"I'm a saxophonist who plays the violin", quipped Michal Urbaniak in an interview for the Down Beat. It seems the shortest identification for a musican who has hit the big time in the world of jazz. Always his man, he has shown a lot of iron will and preseverance on his way to the top. Besides being a notable player and composer, he is his own manager, producer and bandleader who has an uncanny ability in choosing young rookies and teaching them their way around the byways of jazz to launch their careers. But back in the 60s he used to be just a sideman when he came on the jazz scene in his native Poland. As he put it: "After a long classical music training as a violinist, I took to the saxophone and started to play jazz".
He first recorded as Zbigniew Namyslowski's sideman with his group in 1963. In 1964 he joined the quartet of the legendary Krzysztof Komeda. Now he regards this as his major step in learning the jazz ropes. At the beginning of the 70s started his own bands. First with Adam Makowicz on piano, Pawel Jarzebski, bass and Czeslaw Bartkowski, drums.
The group gave a concert in the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall in January 1971 which was recorded live and later released as record No. 24 in the Polish Jazz Series. It might be of interest that the next record, entirely his own, was recorded live in the same hall in May 1973. This time, however, the group was joined by Urszula Dudziak, the scat singer, who was soon to become his wife. The Hammond organ was played by Wojciech Karolak, a jazz celebrity, whom Urbaniak took for his sideman later when he moved to the US. As the leader of the Constellation Band on that record Michal Urbaniak played the electric violin for the first time. Both the albums contain the best of his Polish period to give his fans a fine opportunity to catch the full flavour of this remarkable composer and instrumentalist on the threshold of his phenomenal career. (byJan Borkowski)
Recorded live in Warsaw Philharmonic Hall in January 1971.
Personnel:
Czeslaw Bartkowski (drums)
Pawel Jarzebski (bass)
Adam Makowicz (piano, clavinet)
Michal Urbaniak (violin, saxophone)
Tracklist:
01. Suite - Jazz Jamboree '70 (Urbaniak) 21.0:
- North Ballad 6.33
- Ej Blues 5.54
- Spring 8.35
02. Crazy Girl (Komeda) 6.59
03. Body And Soul (Green/Heyman) 6.05
04. Jazz Moment No. 1 (Urbaniak) 4.43
ARMU 2174 (shareplace)