Polish Jazz - Freedom at Last
From catacombs to the free society
- the Story of Polish Jazz
Chapter 4: Polish Jazz in 1970's
Part 4: Fusion
Milestones:
Michal Urbaniak
Urszula Dudziak
Laboratorium
Extra Ball and Jarek Smietana
Sun Ship
SBB
Osjan
In 1970's and 1980's Michal
Urbaniak was probably the best internationally known Polish
Jazz musician. Prodigy of various Komeda's bands and leader on his
own from the late 1960s, his worldwide career began in 1973, when
Columbia published his groundbreaking album Fusion. Since that
that, his passion has been continuing with varying fortune. But
thought out the years of his artistic calling, all elements of his
ingenious personality were always there: straight-ahead
expression, paired with Slavic ingenuousness, musical eclectics,
contemporary articulation and the influence of Polish folk music -
all flawlessly incorporated into the vocabulary of American Jazz.
The beginning of the 1990"s was the culminating point in his
career: his name was then mentioned numerous times in various
categories of important Jazz surveys, including of the prestigious
"Down Beat". In his compositions, Urbaniak has always attempted to
integrate the latest trends of world Jazz with elements of his personal
style. He brings together the original, easily recognizable sound
of his instrument with current musical conventions. Consequently,
musicians representing the styles of fusion, soul-Jazz, funk or
rap appear in his recordings in the next decades. But Urbaniak's
explorations have never - to quote critic Kazimierz Czyz - "roamed
outside of borders of art form". Urbaniak has continued
his hunt after cutting edge styles, sounds, genres and technologies
from the Jazz-rock of 1970s to the fusion and funk of the 1980s
to the hip-hop of the 1990s, and electronic sounds of 21st century
- always founding inspiration in his own folk tradition, when at
the same time, creating homogenous form of musical expression in
a truly unique Jazz art form. In his continues pursuit for new inspirations
and new sounds, Michal Urbaniak is probably as close to Miles Davis'
spirit as any Polish Jazz artist could be.
Michal Urbaniak's artistic achievements would not be possible without
the input from his long time partner and collaborator - Urszula
Dudziak. Although Dudziak studied piano formally for some
years, she began to sing in the late 50s after hearing records by
Ella Fitzgerald. She started her singing career with Edward Czarny's
Orchestra and within a few years she was one of the most popular
jazz artists in Poland. In 1958 she was invited by Krzysztof Komeda
to join and to record with his band. She met and later married Michal
Urbaniak, started recoding and touring with him since 1964, and
in 1970's choosing New York City as their new hometown. Language
barriers hold no problems for Dudziak, as she (as recommended to
her by Urbaniak) customarily avoids words in favor of a wordless
vocalizing that is far more adventurous than scat. Already gifted
with a remarkable five-octave range, Dudziak employs electronic
devices to extend still further the possibilities of her voice.
She has frequently worked with leading contemporary musicians, including
Archie Shepp and Lester Bowie, and was a member of the Vocal Summit
group (1981), with Jay Clayton, Jeanne Lee, Bobby McFerrin, Norma
Winstone, Michelle Hendricks, and Lauren Newton. She is an author
of her own programs: "Future Talk" (prepared with her
friend writer Jerzy Kosinski) and "The Nature is leaving us".
Since mid 80's she has been active again in Poland, performing and recording
solo and with local artists, including vocalist Grazyna Auguscik
and band Walk Away. Although her remarkable talents are worthy of
greater exposure, Dudziak's chosen style has meant that she has
remained relatively unknown except her 1976 mega-hit "Papaya"
which is a mixture of jazzy vocal techniques and more mainstream
funky rhythms.
Jazz-rock fusion of 1970's Polish Jazz was not limited to Michal
Urbaniak's bands. Beside Urbaniak, the leading groups of that category
also included Laboratorium,
Extra Ball, Crash, Spisek Szesciu, No Smoking, and Sun Ship. Their
inspirations were obvious, however they went far beyond recreating
and mimicking western music - they enhanced it by adding a little
bid of Slavic flavor. Interestingly, today after more then three
decades, this 1970s music genre , re-branded as "Polish
Funk" getting more and more recognition and following in
some of the most unlikely places, like... London's dance clubs (!).
Contemporary American critics agree describing Polish
Funk as "mad mix of jazz, funk, fusion, electric, and
vocal elements that somehow managed to flourish wonderfully during
the 70s years of Soviet control -- a real musical marvel..."
(Dusty Groove)
Laboratorium was probably
most popular band of Polish Jazz Rock Funk. The band's beginnings
are rooted in progressive rock but they approach to harmony and
improvisation was always strictly Mahavishnu Orchestra / Weather
Report - like. An important and significant element of Labolatorium’s
style, was Marek Stryszowski's vocalizations, often revealing the
use of electronic voice-modulation effects. Rich and innovative
use of electronic keyboards by band leader Janusz Grzywacz is another
Laboratorium's trademark, coped with pulsating drums, and later
on magical sound of Krzysztof Scieranski's bass guitar. "What
is important, the band with all those various references kept their
artistic identity, confirmed with musical sensitivity and the musicians’
skills" (Michal Wilczynski).
Another leading band of that era, Extra
Ball was formed in l974, and founded by guitarist, Jaroslaw
Smietana. Many excellent musicians passed through the band in next
few years, but it was always Smietana's artistic conceptions and
energy that animated the group. During its tenure of Polish Jazz
scene, the music of Extra Ball matured, from youthful fascination
with Chick Corea's Return to Forever universe, to post-Coltrane
reflections. "Their resignation from effectual jazz-rock
rhythms went together with a relish for instrumental sound, with
on increased freedom of improvisation, briefly with the characteristics
which form the backbone of contemporary jazz. Extra Ball’s
repertory demonstrated both the authors’ inventiveness and
the fine feeling for collective music making." (Jan Poprawa).
Extra Ball stopped rolling in 1981; later on Jarek Smietana has
remained very active on the Polish Jazz scene leading many groups,
including "Sounds", "Symphonic Sound Orchestra",
and "Polish Jazz Stars Band. He also had a series of very successful
cooperation with other leaders such as Zbigniew Namyslowski, Zbigniew
Seifert, Slawomir Kulpowicz, Jan "Ptaszyn" Wroblewski,
Henryk Majewski, Piotr Wojtasik, and Wojciech Karolak. Leszek Kotarski
wrote about Smietana at the "Jazz Forum": "All
the notes fall naturally into place. Never garrulous or merely exhibitionistic,
it is a jazz concert of the highest caliber. Each phrase is swinging
and is full of drive and feeling. In brief, that is how you can
describe the music of Jarek Smietana, one of the most outstanding
Polish jazz musicians. He has created his own music style and individual
sound, always personal yet constantly communicative. His first priority
is the highest possible artistic level".
Sun Ship was one of the
most interesting bands on the Polish Jazz scene of the late 70's
and early 80's. The band combined young rhythm section of pianist
Adzik Sendecki, bass player Vitold Rek, and drummer Marek Stach;
with more matured saxophone players: Henryk Miskiewicz and Zbigniew
Jaremko. Miskiewicz and Jaremko were coming from a very popular
during the 70's straight-ahead modern jazz band Jazz Carriers known
for their "polyrhythmic and polymetric structures and an
experimental usage of meters" (Daniel Best). Sendecki,
Stach and Rek were "graduates" of Extra Ball with their
youthful fascination with jazz rock rhythms. Despite different inspirations,
the music of Sun Ship was very cohesive, attractive, very "colorful",
and very well received by the fans and concert goers. The original
repertoire which was created by the members of the band complemented
group's uniqueness and adventuress. The role of the musical creation
was emphasized by Adzik Sendecki in the interview with Jazz Forum
in March 1980: "Our music is mostly defined by composition.
The final shape of the tune is determined who wrote it and what
his interests are". Interestingly all members of the band
shared common interest in Polish musical folk tradition.
But the best Jazz-rock group of 1970's did not originated from Polish
Jazz but from the rock scene. The name of the band was SBB
and included three master improvised rockers: piano/keybord player
Jozef Skrzek, Apostolis Anthimos on guitars, and drummer Jerzy Piotrowski.
SBB revolutionized Polish rock combining Jimmy Hendrix and King
Crimson languages, with lyrical Slavic expression, and its own trademarked
Jazz-like free improvisation. SBB is acclaimed as the best Polish
rock band of the past 5 decades. The critics raved: "The
three musicians that revolutionized Polish rock", "Beyond doubt
the most prominent representatives of progressive rock in Poland"
- it is only a mere sample of
the way the band has been referred to. A complete list of references
and opinions would be far too long to quote. Yet apart from the
groups formidable and praiseworthy history one must not forget that
SBB is still in the first place an active band, far from being dormant,
regularly giving live performances and shunning to choose a soft
option as far as music is concerned. Invariably Seeking, Breaking
and Building...(SBB).
The another important fixture of 1970's Polish Jazz and beyond,
was group Osjan (also known
as Ossian), which operated outside of Jazz and rock worlds, but
was inspired by both. The origins of the name Osjan were derived
from a fictional character from a poem by Polish poet Boleslaw Lesmian.
The band was created in early 70's by Polish prog-rock veteran -
guitar player Marek Jackowski (Vox Gentis, Anawa, and later on Maanam),
accomplished jazz bass player Jacek Ostaszewsk (flutes) who lost
interest in jazz, painter and poet Tomasz Holuj (percussion), and
percussionist Milo Kurtis. Osjan's music combined elements of different
musical cultures such as Indian, African, Arabic, and Native American;
with jazz improvisation and classical music influences. The band's
line up changed frequently which allowed it to redefine itself,
which was further enhanced by regular collaborations with many guest
musicians including Tomasz Stanko, Apostolis Anthimos from SBB,
legendary trumpeter Don Cherry, a shaman from the Cheronee tribe
and others. "But the factor that occupies the central place
in Osjan's music is rhythm - the most primordial and present in
every musical culture element. Ossian is regarded the pioneer of
so called world music in Poland but in reality the music of Osjan
doesn't explore nor utilize any ethnicality. It simply stands beyond
any ethnic, stylistics or genre affinity because the goal of all
Osjan's searches were always the most basic and universal elements
of music" (Prog Archives).
As the 1970's were coming to the end, the end of Gierek's political
regime was also near. After initial economic successes, fueled by
large-scale borrowing from the West, the Gierek's vision for prosperous
and economically independent Poland faltered due to inherited economic
contradictories, Potiomkin style economic policies, and 1973 oil
crisis. As the political pressure from the opposition increased,
and labor strikes came back to the picture, Gierek's government
responded with series of anti-democratic and totalitarian policies.
In the late 1970's the government of Edward Gierek was finally forced
to raise prices, and this led to another wave of public protests
and his political outcast. Fortunately, (for Gierek, but not necessary
for anybody else) his "visionary" farsightedness is
well and alive in contemporary People's Republic of China.
