English Section

Jazz icon's archive donated to Poland’s National Library

15.07.2025 22:30
The family of Jerzy "Duduś" Matuszkiewicz, a pioneer of Polish jazz and renowned composer of film and television soundtracks, has donated his personal archive to Poland’s National Library.
Jerzy Duduś Matuszkiewicz
Jerzy "Duduś" MatuszkiewiczLeszek Szymański/PAP

The vast collection spans Matuszkiewicz’s decades-long career and includes musical manuscripts, soundtrack sketches for feature films and popular TV series, diplomas, personal correspondence, press clippings, congratulatory letters and memorabilia.

It also features rare materials and photographs documenting the early postwar jazz scene in Poland, including performances by Melomani, the first jazz band to emerge in the country after World War II, formed by Matuszkiewicz.

The National Library said on its website that the archive would be catalogued and made available to musicologists and historians as part of the Polish Jazz Archives.

That collection already includes the personal papers of other jazz icons such as composer and pianist Krzysztof Komeda and violinist and composer Zbigniew Seifert.

Matuszkiewicz died in 2021 at the age of 93.

(mk/gs)

Source: polskieradio.pl