History
It was then that the creator and director of the festival, Witold Wnuk – inspired by the legendary guru of the artistic underground and leader of the cabaret, Piotr Skrzynecki – presented a month-long series of daily concerts in the Cellar in July 1996.
Year by year, the festival expands its reach, gradually introducing events not only in The Cellar, but also in other places – the Krakow Philharmonic, the Krakow Opera, Radio Krakow, the Manggha Centre, ICE Krakow, the Kiev Centre, in all Krakow jazz clubs and open-air in Krakow’s Old Town. Since 2001, every first Sunday in July, there has been an all-day event called The New Orleans with thousands of New Orleans Parade spectators.
Currently, the Summer Jazz Festival is the largest festival of this type in Poland and one of the longest in Europe, which often features all the brightest stars of Polish jazz and nearly 100 international stars m.in: Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke, Bobby McFerrin, Al Jarreau, Art Farmer, Jean-Luc Ponty, Lenny White, Lee Konitz, Branford Marsalis, Arturo Sandoval, Joe Lovano, Maria Schneider, John Scofield, Randy Brecker, Billy Cobham, Richard Bona, Kurt Elling, Pharoah Sanders, Mike Stern, John Abercrombie, Nigel Kennedy, Kenny Garrett, Al Di Meola, Yellowjackets, Robert Glasper, and Charles Lloyd.
