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Chapter 4: Polish Jazz in 1970's
Part 3

Milestones:

Krzysztof Sadowski
Jerzy Milian
Adam Makowicz
Zbigniew Namyslowski
 

Krzysztof Sadowski was born in Warsaw, Poland December 15, 1936. He studied piano for eleven years while at school and after graduating from the Warsaw Institute of Technology took up a career in jazz (1957). In the early 1960s he played and recorded with Zbigniew Namyslowski's Jazz Rockers and Jan Wróblewski's Jazz Outsiders (both 1961-2), and worked with Andrzej Kurylewicz and the Swingtet led by the alto saxophonist Jerzy Matuszkiewicz. He achieved considerable success with his own group Bossa Nova Combo (from 1963), with which he toured the Soviet Union (1965) and Scandinavia (1967). In 1967, influenced by Jimmy Smith, he took up the Hammond organ and formed a hard-bop ensemble, the Krzysztof Sadowski Organ Group. With the Organ Group he recorded two important albums for Polish Jazz Series: "Krzysztof Sadowski and his Hammond Organ", Audio Clip: Krzysztof Sadowski and his Hammond Organ – Heavy Rain From A Little Cloud and "Three Thousands Points". He also toured and recorded with his wife, the pop singer and flutist Liliana Urbanska. Sadowski has composed many popular hits in Poland, as well as music for films, theater, radio, and television, and two suites, "On the Cosmodrome" and "Our Common World". Krzysztof Sadowski is a long time activist and executive of Polish Jazz Society.

Born in October 1935 in Poznan, vibes player Jerzy Milian was very active on Polish Jazz filed since mid 1950s. He was one of the most important collaborators of Krzysztof Komeda, defining "modern" sound of Komeda's bands in 1950s. Milian's composition "Memory of Bach" written and performed in style of Modern Jazz Quartet, became the most popular modern jazz tune of that era in Poland. Audio Clip: Krzysztof Komeda / Jerzy Milian – Memory of Bach In liner notes for Milian's single album in Polish Jazz Series titled "Bazar" (Polish Jazz vol. 17), Jerzy Redlinski wrote about Milian: "Contemporaneousness is a special quality of Milian's whole road of artistic quest and achievements. While making use of the tradition formed by Hampton and Milt Jackson, he tried to exceed the boundaries mapped out by it. He looked at the instrument in a somewhat different way than his predecessors, as a soloist. His quest above all led him to take greater advantage of the colorist possibilities of the vibraphone; the tone seems to be the element which fascinates him most. In this respect his higher education in the plastic arts is an internal inspiration and a great help but also the sonorous ideas ever present in contemporary music as well as his cooperation with one of the leading representatives of the non-jazz musical avant-garde in Poland, Professor Boguslaw Schaffer, whose compositions he performs, have an influence on this predilection of his. As a vibraphone virtuoso he uses a wide range of tones and moods, as an improviser he demonstrates great invention and originality. He has performed at all the "Jazz Jamboree" international festivals in Warsaw since 1958, at the festivals in Prague (1965) and Ljubljana (1967), at the "Jazz Panorama" in Ghent (1965), in the jazz clubs of Brno and Brussels as well as in Grenoble, Cologne and Copenhagen, everywhere he was enthusiastically applauded. John Hammond described him as "one of the best vibraphonist who have appeared since the times of Red Norvo". The fact that he is fascinated by contemporaneousness is also expressed in his work as composer — beginning from the cool work based on Bach's invention and ending in the concerto for three freemen and a symphonic orchestra "In Memoriam Martin Luther King" (1969) which was written for the Poznan Philharmonics. These works, both the strictly jazz compositions as well as those that exceed the jazz convention, form an original and impressive world of sounds in which tradition is mixed with contemporary methods and the musical language of jazz with composing techniques and means of expression that are characteristic of the avant- garde of serious music. They have brought Milian great success both at home and abroad. This success began with "Instrumental Dialogues" which were performed by the Big Band of the Polish Radio at "Jazz Jamboree 64" and were then recorded in Belgium. Since 1965 Milian has cooperated with Gustav Brom's orchestra, and with the Brussels radio and television. The following concertos written for various jazz and symphonic instruments are a result of this latter cooperation: "Circulations", "Four Engravings for Big Band and Soloists" recorded with the participation of the composer, "Realities", "Nihil obstat" as well as "Pieces for a Friend" and "Polish Folk Suite". These excellent compositions found distinguished performers in Belgium. In 1967 his "Points, Lines and Figures" were awarded a prize in the composers' competition at the jazz festival in Prague. Milian's ballet "Tempus Jazz 67" staged by the Poznan Opera and with Conrad Drzewiecki as the choreographer was an artistic event in this country, it was also performed in Genoa, Trieste and Strassbourg where it was favorably received by the international audiences' and critics." But interestingly, and in contrary to very "modern" and "progressive" music of Komeda, Milian has always had a soft for dance and pop music. Countless singers recorded his songs, and his master pop music grooves, mixed with Jazz-Pops touches, enhanced by his tight arrangements, distinct dynamics and very modern articulation - best represented on his album "Orkiestra Rozrywkowa PR i TV w Katowicach" - gained him an opinion of an " easily one of the hippest vibes players in Europe in the 60s" (Dusty Groove).

Adam Makowicz is another of the real geniuses of Polish Jazz. His brilliant carrier spans through decades and until today he always amazes Jazz fans with his virtuosity and swing. Alumni of variety of styles, including both electric, as well as acoustic configurations; since 1974 Makowicz has been performing mainly as a soloist. He is a virtuoso pianist, with his own personal style, both in his own compositions and in piano interpretations of works of other composers. His style is a combination of American tradition originated by Tatum and George Gershwin, with elements of European music referring to the romantic tradition. Today, Makowicz is devoting more and more time to his own interpretations of classical standards written by composers such as Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and George Gershwin. His recitals are addressed to a large extent to audiences of philharmonics. The musician himself currently describes his music as "closer to classical music than to Jazz". This trend incorporates his compositions written for piano and for small bands. As Jim Fuselli once wrote about Makowicz in The Wall Street Journal: "Adam Makowicz has been praised by Benny Goodman, compared with Art Tatum, Erroll Garner and Teddy Wilson, honored by Jazz publications and toasted all over Europe as a genius. Mr. Makowicz's fiery style, firm chording, and rapid, Tatumesque right hand phrasing make him more than deserving of the accolades he has received."

Similar rave reviews were often written about another giant of Polish Jazz Zbigniew Namyslowski. The quote from Willis Conover himself says enough: "When I first visited Poland, I was quite unprepared to hear Polish musicians at so high level. Namyslowski was clearly the best. International voting has proved that audiences in Europe recognize the best Polish musician as among the best anywhere in the world. He honors 3 traditions, of Jazz, of Polish, of himself . Anyone who misses Namyslowski is missing a unique source of creativity in 20th century. Namyslowski is a giant!" Namyslowski is a master of many instruments, from from the age of four he played piano, he mastered cello at twelve, then studied music theory in Warsaw. He initially (1950s) played trombone in Polish Dixieland, and in 1960s took up alto saxophone and ventured into modern Jazz joining Andrzej Trzaskowski"s hard bop group the Jazz Wreckers. In 1963 he formed his first quartet, with whom her recorded groundbreaking album "Lola" for England"s Decca label. Namyslowski cites John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, and Joe Henderson as his favorite musicians but also draws inspiration from other sources, including blues, rock, and traditional Polish, Balkan, and Indian music. Namyslowski is also a very successful composer, including genres outside of Jazz and encompassing anything from Polish version of funk to sophisticated pop music. In the field of composition, Namyslowski has created his own unique and easily recognizable language: the harmonic language, the swing that goes beyond the scale of musical transcription, the Jazz tradition, and his always present appreciation of Polish music folklore. Besides being a ground breaking visionary of Polish Jazz, his role in Polish Jazz could be compared to Art Blakely"s Jazz Messengers impact on Jazz history - he become a distinguished mentor of young musicians. The number of musicians who passed through various Namyslowski"s bands is long, and includes abundance of Polish Jazz Jazz diamonds, some of them include: pianists: Wojciech Gogolewski, Adam Makowicz, Wojciech Karolak, Adzik Sendecki, Leszek Mozdzer, and Slawek Jaskulke; bass players: Janusz Kozlowski, Pawel Jarzebski, Darek Oleszkiewicz, Krzysztof Scieranski; drummers: Czeslaw "Maly" Bartkowski, Kazimierz Jonkisz, Jerzy Glod, and Grzegorz Grzyb. Until today Namyslowski remains himself and always refining for his own musical language. To quote Maestro Namyslowski himself: "to be successful, it is no longer enough to play Horace Silver themes. One shouldn't play material borrowed from records (...) I founded my own quartet and created my music to play what I want to and how I want to".

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