Urbaniak Bolero

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.

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.

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.

Polish violinist Michal Urbaniak’s recording Fusion was aptly named. Riding a wave of jazz-rock music, Urbaniak produced this enigmatic recording at once lyrical and noisy. Fusion is made up of seven originals, six of Urbaniak’s and one of keyboard player Wojciech Karolak. This music is percussion intensive and keyboard heavy. All compositions are very Rock oriented. Urbaniak’s violin is played with a variety of electronic modifications including phase shift and wah-wah. Urbaniak’s compositions contain Eastern European influences. The effect of these Eastern European tonalities results in an influence similar to Katchaturian scales in John Coltrane’s “sheets of sound”. This disc would be of interest to the generation following Urbaniak’s, listeners who are listening backwards to see where today’s music originally came from.

With song structures similar to Mahavishnu Orchestra and electric-era Return to Forever, Michal Urbaniak's Fusion III appealed to the same fusion-buying clientele…

Started his career in Poland and Scandinavia in the 1960's and formed the Michał Urbaniak Group in Poland in 1969. Emigrated to the USA in 1973, and formed Fusion in 1974. Has worked as a session musician with many jazz greats such as Herbie Hancock, Weather Report and Miles Davis.

With song structures similar to Mahavishnu Orchestra and electric-era Return to Forever, Michal Urbaniak's Fusion III appealed to the same fusion-buying clientele. What most distinguishes this music from that of its contemporaries was the unique vocalizing of Urbaniak's wife, Ursula Dudziak. She could sound at times like a Polish Flora Purim, at other times like a synthesized presence from another world. On this recording, Urbaniak's playing is fresh and engaging, and his compositions occasionally sound like Frank Zappa's instrumental work from this same era. John Abercrombie and Larry Coryell turn in blistering guitar passages, and bassist Anthony Jackson and drummer Steve Gadd provide a funkified rhythmic foundation.

The international project of Michał Urbaniak, which was created in New York and published by the Hip Bop Records. Urbanator established his position on the American music stage.