KRZYSZTOF “KOMEDA” TRZCINSKI (1931-1969), Polish composer and jazz pianist, physician by profession, composed soundtracks for over 40 films, including such cinematic classics as Knife in the Water and Rosemary’s Baby by Roman Polanski, See You Tomorrow by Janusz Morgenstern, and Innocent Sorcerers by Andrzej Wajda.
Komeda took piano lessons from early childhood. At the age of eight his exceptional talent wasdiscovered and he was admitted to the Music Conservatory in Poznan. His early dreams of becoming a virtuoso pianist were soon shattered by the war. In spite of his decision to become a physician, his fascination with jazz, extraordinary talent, and friendship with leading musicians strengthened his connection with jazz. During his medical studies, Komeda was involved with the first post-war pioneer jazz group, called Melomani (aka “The Music Aficionados”), established in 1947, whose key players were Matuszkiewicz, Trzaskowski and Kujawski. Many members of the group were students at the Lodz Film School, famous for non-conformist thinking and political dissent. The first time he used the nickname Komeda was while he was working at an Ear, Nose and Throat clinic and wanted a pseudonym to hide his fascination with jazz, which was still considered degenerate, immoral, and subversive by the regime.
With the post-Stalinist thaw of 1956, Komeda became more publicly known during that year’s First Sopot Jazz Festival, where he played with the Grzewinski’s Dixieland group. But it was his collaboration with Jan “Ptaszyn” Wroblewski and Jerzy Milan that won him the most praise. For Komeda, Dixieland was not enough, he was fascinated by modern jazz, and thanks to this passion the Komeda Sextet was founded. The Sextet became the first Polish jazz group to play exclusively modern music and its pioneering performances opened the way for jazz in Poland. Together with “Ptaszyn” Wroblewski on saxophone and Milan on vibes, the sextet performed “cool” jazz, which referred to European jazz and was a synthesis of two very popular groups at that time: The Modern Jazz Quartet and the Gerry Mulligan Quartet. Their album “Astigmatic”, released in 1965, is considered the most outstanding achievement in the history of Polish jazz. The Komeda Sextet achieved successes during festivals in Moscow, Grenoble and Paris.
Komeda met with particular success in Scandinavia, which he visited for the first time in 1960 and where he has performed annually ever since. All of his performances at the Gyllene Cirkeln in Stockholm and at the Montmartre Jazz Club in Copenhagen have been very successful. Danish director Hennig Carlsen ordered scores for his movies How About us?, The Cats, and Hunger. After such successes in Scandinavia came more during the jazz festivals in Prague, Blend, Koenigsberg; tours of Bulgaria and both East and West Germany. The Komeda Quartet – TOMASZ STANKO on trumpet, Roman Dylag on bass, Rune Carlsson on drums, and Zbigniew Namyslowski on saxophone, recorded in May 1967 Lyrik und Jazz for the West German record company Electrola. The many prominent musicians with whom Komeda performed, like Stanko, Wroblewski, Namyslowski, and Urbaniak, all became leaders of their own bands and of new stylistic streams in Polish jazz.
Komeda’s adventure with film music had begun in 1958 with his score for ROMAN POLANSKI’S classic student film, Two Men and a Wardrobe. Polanski went on to use Komeda’s music in almost all of his films, eventually inviting him to Hollywood in 1967 to score Rosemary’s Baby. Tomasz Stanko worked on all of Komeda’s Polish soundtracks from 1964 onward.
Komeda had developed his own distinct and easily recognizable style, inspired by Slavic lyricism and Polish traditional music. Launching what is often described as the Polish school of jazz, Komeda’s original style continued to influence the Polish jazz scene’s development after his tragic and untimely death at the age of 38. He became a legend and cult hero of Polish jazz.
