Janusz Iwański

Janusz Iwański in 2013

Janusz Iwański, best known as Yanina, (April 22, 1956 in Częstochowa) is a Polish jazz and rock guitarist, composer, songwriter and vocalist. He has performed with the groups Tie Break, Soyka Yanina,[1] and Maanam. Since 2007 he has been playing with the rock group, The Goodboys.[2]

Biography

He began as a musician in 1970 but in 1976 at the Jazz Jamboree, he heard artists such as Gil Evans, Benny Goodman, Muddy Waters and many others, took up the study of jazz itself. He has cited Miles Davis as an influence.[3] As he become interested in jazz he formed the Tie Break with bassist Krzysztof Majchrzak, soon joined by flute player Grzegorz Chmielecki.[4]

He has performed in countries such as Poland, Mexico, USA, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Germany, Russia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Georgia and others including in his native Częstochowa [5] with over 3000 gigs in total. Iwański has performed at the "Umbria Jazz Festival" (1984), "European Jazz Festival-Athena", "Jazz Jamboree", "Era Jazzu", "Warsaw Summer Jazz Days", "Gdynia Summer Jazz Days", "Jazz Fair", "Jazz Jantar", "The British Fusion Festival in Silesia", "Jazz On Odra River", "Jazz Juniors" and many others. He has toured with people such as Tomasz Stańko and has also contributed to many theatrical and film works, with people such as Zbigniew Preisner.

Selected discography

Tie Break

Sojką

Yanina

References

  1. Archives of Polish rock
  2. The Goodboys website
  3. Ateńskie doświadczenie wolności, Diapozon(Polish)
  4. Leszek Gnoiński, Jan Skaradziński: Encyklopedia polskiego rocka. Poznań: 2001. ISBN 83-86365-08-0.
  5. Admin.czestochowa.pl