IN THE LAND OF POLISH JAZZ Text and photos by Julis Simo (www.julissimo.com)
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here is a joke that jazz fans in Poland sometimes tell each other. Jazzmen probably do, too. It goes like this: A jazzman meets a fellow jazzman. “How are things?” he asks his friend. “Good, quite good! I recently released an album,” comes the answer. “Yeah, I know,” replies the asker. The dialogue continues even more briskly. “Really?” “Yeah, I’ve listened to it.” “You’ve listened to it?” “Well, I bought it.” “Oh, so it was you!” The author of this anecdote definitely has a sharp tongue. One might say he exaggerates reality. Very much so in fact. Because, judging by the number of jazz festivals alone, jazz is an extremely popular and sought-after dish in Poland. Some sources say that before the pandemic, about 150 such festivals were held in Poland every year. One would expect that now there might be far fewer of them, not all of them having survived the long period of isolation. Nothing could be further from the truth! Adam Baruch, one of the most attentive observers of Polish as well as 14
Autumn 2023
Adam Makowicz
Aga Zaryan
