AMERICAN LABELS
COLUMBIA RECORDS
The pioneers of album cover design
CLEF, NORGRAN, VERVE (1)
David Stone Martin
CLEF, NORGRAN, VERVE (2)
The photographic covers
BLUE NOTE 10" LPs
Searching for a modern jazz identity
BLUE NOTE 1500 series
Defining the hard bop style
BLUE NOTE 4000 series
Masterpieces of Reid Miles
PRESTIGE RECORDS
Images of East Coast jazz
RIVERSIDE RECORDS
Street cred with Thelonious Monk
PACIFIC JAZZ
Moods of Chet and Claxton
CONTEMPORARY
Cool West Coast, great Sound
SAVOY RECORDS
Masterworks by Charlie Parker
DIAL RECORDS
Small label, big Bird sound
ATLANTIC RECORDS
Bold and striking albums
EMARCY RECORDS
The classic drummer logo label
BETHLEHEM RECORDS
The beautiful design of Burt Goldblatt
DEBUT RECORDS
Artist-operated jazz label with Mingus & Roach
CANDID RECORDS
Legendary, early 1960s LPs
ESP-DISK
Free jazz and silk screened covers
IMPULSE RECORDS
Edgy and experimental
RCA VICTOR
The high spirit of Jim Flora
VARIOUS US labels (1)
ABC-Paramount, Aladdin, Argo, Capitol, Coral, Dawn, Decca,
and more
VARIOUS US labels (2)
Epic, Fantasy, HiFi, Imperial, Jazzland, Jazz West, Jubilee, Mercury, Mode, and more
VARIOUS US labels (3)
Roost, Signal, Storyville, Tampa, Transition, United Artists, Vee Jay, and more
EUROPEAN LABELS
SWEDEN (1)
The EP era and Metronome Records in 1950s
SWEDEN (2)
The LPs in the 1950s, and Swedish jazz abroad
SWEDEN (3)
Changing times in the 1960s
SWEDEN (4)
New energy to Swedish jazz in the 1970s
DENMARK
Montmartre, Debut Records and the heydays in Danish jazz
NORWAY
Krog and Garbarek, greats in Norwegian jazz
FINLAND
Plenty of merged styles in Finnish jazz
FRANCE
Americans in Paris, force in French jazz
ENGLAND
Esquire and Tempo, classic labels in British jazz
GERMANY
Jazz labels with strong identity
ITALY
Rare Italian jazz covers
HOLLAND
From Diamonds to ICP in
Dutch jazz
POLAND
Unique series of Polish jazz on the Muza label
OTHER COUNTRIES
Jazz labels around the world
POLAND
Unique series
of Polish jazz on the Muza label
A milestone in the history of Polish jazz was the recording start of "The Polish Jazz Series"
in 1964 on the record label Muza. It became the world´s longest running series of LPs with recordings of jazz
artists from one country.
In the Stalinist Poland after the World War II, jazz was banned and could only be played at private homes. But in 1953, the
situation changed. It become acceptable to listen to jazz and to play it.
Jazz festivals began to appear and for the first time, jazz fans in Poland had a chance to listen to musicians from
outside of the country. The first offical jazz clubs were created and in 1956 the first issue of the monthly music magazine
called Jazz was published in Poland.
The hip cats in Melomani
The best known Polish jazz unit from the 1950s is Melomani. It was formed already in the 1940s and the lineup fluctuated
during the 1950s. The leader was Jerzy "Dudus" Matuszkiewicz, and the group included the hippest cats of the day.
Many of the members were students
of the Lodz Film School, one of the leading European film movements and commonly
referred to as the Polish School.
Melomani
Among the the members of Melomani were Krzysztof Komeda, Andrzej Kurylewicz and Andrzej Trzaskowski. They
became the leading figures in Polish jazz in the 1960s.
Komeda strong force in Polish jazz
Best known is Komeda. With his personality and his deep original music, he was a strong force in
Polish jazz and he made a great impact on other musicians. His music is still alive, inspiring new
artists and listener over the world, more than three decades after his tragically early death in 1969 at
the age of 38.
Komeda in Stockholm 1964, with Rune Carlsson, Roman Dylag and Jan Wroblewski Photo: Nils Edström
Krzysztof Komeda
During his life, Komeda issued only one album in his home country, the LP Astigmatic in 1965. An album with
more influence on Polish jazz has yet to be recorded!
Among other important musicians in the 1960s and 1970s were Zbigniew Namyslowski, Tomasz Stanko, Zbigniew
Seifert, Jan Ptaszyn Wroblewski, Mieczyslaw Kosz, Michael Urbaniak, Wlodzimierz Nahorny, Jerzy Milian,
Adam Makowiwicz and the vocal group Novi Singers.
MUZA was the only offically sanctioned record label in Poland. The wellknown Polish Jazz Series was created by
Ryszard Sielicki and Andrzej Karpinski in 1964.
The series continued into the late 1980s. 76 volumes were released, documenting the heritage and living history
of Polish jazz.
Source: PolishJazz.com
LINKS
Freedom at Last
polishjazz.com
Krzysztof Komeda
official website