The Danish Polish Jazz Network aims to foster collaborations between Danish and Polish jazz professionals and musicians by enhancing awareness of the two jazz scenes, its musicians, and key players.

Since 2022

In 2022, JazzDanmark launched a major networking project between the Danish and Polish jazz scenes called the Danish Polish Jazz Network. This network project is a natural development of the already existing connection between the two jazz scenes. The Danish Polish Jazz Network aims to foster collaborations between Danish and Polish jazz professionals and musicians by enhancing awareness of the two jazz scenes, its musicians, and key players.

So far, the network has offered exchange programs during Danish festivals (CPH Jazz Festival, SPOT), a collaboration with the Jazz Juniors festival and competition (Krakow), and a study trip to Warsaw in 2023, in which eight Danish jazz professionals participated. In 2024, a guide to the Polish jazz scene is planned, along with continued planning for activities in 2025.

A Connection That Dates Back to the 1960s

Within jazz, the Danish-Polish connection dates back to the 1960s and 1970s with Krzysztof Komeda’s scores for Henning Carlsen and Tomasz Stańko’s love for the scene around Jazzhus Montmartre. Since 2004, when Poland joined the EU, making it easier to participate in exchange programs, a significant number of young Polish musicians have studied at Danish conservatories.

The Polish musicians have formed bands with their Danish peers, built careers and lives in Denmark, while still maintaining ties to their Polish roots. Today, Danish-Polish musicians are an integral and significant part of the Danish jazz scene. These musicians tour in both countries, organize their own festivals, and every year, conservatories welcome new highly trained musicians who seek to participate in this exchange.

Collaborators

• Institute Adam Mickiewicz
• Jazz Juniors
• SPATiF
• Pardon Tú Tú
• The Danish Embassy in Poland
• Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Idealistic Festival
• Jassmine
• Baza
• Hévre
• The Embassy of Poland in Copenhagen
• JazzForum
• Kultur(a)