So far, CDs with recordings by, among others, Krzysztof Komeda, Mieczysław Kosz, Zbigniew Seifert, Wojciech Karolak have been released , Stan Getz, Don Ellis, Dizzy Gillespie and many more.For jazz lovers, we recommend taking a closer look at this series.