Tomasz Stańko

Tomasz Stańko (1942-2018) was a Polish jazz trumpeter and composer, born in Rzeszów. He came up in the Polish scene of the early 1960s, where his group Jazz Darings is often cited as one of the first European free jazz bands, and he played in Krzysztof Komeda's quintet. He is best known for a long run of albums on ECM, from Balladyna in 1976 to December Avenue in 2017. Stańko formed Jazz Darings in 1962 with pianist Adam Makowicz, and from 1963 to 1967 he worked with Komeda, playing on Astigmatic. In 1975 he started the Tomasz Stańko-Adam Makowicz Unit with drummer Czesław Bartkowski.