Leon J. Kozicki was born on July 4, 1930 in Chicago. He attended grammar school at St. Peter and Paul’s at which time he first became exposed to music when his father presented him with a button accordion one Christmas. As a youngster he became ill with pneumonia and upon recovery the doctor recommended a wind instrument to help develop and strengthen his lungs. He tried the trumpet but settled with the clarinet on which…
In the early days of polka music, what Alvin Sajewski was to Chicago … Ignacy Podgorski to Philadelphia … Brunon Kryger to Eastern Pennsylvania … Joe Lazarz was to the Northeast. Born in 1895 in the village of Swiebodzin, Poland, he started music lessons at an early age, as his father and uncles were musicians. Joe Lazarz came to Indian Orchard, Massachusetts in 1913, and started working at the Indian Motorcycle Company, and playing…
Brunon Kryger was born in Lodz, Poland in 1899. From early childhood his ambition was to be an entertainer. The outbreak of W.W.I. dampened his career for a short time for he had to serve 3 years and 4 months in the Polish Army. After his discharge he studied at the Poznan Conservatory of Music, and upon completion of his studies in 1923 he toured Poland with leading musical shows as on entertainer and M.C.,…