Musicians uncover jazz gems at USC Thornton’s Polish Music Center
Polish jazz pianist Kuba Stankiewicz and USC Thornton faculty bassist Darek “Oles” Oleszkiewicz recently visited USC’s Polish Music Center (PMC) to explore the archival collection of music by Henryk Wars, whose jazz tunes will be featured on their next recording. While visiting, they sat down with PMC assistant director Krysta Close for a chat about their recent projects.
Stankiewicz and Oleszkiewicz’ new album is the third in a series surveying Polish-American composers, including Victor Young and Bronisław Kaper, who spent significant periods of their careers writing music for Hollywood. In his exploration of the PMC archives, Stankiewicz was delighted to uncover rare jazz scores, including the original sheet music for Wars’ “Blue Lovebird.”
The duo’s new album, which also features a performance by Peter Erskine, director of Drumset Studies at Thornton, is scheduled for release later this year.