Tomasz Stańko, a Polish trumpeter, composer and prominent figure in avant-garde and free jazz for decades, died on Sunday at the age of 76, the Polish Jazz Association said.
Born in Rzeszów in southern Poland in 1942, Stanko made his debut in the late 1950s in Kraków. He later gained a global reputation playing alongside jazz luminaries such as drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist Dave Holland.
Stańko's early influences came from jazz trumpet icons such as Miles Davis and Chet Baker, but he was soon drawn primarily to the free-form jazz of Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry, and often recorded for the ECM label.
His first global bestseller was a 1997 album, Litania, a tribute to the music of Polish film music composer and jazz pianist Krzysztof Komeda, the record company ECM Records said.
"I am in shock ... (Stańko) was an absolute prophet, a great musician, and a consistent one," said Michał Urbaniak, a Polish jazz violinist and saxophonist.
Źródło: Reuters