Beyond Horizons
Last time they performed at the Off Festival in Katowice for the first time. SBB – Józef Skrzek, Apostolis Anthimos and Jerzy Piotrowski – presented their 1975 cult studio debut Nowy horyzont in full. The pride of the Silesian stage, the band revolutionised Polish music; this time they perform in Kraków where they cross sound boundaries alongside Tomasz Stańko.
It’s not the first encounter between the musicians – they got to know each other in the mid-1970s. They even toured together. “When we first met, Polish jazz was strong. The honour of SBB performing with the star that is Tomasz was a pinnacle of achievement and hugely rewarding… We continue following different trails around the globe, but we feel an almost telepathic respect for one another,” recalled Józef Skrzek a few years ago.
In both cases, the paths took the musicians to faraway places. SBB started off by rehearsing in a small cellar, where they had to squeeze in themselves and their instruments with a stove and a supply of coal. They had plenty of energy to conquer Poland and then Europe. They worked with Niemen, performed in the Stodoła club in Warsaw, and went on to the famous Roskilde festival where they performed immediately after Bob Marley in 1978. It’s no wonder that following one of their concerts in Kraków, local press described the Silesian trio as “too Western…” and declared that they won’t perform in the city again.
In turn, Stańko is not just an eminent jazzman, but also one of the most important ambassadors of Polish culture. Between 1963 and 1967, he played in Krzysztof Komeda’s ensemble, and went on to found three of his own formations. He has performed in Europe, the US and Asia with leading jazz musicians including Taylor, Cherry, Garbarek, Holland and DeJohnette. Time is definitely on his side – after all, as he says himself, sound gets more beautiful with age.
On 4 September, the concert as part of the ICE Jazz cycle brings the giants of the Polish jazz stage together once again. ICE Kraków resounds with SBB classics and improvisations with Tomasz Stańko, which are bound to take us to faraway lands. (Artur Jackowski, "Karnet" monthly)
