Tomasz Stańko - Desperado (2010) by Maciej Nowotny

This is first book to be posted on my basically musical blog but I believe everybody should easily appreciate my decision. Because it is autobiography of Tomasz Stańko, clearly the most important figure on Polish jazz scene, and also very significant on world scene. The book has a form of extensive interview with Rafał Księżyk asking the question and Stańko answering them. They soon engage in real dialog and Księżyk shows that his erudition is limitless and that he is right person for such a job indeed. It is also clear right from first pages that this book will be breathtaking and breakthrough since Stańko uses strong language and his straightforwardness is incredible. He speaks as he plays: his language is focused, his understanding deep, his maturity evident and yet somehow repulsive to those who are more bound to bourgeois superstitions. He speaks about jazz, narcotics, sex, life in plain and laconic manner as if he wanted to test where the boundary lies between confession and literary exhibitionism. The effect of this dialog is shattering: one eats one page after another in gasps horrified that with every hour it remains less and less remaining of this astonishing 500 hundreds pages oeuvre.

I know it would be futile to recommend this book to anyone at this moment because it is printed in Polish and only Poles can read it now (and I am sure they will!). What can I say is that I hope that it soon will be translated to English as it definitely deserves it because Stańko is of importance to international jazz and not only to Polish one. If someone reads this message and is capable of such job please treat this post as strong encouragement to such task.

Author of text: Maciej Nowotny
http://kochamjazz.blox.pl/html
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