Józef Skrzek
- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
One of the most innovative and important Polish musicians of all time,
Jozef Skrzek was born in Siemianowice, on 2nd July 1948. In 1967, he
graduated from High School of Music in piano class and started
performing as a soloist. After his father's death, he started playing
in several rock bands. In 1970, he broke his hand while performing one
of etudes, and decided to cease his career as a classical pianist. He
joined Polish's best group at this time Tadeusz Nalepa's Breakout, as a
pianist and a bassist.
In 1971, he met two musicians, Anthimos Apostolis, guitarist of Greek origin, and drummer Jerzy Piotrowski, and they started rehearsing as a trio named SBB (Silesian Blues Band). Later this year, they were invited by Polish musical icon, Czeslaw Niemen. The three albums they recorded together - "Strange Is This World", "Marionetki" (originally titled "Vol.1/Vol.2" - the title "Marionetki" was given to the CD reissue) and "Ode To Venus" - still remain one of the most important, bright, innovative and brilliant albums in the whole history of rock.
In 1972, Niemen and his musicians were playing at the Rock And Jazz Now concert in Munich, on the bill were also Charles Mingus and Mahavishnu Orchestra. Skrzek often stated how enlightened he was when he saw Mahavishnu live. That music, combining musical virtuosity and improvisational skills, thrilled him and his two companions.
In 1973 Skrzek and Niemen decided to take different roads. Jozef, Anthimos and Jerzy returned to the name SBB, which now meant "Szukaj, Burz, Buduj" ("Search, Break & Build"). Their initial concert under this name was on 2 February 1974 in Krakow.
On 18-19 April 1974 the band gave two sold-out concerts at the Stodola Club in Warsaw. The shows were recorded and a LP, entitled simply "Live", was released later this year and got overwhelming reception. Incredible powerful, dynamical music played with indescribable virtuosity and high improvisational skills remains excellent today, 30 years after the album's release, and Skrzek's piano, electric bass and mouth organ solos are still fantastically perfect. SBB played several gigs in Western Germany and the audience were delighted. The press described the band as "ground-breaking" and compared SBB to the greatest rock band of that time. In 1975, the band was touring across Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and also gave some gigs in Sweden (Karlstad concert on 13 May was released as a CD). The set consisted of improvisations mainly, and the band was stealing the show no matter who they were playing with.
"Live" album was oriented towards jazz-rock with blues flavour, the next album, "Nowy Horyzont" (New Horizon) was still a solid jazz-rock album with great Moog synthesizer parts. On their third one, "Pamiêæ" (Memory) the band drifted towards progressive rock with long suites (including an absolute 20-minute masterpiece, Pamiêæ w Kamieñ Wrasta (Memory Sinks Deep Into Stone)) and excellent guitar and synthesizer solos. It was also the first album on which all the music was composed entirely by Józef Skrzek with lyrics by Julian Matej. Their fourth album "Ze S³owem Biegnê Do Ciebie" (With A Word I Run To You), also an entirely Skrzek-Matej work, was also a solid progressive album, despite it was worse that all its precedessors.
In 1977 the band recorded an album for Czechoslovakian record label Supraphon, and toured Poland, Sweden, Finland and West Germany. In West Germany they recorded an album "Follow My Dream", which met overwhelming reception. It was a commercial and artistical success, and in 1978 SBB performed in Dortmund as a main star, with Colosseum II and Soft Machine. Skrzek, Apostolis and Piotrowski also gave a gig in Roskilde for an audience of 300,000. After this gig, British newspapers named SBB "the best rock trio after The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream". They also recorded another excellent album in West Germany, "Welcome". But the year 1978 was also very important for Józef Skrzek alone: he recorded his first solo LP, "Pamiêtnik Karoliny" (Caroline's Diary), performing all musical parts by himself.
In 1979 Skrzek recorded his 2nd solo album, "Ojciec chrzestny Dominika" (Dominic's Godfather), also with no other musicians. He also wrote music for Piotr Szulkin's film, _Golem (1980)_. The band SBB also massively toured. But all was not well with SBB: Skrzek, who wrote all the music on every SBB album from Pamiêæ onwards, was conflicted with two other musicians.
Guitarist S³awomir Piwowar joined the band. The next SBB album, "Memento Z Banalnym Tryptykiem" (Memento With An Ordinary Triptych), included music written by Apostolis, Piwowar and Piotrowski, although Jozef wrote the masterpiece, title track who filled the entire B side of the album. Apostolis' final guitar solo in this suite is possibly one of the greatest guitar solos ever!!! However, the conflicts did not cease and after heavy touring (Poland and West Germany), the band called it a day. Apostolis, Piwowar and Piotrowski helped Skrzek to record his third album "Józefina".
After SBB broke up, Józef Skrzek remained active. He recorded another solo albums, as well as writing music for movie ("Rêce do Góry") and theatrical ("Otello", "Antygona") soundtracks. He also started performing in churches, with music based on religious themes. He also started a new tradition: concerts in Planetarium in Chorzów, consisting on fully improvised music, usually performed on the shortest night of year, the first night of summer.
In 80s Skrzek recorded another solo albums, including a live album recorded in Jarocin in 1987, with famous blues/rock vocalist Ryszard Riedel. He still performed in Planetarium and in various other public places. In 1991, SBB reunited for a single concert in Sopot.
The band returned in 1993, playing a concert in Spodek on 19 June 1993, (later released on double CD), toured Poland and USA but once again broke up in 1994. Jozef Skrzek remained active, wrote an opera "Pokój Saren" with _Lech Majewski_ which was later transferred into a movie, and made some performances. SBB returned in 1998, with Miros³aw Muzykant replacing Jerzy Piotrowski, released some live albums but once again broke up a year later. In 2000, SBB returned with Paul Wertico on drums, and once again: concerts (Poland, Germany) and live albums. New studio album by SBB was released in 2002.
SBB continued to perform, and Skrzek also was performing solo. One of his important performances was on 23 February 2003 in Tychy, to commemorate teenagers who were killed by an avalanche in Tatra Mountains in early 2003.
After the original SBB broke up in 1980, Jerzy Piotrowski performed with (among others) Banda&Wanda and one of the best Polish groups ever, Dzem. He lives now in New Jersey. Apostolis Anthymos released several solo albums. In 2003 he suffered heavily from heart disease and is now musically inactive for a moment, recovering in Athens. Józef Skrzek, Polish legendary keyboardist/bassist/vocalist, still remains active on stage.
In 1971, he met two musicians, Anthimos Apostolis, guitarist of Greek origin, and drummer Jerzy Piotrowski, and they started rehearsing as a trio named SBB (Silesian Blues Band). Later this year, they were invited by Polish musical icon, Czeslaw Niemen. The three albums they recorded together - "Strange Is This World", "Marionetki" (originally titled "Vol.1/Vol.2" - the title "Marionetki" was given to the CD reissue) and "Ode To Venus" - still remain one of the most important, bright, innovative and brilliant albums in the whole history of rock.
In 1972, Niemen and his musicians were playing at the Rock And Jazz Now concert in Munich, on the bill were also Charles Mingus and Mahavishnu Orchestra. Skrzek often stated how enlightened he was when he saw Mahavishnu live. That music, combining musical virtuosity and improvisational skills, thrilled him and his two companions.
In 1973 Skrzek and Niemen decided to take different roads. Jozef, Anthimos and Jerzy returned to the name SBB, which now meant "Szukaj, Burz, Buduj" ("Search, Break & Build"). Their initial concert under this name was on 2 February 1974 in Krakow.
On 18-19 April 1974 the band gave two sold-out concerts at the Stodola Club in Warsaw. The shows were recorded and a LP, entitled simply "Live", was released later this year and got overwhelming reception. Incredible powerful, dynamical music played with indescribable virtuosity and high improvisational skills remains excellent today, 30 years after the album's release, and Skrzek's piano, electric bass and mouth organ solos are still fantastically perfect. SBB played several gigs in Western Germany and the audience were delighted. The press described the band as "ground-breaking" and compared SBB to the greatest rock band of that time. In 1975, the band was touring across Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and also gave some gigs in Sweden (Karlstad concert on 13 May was released as a CD). The set consisted of improvisations mainly, and the band was stealing the show no matter who they were playing with.
"Live" album was oriented towards jazz-rock with blues flavour, the next album, "Nowy Horyzont" (New Horizon) was still a solid jazz-rock album with great Moog synthesizer parts. On their third one, "Pamiêæ" (Memory) the band drifted towards progressive rock with long suites (including an absolute 20-minute masterpiece, Pamiêæ w Kamieñ Wrasta (Memory Sinks Deep Into Stone)) and excellent guitar and synthesizer solos. It was also the first album on which all the music was composed entirely by Józef Skrzek with lyrics by Julian Matej. Their fourth album "Ze S³owem Biegnê Do Ciebie" (With A Word I Run To You), also an entirely Skrzek-Matej work, was also a solid progressive album, despite it was worse that all its precedessors.
In 1977 the band recorded an album for Czechoslovakian record label Supraphon, and toured Poland, Sweden, Finland and West Germany. In West Germany they recorded an album "Follow My Dream", which met overwhelming reception. It was a commercial and artistical success, and in 1978 SBB performed in Dortmund as a main star, with Colosseum II and Soft Machine. Skrzek, Apostolis and Piotrowski also gave a gig in Roskilde for an audience of 300,000. After this gig, British newspapers named SBB "the best rock trio after The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream". They also recorded another excellent album in West Germany, "Welcome". But the year 1978 was also very important for Józef Skrzek alone: he recorded his first solo LP, "Pamiêtnik Karoliny" (Caroline's Diary), performing all musical parts by himself.
In 1979 Skrzek recorded his 2nd solo album, "Ojciec chrzestny Dominika" (Dominic's Godfather), also with no other musicians. He also wrote music for Piotr Szulkin's film, _Golem (1980)_. The band SBB also massively toured. But all was not well with SBB: Skrzek, who wrote all the music on every SBB album from Pamiêæ onwards, was conflicted with two other musicians.
Guitarist S³awomir Piwowar joined the band. The next SBB album, "Memento Z Banalnym Tryptykiem" (Memento With An Ordinary Triptych), included music written by Apostolis, Piwowar and Piotrowski, although Jozef wrote the masterpiece, title track who filled the entire B side of the album. Apostolis' final guitar solo in this suite is possibly one of the greatest guitar solos ever!!! However, the conflicts did not cease and after heavy touring (Poland and West Germany), the band called it a day. Apostolis, Piwowar and Piotrowski helped Skrzek to record his third album "Józefina".
After SBB broke up, Józef Skrzek remained active. He recorded another solo albums, as well as writing music for movie ("Rêce do Góry") and theatrical ("Otello", "Antygona") soundtracks. He also started performing in churches, with music based on religious themes. He also started a new tradition: concerts in Planetarium in Chorzów, consisting on fully improvised music, usually performed on the shortest night of year, the first night of summer.
In 80s Skrzek recorded another solo albums, including a live album recorded in Jarocin in 1987, with famous blues/rock vocalist Ryszard Riedel. He still performed in Planetarium and in various other public places. In 1991, SBB reunited for a single concert in Sopot.
The band returned in 1993, playing a concert in Spodek on 19 June 1993, (later released on double CD), toured Poland and USA but once again broke up in 1994. Jozef Skrzek remained active, wrote an opera "Pokój Saren" with _Lech Majewski_ which was later transferred into a movie, and made some performances. SBB returned in 1998, with Miros³aw Muzykant replacing Jerzy Piotrowski, released some live albums but once again broke up a year later. In 2000, SBB returned with Paul Wertico on drums, and once again: concerts (Poland, Germany) and live albums. New studio album by SBB was released in 2002.
SBB continued to perform, and Skrzek also was performing solo. One of his important performances was on 23 February 2003 in Tychy, to commemorate teenagers who were killed by an avalanche in Tatra Mountains in early 2003.
After the original SBB broke up in 1980, Jerzy Piotrowski performed with (among others) Banda&Wanda and one of the best Polish groups ever, Dzem. He lives now in New Jersey. Apostolis Anthymos released several solo albums. In 2003 he suffered heavily from heart disease and is now musically inactive for a moment, recovering in Athens. Józef Skrzek, Polish legendary keyboardist/bassist/vocalist, still remains active on stage.
