Remembering Trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, with an Illuminating Conversation on The Checkout

Summary: Tomasz Stanko, who died this week at 76, was more than an important Polish trumpeter and composer, though he was certainly both of those things. Through his ceaseless push toward formal elasticity and lyrical melancholy, he helped create a distinctly European jazz language, one with many sources of inspiration but its own character and flavor. He started out in an avant-garde capacity, influenced by the freedom-seeking music of Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry. He never lost that fire, though in