Jarosław "Jarek" Śmietana (29 March 1951 – 2 September 2013) was a Polish

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

guitarist, composer, and band leader."Agnieszka Iwanska Quartet All That I Am CD Release All Souls Day Jazz Festival '09"
''Jazz Chicago'', Nov. 9, 2009

Early life and education

Śmietana was born in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

."RIP Jarosław (Jarek) Śmietana - 1951-2013"
. ''LondonJazzNews''. He studied at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

."Smeitana, Jarek ZdZislaw".

Career

Śmietana led the band ''Extra Ball'' in 1974. He continued to lead this band until 1981. He was the leader of the Sounds Big Band Symphonic Sound Orchestra, the Polish Jazz Stars Band. He was also a co-leader of the Namysłowski-Śmietana Quartet. He performed at festivals, concert tours, and workshops in the U.S., India, Asia and South America. During his musical career he played and recorded with

Art Farmer Arthur Stewart Farmer (August 21, 1928 – October 4, 1999) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet–flugelhorn combination especially designed for him. He and his identical twin brother, doub ...

,"Polnischer Gitarrist Jarek Smietana an Gehirntumor gestorben"
''Jazz Pages'', 03.09.2013.

Freddie Hubbard Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives fo ...

, Eddie Henderson,

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Joe Zawinul Josef Erich Zawinul ( '; 7 July 1932 – 11 September 2007) was an Austrian jazz and jazz fusion keyboardist and composer. First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with Miles Davis and to bec ...

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Gary Bartz Gary Bartz (born September 26, 1940) is an American jazz saxophonist. He has won two Grammy Awards. Biography Bartz was first exposed to jazz as the son of the owners of a jazz nightclub in Baltimore. In 1958 he left Baltimore to study at the J ...

Carter Jefferson Carter Jefferson (1946 – 9 December 1993) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Biography Jefferson played clarinet and alto saxophone early in his career, playing in the backing bands for The Temptations, The Supremes, and Little Richard in ...

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, John Abercrombie,

Hamiet Bluiett Hamiet Bluiett (; September 16, 1940 – October 4, 2018) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. His primary instrument was the baritone saxophone, and he was considered one of the finest players of this instrument. A membe ...

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, Zbigniew Seifert, Cameron Brown,

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, He recorded more than 25 albums as a band leader. He was the father of violinist Alicja Smietana. He died in 2013. In 2015, a contest, the International Jarek Śmietana Jazz Guitar Competition was initiated in his memory. It was held in Kraków.

Awards and honors

In 1972, with the

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

band Hall, he won an award at the Jazz nad Odrą festival. In 1998 he was the winner of the

Fryderyk The Fryderyk is the annual award in Polish music. Its name refers to the original Polish spelling variant of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin's first name. Its status in the Polish public can be compared to the US Grammy and British BRIT Awar ...

Fryderyki prize 1998
/ref> 1998 award for ''Songs and Other Ballads''. He was presented with the President of Cracow Prize for cultural achievement."Gitarzysta Jarek Śmietana jest ciężko chory. Guz mózgu - Muzyka"
''polskieradio.pl'' September 3, 2013

Discography

As leader

* ''Talking Guitar'' (Polskie Nagrania, 1984) * ''From One to Four'' (PolJazz, 1986) * ''Sounds with Colours'' (Polskie Nagrania, 1987) * ''Touch of Touch'' (Polskie Nagrania, 1989) * ''Sounds/Colors'' (Wipe, 1990) * ''Ballads and Other Songs'' (Starling, 1993) * ''Quartet'' (Koch, 1994) * ''Phone Consultations'' with Wojtek Karolak (GOWI, 1996) * ''Songs and Other Ballads'' (Starling, 1997) * ''Kind of Life'' (SelleS, 1998) * ''Meeting Point'' with Cezariusz Gadzina (SelleS, 1998) * ''Speak Easy'' with John Abercrombie (PAO, 1999) * ''African Lake'' with Gary Bartz (Starling, 2000) * ''Vis-a-vis'' with Zbigniew Paleta (JSR, 2002) * ''Parallel Worlds'' (JSR, 2004) * ''A Story of Polish Jazz'' (JSR, 2004 ) * ''My Love and Inspiration'' (EMI, 2005) * ''Autumn Suite'' (JSR, 2006) * ''What's Going On?'' with Wojtek Karolak (JSR, 2006) * ''Polish Standards'' with Karolak/Czerwinski (JSR, 2007) * ''Grube Ryby'' with Karolak/Bzyk (Metal Mind 2007) * ''Revolution'' with Wojtek Karolak (JSR, 2008) * ''The Good Life'' with Yaron Stavi, Adam Czerwinsk, Hamiet Bluiett (JSR, 2009) * ''Projekt Elblag'' with Jerry Goodman (Allegro, 2011) * ''I Love the Blues'' with Wojtek Karolak (JSR, 2011) * ''Live! At Impart'' with Bill Neal (JSR, 2012)

References

External links

Official website (in Polish)Alicja Śmietana
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smietana, Jarek 1951 births 2013 deaths Polish jazz guitarists