Don Jodlowski was born on August 30, 1940 into a musical family that lived on the southwest side of Chicago, il. His family’s love for polka music inspired him to take drum lessons at a young age. Don developed his skills so that by the 1960’s he was drumming with bands that included Joe “Pat” Paterek, Johnny Bomba, Li’l Richard Towalski, Li’l wally Jagiello, the Ampol Aires, and Frankie Yankovic. He was the regular drummer…
Henry David (Henny) Jasiewicz was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, on May 22, 1945. He has performed professionally since he was nine years old and started his polka career playing trumpet for Leo Gibala & The Bell Hops. Henny performed with this group for several years. In 1979 he started his own band known as Henny & The Versa Js, which is in its 39th year and has performed locally, nationally and in Poland.…
Raymond Jarusinski was born on November 3, 1945. He was the youngest of three boys. His parents were John and Blanch Jarusinski. Ray’s ethnic background consisted of his mother being Polish and his father Slovak. As a small boy, Ray enjoyed listening to the Polka radio programs with his parents and grandmother. His grandmother, Laura, was instrumental in teaching him the proper diction and pronunciation of the Polish language and music. She instilled…
Vi Johantgen was born on September 24, 1915 in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents, Stanley and Marie Patla were born in Rzesow, Poland. Her father was a violinist and her mother was a singer of Polish Folk Songs. At the age of five, Vi started to sing and at the age of 11 joined the choir at St. Casimir’s Church on the Southwest side of Chicago, Illinois. Vi was the only “alto’ with 22…
By age 12, Henry Jasiewicz discovered his love for music and was practicing with a muted trumpet in his basement, often while his parents were sleeping. In the years that followed, he also spent as much time as possible learning the violin. His musical career began in the 1930’s. In 1935 he helped organize the Polish Ambassadors Orchestra. It was at this time that he DJ’d a weekly radio broadcast over WHJB radio…
Stanley J. Jasinski, one of Buffalo’s most outstanding public figures in the field of broadcasting, was born August 25, 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. While still in high school as an amateur actor and script writer, Stanley began his broadcasting career. As opportunity would have it, one day in 1934, he sat behind a microphone at Radio Station WEXL in Royal Oak, to fill in unexpectedly for an ailing colleague who was program…
Li’l Wally has been one of the most important and influential polka musicians in America. He was responsible for creating the Chicago-style polka, a slower, more danceable, more improvisational sound, whose core appeal lay with Polish-Americans. Wally was a cottage industry unto himself, recording at an often frantic pace and releasing over 150 albums on his own Jay Jay label. He played both concertina and drums in concert, and performed good-humored dance tunes and…