Tomasz Stanko was born in Rzeszow, Poland, 11 July 1942. He formed the quartet Jazz Darings in 1962 with Adam Makowicz (later replaced by Janusz Muniak); this was one of the first European groups to be influenced by Ornette Coleman. He played with Krzysztof Komeda (1963-7) and Andrzej Trzaskowski (mid-1960s), then led the Tomasz Stanko Quintet (1968-73), which included Muniak and Zbigniew Seifert and received considerable critical acclaim. In 1970 he performed with the Globe Unity Orchestra; later he worked with Michal Urbaniak. From 1974 to 1978 he played in a quartet with Edward Vesala; thereafter he performed again as a leader,

and in 1980 recorded as an unaccompanied soloist in India at the Taj Mahal and the Karla Caves temple.  In addition to occasional solo engagements (from 1978) he played in the group Heavy Life with Chico Freeman, James Spaulding, and others (1980), performed with Jack DeJohnette and Rufus Reid (both 1983), belonged to Cecil Taylor's big band (1984), and formed his own group Freelectronic (1985). Technically Stanko is highly accomplished; he plays a form of free jazz that displays both European and American influences.

The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, © Macmillan Reference Ltd 1988

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