Janusz Muniak, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Janusz Muniak

Polish jazz saxophonist

Date of Birth: 03-Jun-1941

Place of Birth: Kraków, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland

Date of Death: 31-Jan-2016

Profession: saxophonist

Nationality: Poland

Zodiac Sign: Gemini

Janusz Józef Muniak (3 June 1941 – 31 January 2016) was a Polish jazz musician, saxophonist, flutist, arranger, and composer.
He was one of the pioneers of free jazz in Europe, although later in life tended towards the mainstream. He debuted in Lublin in 1960.
During the 60s and 90s, he cooperated with, among others, Ronnie Burrage, George Cables, James Cammack, Don Cherry, Ted Curson, Art Farmer, Eddie Gladden, Dexter Gordon, Eddie Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Hank Jones, Rusty Jones, Nigel Kennedy, Branislav Lala Kovacev, Joe Lovano, Wynton Marsalis, Hank Mobley, Takeo Moriyama, Joe Newman, Sal Nistico, Jasper van 't Hof, Aladár Pege, Rufus Reid, Akira Sakata, Archie Shepp, Charlie Ventura, Yosuke Yamashita and Polish musicians like Tomasz Stanko, Zbigniew Namyslowski, Zbigniew Seifert, Adam Makowicz, Wojciech Karolak, Krzysztof Komeda, Andrzej Kurylewicz, Andrzej Trzaskowski, Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski, Jarek Smietana, Jan Jarczyk, Wlodek Pawlik, Leszek Mozdzer and Michal Urbaniak.
He was one of the first jazzmen who cooperated with rock musicians like Dzamble and Czeslaw Niemen.
Since 1976 he has been a leader of several ensembles, and since 1991 he has been running the Jazz Club "U Muniaka" at Florianska 3 in Krakow, which, under his artistic management, became an important incubator of new talents. In the poll of Jazz Top 2011 of the monthly Jazz Forum Janusz Muniak was voted the best saxophonist in Poland.He is buried at Rakowicki Cemetery in Krakow.