Dudziak

Singer Urszula Dudziak's second recording as a leader and first American record introduced to the jazz world a somewhat bizarre stylist. By sometimes using electronics to distort her voice and displaying a very wide range along with the ability to improvise freely, Dudziak was quite unique. All ten selections on this out-of-print Arista LP (including "Zavinul," "Mosquito Dream," and "Just the Way You Are," which is no relation to the later Billy Joel hit) are originals by the singer, with the emphasis on "original." The backup group includes guitarists Reggie Lucas and Joe Caro, keyboardist Harold Ivory Williams, and a guest appearance on one song by Dudziak's husband, Michal Urbaniak, on lyricon.

Polish violinist, saxophonist and composer Michal Urbaniak played a major role in the development of jazz fusion in the 1970s and 80s. While working in Scandinavia in the 1960’s he met his future wife, Polish singer Urszula Dudziak and formed the foundation of what would later become the group that would stamp its imprint on the jazz world, Michal Urbaniak’s Fusion. Urbaniak moved to New York in 1973. His popularity on the NY scene garnered him a contract with Columbia records and concerts at the Village Vanguard and Carnegie Hall. Blending music from his Polish and European roots with the funk and fusion of the Big Apple impelled American and international jazz musicians to experiment with mixing various ethnic musical forms with jazz.

A massive bit of funky fusion from the 70s – an album that was crucially overlooked at the time, but which has gone onto become a crate-diggers classic over the years! The group's fronted by Polish jazz legends Michal Urbaniak and Urszula Dudziak – but it also features a fair bit of American players too – all working together in a blend of the best funky fusion modes going down in both the US and Eastern Europe in the mid 70s! Drums on the set are totally great.

This is a reissue of the second album recorded for the small German label Spiegelei by the ensemble headed by Polish Jazz saxophonist / violinist / composer Michal Urbaniak. The ensemble included also Urbaniak's wife at the time, vocalist Urszula Dudziak, keyboardist Adam Makowicz, bassist Roman Dylag, drummer Czeslaw Bartkowski and Yugoslav percussionist Branislav Kovacev. The album includes seven tracks, all composed by Urbaniak. This album has several similarities to the live album Urbaniak and his ensemble recorded in 1973 in Poland, released as part of the legendary Polish Jazz series (Vol. 36) and entitled "In Concert", which in retrospect was one of Polish Jazz most significant and pivotal recordings and a giant milestone towards the discovery of Jazz-Rock Fusion on the local scene.

Flora Purim - Encounter (1976) {Milestone OJCCD-798-2 rel 2006}
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© 1975-76, 2006 Milestone Records / Fantasy | OJCCD-798-2 / 00025218679824
Jazz / Fusion / Brazilian Jazz

This was one of Flora Purim's finest all-around jazz recordings, and it is luckily available on CD. Purim is featured in a variety of challenging and stimulating settings: on two numbers ("Above the Rainbow" and "Tomara") with pianist McCoy Tyner; teamed up with tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson on Chick Corea's "Windows" and "Black Narcissus"; and utilizing such players as bass trombonist Raul DeSouza, keyboardists Hermeto Pascoal and George Duke, and singer Urszula Dudziak (who is heard on "Encounter") plus Flora's husband, percussionist Airto. The music is primarily group originals and finds Flora Purim in peak form. Highly recommended.

Polish violinist Michal Urbaniak was already well known in Europe, and somewhat famous in America, with five previous overtly commercial efforts for the Columbia and Arista labels. This album for Inner City Records showcases a much more substantive, energetic, and contemporary type of jazz music perfectly suited for the fusion-oriented '70s. With wife Urszula Dudziak singing and Zbigniew Namyslowski playing alto sax in a David Sanborn-type dialect, these three form a hummable, tuneful front line whose symmetry and sonic footprint are hard to resist. Aside from the lead performers, fans of Kenny Kirkland should take note of his presence on this album, one of his earliest works. Kirkland plays brilliantly here on Fender Rhodes electric piano, Polymoog, and miniMoog synthesizers, buoying and supporting the others in bright dimensions and shimmering tones. Though adept at the straight-ahead mainstream style, R&B-oriented jazz-rock fusion is at the equally delightful and danceable core of Urbaniak's music.