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Janusz Stefański. Virtuoso percussionist and co-founder of European jazz

Janusz Maria Stefański

Mediathek Sorted

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  • Janusz Maria Stefański - 1960s
  • Janusz Maria Stefański - Kraków, 1966
  • Janusz Maria Stefański - Kraków, 1966
  • Janusz Maria Stefański - Janusz Maria Stefański
  • The “Stańko Quintet”, ca. 1970 - Bronisław Suchanek, Zbigniew Seifert, Janusz Muniak, Tomasz Stańko, Janusz Maria Stefański
  • The “Stańko Quintet”, 1976 - Zbigniew Seifert, Bronisław Suchanek, Janusz Stefański, Tomasz Stańko, Janusz Muniak
  • The “Stańko Quintet”, 1975 - Zbigniew Seifert, Bronisław Suchanek, Janusz Maria Stefański, Tomasz Stańko, Janusz Muniak
  • “The Quartet”, early 80s - Janusz Maria Stefański, Sławomir Kulpowicz, Paweł Jarzębski, Tomasz Szukalski
  • Janusz Maria Stefański - Warsaw 1975
  • Janusz Maria Stefański - Warsaw, ca. 1966
  • Janusz Maria Stefański - Warsaw, ca. 1967
  • Janusz Maria Stefański - Warsaw, 1960s
  • Julia and Janusz Stefański - Königstein, 1994
  • Jazz workshops - Chodzież, 1974
  • Wedding of Ewa Kuncewicz and Janusz Stefański - Warsaw, 4 January 1977
  • Janusz Maria Stefański - ca. 2010
  • Agata and Janusz Stefański - Summer 1980
  • Agata Stefański - Königstein/Taunus, 1990
  • Janusz Maria Stefański in the studio of his wife Ewa - Königstein, 2007
  • Janusz Maria Stefański in the studio of his wife Ewa - Königstein, 2007
  • Letter from Krzysztof Penderecki to the American Embassy in Warsaw  - Concerning Janusz Stefański, 1975
  • Certificate of the Polish Jazz Association - For Janusz Maria Stefański, 1975
  • “Hessen Jazz Prize” - For Janusz Maria Stefański, 2003
  • Certificate from Mainz University - For Janusz Maria Stefański, 2009
  • Janusz Maria Stefański with the Polish Jazz Ensemble - Frankfurt, 2000
  • Janusz Maria Stefański with the Polish Jazz Ensemble - Frankfurt, 2000
  • Janusz Maria Stefański with the Polish Jazz Ensemble - Frankfurt, 2000
  • Janusz Maria Stefański with the Polish Jazz Ensemble - Frankfurt, 2000
  • Janusz Maria Stefański - 2010s
  • Ewa and Janusz Stefański with Uschi Schlung - Romanfabrik in Frankfurt, 2011
  • Janusz Maria Stefański - 2011
  • Julia, Janusz and Agata Stefański - 2011
  • Janusz Stefański and Bartosz Dworak - 2014
  • Janusz Maria Stefański - 2000s
  • Janusz Maria Stefański at the Jazz Jamboree - Frankfurt, 2005
  • Jazz Jamboree, Frankfurt 2005 - Jogi Freund, Werner Wunderlich, Janusz Maria Stefański, Wojtek Karolak, Jan Wróblewski
  • Janusz Maria Stefański at the Jazz Jamboree - Frankfurt, 2005
  • Janusz Maria Stefański at the Jazz Jamboree - Frankfurt, 2005
  • Janusz Maria Stefański at the Jazz Jamboree - Frankfurt, 2005
  • Jazz Jamboree, Frankfurt 2005 - Paul Imm, Janusz Maria Stefański, Reiner Winterschladen, Christof Lauer
  • Janusz Maria Stefański at the Jazz Jamboree - Frankfurt, 2005
  • Janusz Maria Stefański at the Jazz Jamboree - Frankfurt, 2005
  • Janusz Maria Stefański at the Jazz Jamboree - Frankfurt, 2005
  • Janusz Maria Stefański at the Jazz Jamboree - Frankfurt, 2005
  • Janusz Maria Stefański at the Jazz Jamboree - Frankfurt, 2005
  • Jazz Jamboree, Frankfurt 2005 - Emil Mangelsdorff, Monika Mangelsdorff, Janusz Maria Stefański, Joki Freund
  • Janusz Maria Stefański at the Jazz Jamboree - Frankfurt, 2005
  • Janusz Maria Stefański at the Jazz Jamboree - Frankfurt, 2005
  • Janusz Maria Stefański - Wiesbaden, 2006
  • Janusz Maria Stefański - Wiesbaden, 2006
  • Janusz Maria Stefański - Wiesbaden, 2006
  • Janusz Maria Stefański - Wiesbaden, 2006
  • Janusz Maria Stefański, Jürgen Wuchner, Bob Degen - Wiesbaden, 2006
  • Concert on the 65th birthday of Janusz Stefański - Frankfurt, 2011
  • Concert on the 65th birthday of Janusz Stefański - Frankfurt, 2011
  • Concert on the 65th Birthday of Janusz Stefański - Frankfurt, 2011
  • Concert on the 65th birthday of Janusz Stefański - Frankfurt, 2011
  • Concert on the 65th birthday of Janusz Stefański - Frankfurt, 2011
  • Concert on the 65th birthday of Janusz Stefański - Frankfurt, 2011
  • Concert on the 65th Birthday of Janusz Stefański - Frankfurt, 2011
  • Concert on the 65th Birthday of Janusz Stefański - Frankfurt, 2011
  • Janusz Stefański at the gig “Jazz gegen Apartheid” (Jazz against apartheid) - Frankfurt, 2014
  • Janusz Stefański at the gig “Jazz gegen Apartheid” (Jazz against apartheid) - Frankfurt, 2014
  • Janusz Stefański at the gig “Jazz gegen Apartheid” (Jazz against apartheid) - Frankfurt, 2014
  • Janusz Stefański at the gig “Jazz gegen Apartheid” (Jazz against apartheid) - Frankfurt, 2014
  • Janusz Stefański at the gig “Jazz gegen Apartheid” (Jazz against apartheid) - Frankfurt, 2014
  • Janusz Stefański at the gig “Jazz gegen Apartheid” (Jazz against apartheid) - Frankfurt, 2014
  • Janusz Stefański at the gig “Jazz gegen Apartheid” (Jazz against apartheid) - Frankfurt, 2014
  • Concert “Jazz gegen Apartheid” (Jazz against apartheid) - Frankfurt, 2014

    Concert “Jazz gegen Apartheid” (Jazz against apartheid)

    Frankfurt, 2014
  • Janusz Stefański, concert “Jazz im Palmengarten”  - Frankfurt, 2016
  • Janusz Stefański, concert “Jazz im Palmengarten” - Frankfurt, 2016
  • Janusz Stefański, concert “Jazz im Palmengarten” - Frankfurt, 2016
  • Janusz Stefański, concert “Jazz im Palmengarten” - Frankfurt, 2016
  • Janusz Stefański, concert “Jazz im Palmengarten” - Frankfurt, 2016
  • Janusz Stefański, concert “Jazz im Palmengarten” - Frankfurt, 2016
  • Farewell concert after the death of Janusz Stefański - 2016
  • Emil Mangelsdorff at the farewell concert for Janusz Stefański - 2016
  • Farewell concert after the death of Janusz Stefański - 2016
Janusz Maria Stefański
Janusz Maria Stefański

Band leader, event organiser and juror
 

Stefański was also an outstanding promoter of jazz. In May 2005, he organised the “German-Polish Jazz Jamboree” at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. He was responsible for the artistic arrangement of this musical encounter, bringing together 30 German and Polish musicians. As well as concerts, there was a podium discussion, moderated by the jazz journalist Werner Wunderlich, with the jazz musicians, who had met for the first time in 1956 at a jazz festival in Sopot.

For Stefański, it was of great importance to commemorate the life of his friend Zbigniew Seifert (1946–1979). In 2010, he co-founded the Zbigniew Seifert Foundation (Zbigniew-Seifert-Stiftung) and in 2014 became a member of the jury for the International Zbigniew Seifert violin competition, which is held every two years.

The final years of Janusz Maria Stefański’s life were dominated by his fight against lung cancer. Despite this, he was determined to continue performing right until the end. He died on 4 November 2016 in a Frankfurt hospital, one week after the end of a tour of five concerts, which he gave with Emil Mangelsdorff. Obituaries of him appeared in the major Frankfurt newspapers, European music magazines and in the national Polish media.

Stefański passed on his skill and knowledge as a teacher, staying in contact with the ever-younger generations of musicians. He was the life of any party, had a wonderful sense of humour, and always had hundreds of anecdotes up his sleeve from his sometimes very turbulent concert tours in Europe and the US. Sadly, these were not recorded. He wore well-tailored, sporty jackets, with a cute little hat, often with red trainers and ostentatious silver rings. When he spoke, he liked to use American turns of phrase. He had the kind of personality that was impossible to overlook. He was a drummer with a strong, energetic beat and his own unmistakeable approach to his instrument. Among his circle of friends and family, he was also a passionate pianist. Stefański gave unforgettable concerts as a solo percussionist, in his gallery in Königstein and later at his wife Ewa’s art exhibitions. 

In 1981, Stefański had originally planned only to sit out the turbulent political events in Frankfurt; yet in the end, he put down roots there. Luckily, and only partly by chance, fate saw to it that he spent his exile in Frankfurt, the most American of all German cities and an important centre for jazz in Germany, in which he played an influential role for 35 years. The urn containing Stefański’s ashes was buried in the family grave in the cemetery of the Łagiewniki-Borek Fałęcki district of Kraków.

 

Joanna de Vincenz, November 2018