Janusz Muniak

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 style.

He debuted in Lublin in 1960. From the 60s to the 90s, he worked 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 Kovačev, Joe Lovano, Wynton Marsalis, Lyle Mays, Pat Metheny, Hank Mobley, Takeo Moriyama, Joe Newman, Sal Nistico, Jasper van 't Hof, Aladár Pege, Rufus Reid, Akira Sakata, Archie Shepp, Charlie Ventura, Yōsuke Yamashita and Polish musicians such as Vladyslav Sendecki, Tomasz Stańko, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Zbigniew Seifert, Adam Makowicz, Wojciech Karolak, Krzysztof Komeda, Andrzej Kurylewicz, Andrzej Trzaskowski, Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski, Jarek Śmietana, Jan Jarczyk, Włodek Pawlik, Leszek Możdżer and Michał Urbaniak. He was one of the first jazz musiciansd who performed who cooperated with rock musicians like Dżamble and Czesław Niemen.

After 1976, he was the 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.