bio
Miłosz Szulkowski played his first concert in 1997 at the age of 11 just before his birthday. He was the member of a rock band called Stuff which performed from 1996 to 2000.
In 2000 he joined The Best - the first Polish formation which played jump blues. At the same year the band performed at the Big Stage of "Rawa Blues Festival". He was 14 years old then and at the same time was announced one of the youngest drummers who has ever performed on the "Spodek" stage. He has also got a pleasure to welcome Ray Charles in Poland playing at Okęcie Airport in Warsaw.
In 2001 he formed the band called Szulerzy [tr. The Cardsharpers] with his brother. At first the band created music close to Chicago and California blues. After some time their style developed into rhythm and blues & rock and roll. In 2003 their first album "Bez Ciebie" [tr. "Without You"] was published.
Szulkowscy brothers took part in recording of Michał Kielak’s album "Tribute to Skiba" (which was dedicated to the memory of legendary polish harmonica player Ryszard "Skiba" Skibiński) with the participation of Polish blues legends such as Jarosław Tioskow, Jaromi Drażewski and Paweł Szymański.
In addition to this, they recorded the album "Gra w piki daje wyniki" [tr. "Game in spades gives results"] as Jaromi and Szulerzy, with Jaromi (famous member of Blues Flowers band) in 2004.
In 2005 the third album "Pilnuj się!" [tr. "Watch out!"] of Szulerzy was published. Szulerzy band won XIV Olsztyńskie Noce Bluesowe Festival and shortly after this fact Miłosz (with Marcin Szulkowski and Michał Kielak) took part in a special project entitled Polish Blues Session which gathered the best Polish blues musicians. This event was proved by publishing the live album in 2009.
Szulerzy band were also among the best Polish bluesmen and appeared on "Antologia Polskiego Bluesa" [tr. "The Anthology of Polish Blues"] (parts I, II & III).
During the next years they published albums: "Koniec tygodnia" [tr. "End of the week"] (2008) and "Blues’n’roll" (2012).
The band also performed in the third season of "Must Be The Music" TV show and gathered the enthusiastic opinions from the Jury and got the popularity among crowds.
Ten years after publishing "Tribute to Skiba" Miłosz took part in the special concert to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Skibiński’s death. This concert was published in 2013.
From 2013 to 2019, he was one of the co-organizers of the "Blues Ino Festival" in Inowroclaw.
2014 brought Szulerzy's 6th album entitled "Życie zaczyna się w piątek" [tr. "Life begins on friday"].
During all this time Miłosz was giving concerts not only with his own band but also with other musicians such as: Michał Kielak (in 2003 and 2013), Yellow Cab (in 2007), Jaromi (in 2010), Boogie Boys (in 2010 and 2011), Outsider Blues (in 2014), Kłusem z Blusem (in 2015), John Clifton (in 2015, 2022 and 2023), Background (in 2016), Bartek Szopiński (in 2016), Hot Lips (in 2017), Christoph Steinbach (in 2017), ROAN (in 2017), Smooth Gentlemen (from 2018), Mitch Woods (in 2019), Paweł Szymański (in 2023), Nico Brina (in 2023).
In 2015 he joined to Boogie Boys - the band which has been on stage since 2002 playing boogie woogie, blues & rock and roll music. Miłosz with the band performed in countries such as Canada, Italy, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Switzerland, France, Norway, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia and Lithuania.
At the end of the same year he performed with Californian musicians John Clifton and Scott Abeyta during two week long European Tour promoting John’s latest album "Let Yourself Go".
In 2016 he started cooperation with jazz saxophonist Piotr Rogóż (i.a. groups Background Jazz and Rogóż-Afanasjew-Tworek-Olszewski-Szulkowski).
In July 2018 together with newly formed trio Smooth Gentlemen he won the main prize during Polish Blues Challenge. At the end of the year, the band recorded material for their debut album entitled "New", which appeared in 2019. In the same year, the group performed at the European Blues Challenge, which took place in the Azores.
In October 2019, together with Szulerzy, he recorded songs that appeared on the band's next, seventh album. The record entitled "18" had its premiere in 2020. In turn, 2021 is 20 years of the group's activity.
The year 2023 is special because of the 20th anniversary of Boogie Boys and the brand new album entitled „Full Speed No Brakes”. This is the fifth record in band's discography, but first with Miłosz behind the drums.
2024 is a year of a nomination for the Fryderyk Award in "Blues Album of the Year" category for Boogie Boys and "Full Speed No Brakes". The album "Too Much To Pay" by John Clifton, American singer and harmonica player is also released, on which Miłosz plays.
edited by Agnieszka Żuraw / translated by Monika Szulkowska