Wojciech Karolak, Michal Urbaniak, Czeslaw Bartkowski - Podroz na Poludnie (Moving South)

Wojciech Karolak, Michal Urbaniak, Czeslaw Bartkowski
Podroz na Poludnie (Moving South)

Label: Anex, 2009
Catalogue No: AN 316
Format: CD (digi pack)

Tracks:

1. Suita o siedmiu zbójach, Czesc Pierwsza (Seven brigands story, Part 1)
2. Suita o siedmiu zbójach, Czesc Druga (Seven brigands story, Part 2)
3. Suita o siedmiu zbójach, Czesc Trzecia (Seven brigands story, Part 3)
4. Bozena
5. Drottninggatan 49
6. Sand
7. Suita o siedmiu zbójach - Post Scriptum (Seven brigands story, P.S.)

Line-up:

Wojciech Karolak - Hammond organ, Farfis organ
Michal Urbaniak - soprano saxophone, skrzypce, Barcus-Berry Violectra
Czeslaw Bartkowski - drums

Recorded:

May 29, 1973, Poland

About:

Michal Urbaniak started his music education during high school in Lódz, and continued from 1961 in Warsaw in the violin class of Tadeusz Wronski. Learning to play on the saxophone alone, he first played in a Dixieland band, and later with Zbigniew Namyslowski and the "Jazz Rockers", with whom he performed during the Jazz Jamboree festival in 1961. After this, he was invited to play with Andrzej Trzaskowski, and toured the USA in 1962 with his band "The Wreckers", playing at festivals and clubs in Newport, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, and New York City.
After returning to Poland, he engaged on work with Krzysztof Komeda's quintet (1962–1964). Together, they left for Scandinavia, where, after finishing a couple of contracts, Urbaniak remained until 1969. There he created a band with Urszula Dudziak and Wojciech Karolak, which gained considerable success and was later to be the starting point for the famous "Michal Urbaniak Fusion".
After Urbaniak returned to Poland and the violin (which he abandoned for the saxophone during the time in Scandinavia), he created the self-named "Michal Urbaniak Group", to which he invited, among others, Adam Makowicz (piano) and Urszula Dudziak (vocals). They recorded their first international album, Parathyphus B, and played on many festivals, including Jazz Jamboree in 1969–1972. During the Montreux'71 festival, Urbaniak was awarded "Grand Prix" for the best soloist and scholarship by the prestigious Berkley College of Music in Boston. After many triumphant concerts in Europe and the USA, in May 1973 he played for the last time before a Polish audience and emigrated with Urszula Dudziak on September 11, 1973, to the United States, where he now lives as US citizen.
In spite of getting an award from Berkeley, he did not study there. Recommended by John H. Hammond, Urbaniak signed a contract with Columbia Records, who published the west-German album Super Constellation under the name Fusion. For the promotion tour, he invited Polish musicians, including Czeslaw Bartkowski, Pawel Jarzebski, and Wojciech Karolak. In 1974, Urbaniak formed the band Fusion, and introduced melodic and rhythmic elements of Polish folk music into his funky New York based music. Urbaniak followed his musical journey with very innovative projects like: Urbanator ( first band fusing rap & hip-hop in jazz), "Urbanizer" (project with his band and 4 piece R&B vocal group - 1978) and UrbSymphony, (where on Jan. 27th 1995 jazz group with rapper and Apple computer played concert and recorded cd & dvd with 60 piece full symphony orchestra)
Since 1970 Urbaniak is playing on a custom-made, five string violin furnished especially for him, violin synthesizer called "talkin'" violin, soprano, alto and tenor saxophones and on lyricon (electric sax-like horn). His fusion with a hint of folklore was becoming popular among the leaders of American jazz, and also provided opportunity for many new musicians (Harold Williams, Steve Jordan, Marcus Miller, Kenny Kirkland, Omar Hakim, and Victor Bailey. He started to play in well known clubs such as Village Vanguard and Village Gate, in famous concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, Beacon Theatre, and Avery Fisher Hall. In this period he played with such stars as Weather Report, Freddie Hubbard, Elvin Jones, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, George Benson, and Billy Cobham.
Urbaniak has invited and has been invited by many other well known jazz stars, including Lenny White, Wayne Shorter, Marcus Miller, Joe Zawinul, Ron Carter, Kenny Barron, Buster Williams and Quincy Jones. In 1985, he was invited to play during the recording of Tutu with the father of fusion, Miles Davis. Davis is reported to have said on this occasion: "Get me this fucking Polish fiddler, he's got the sound!"

Wojciech (Wojtek) Karolak (born on 28 May 1939 in Warsaw, Poland, where he still lives today) is a notable Hammond B-3 organ player who refers to himself as "an American jazz and rhythm and blues musician, born by mistake in Middle Europe". He has also played saxophone and piano professionally.
In 1958, he started working with the band the 'Jazz Believers' playing alto saxophone. The Jazz Believers consisted of the future top Polish jazz players, among them Andrzej Trzaskowski, Trafica Giant, Krzysztof Komeda (famed for writing music for Roman Polański’s landmark film Rosemary's Baby), and Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski. It goes without saying that it took a particular level of dedication to play jazz under the Soviet system of the 1950s.
Next, Wojciech Karolak played tenor saxophone in Andrzej Trzaskowski’s 'The Wreckers'. In 1961, Karolak switched from saxophone back to piano. In 1962, formed his own trio and started recording his own music. This trio become the premier jazz band in Poland and backed most Western/American artist visiting Poland. Among them Annie Ross, Ray Charles, and Don Ellis with whom he recorded. In 1963, he started playing with Ptaszyn Wróblewski’s Polish Jazz Quartet. In 1964 Karolak (under the name of the Kurylewicz Quintet) recorded an album titled Go Right - this was the first Polish jazz LP ever released.
In 1966, he left Poland for Sweden where he played rock and blues in music clubs in order to, in his own words, "make enough money to buy an apartment and a Hammond B-3" which he eventually bought in 1973. From then on, Karolak spent more time composing and arranging though he did continue to collaborate and perform with others. He cooperated with famed violinist and future Miles Davis alum Michal Urbaniak in Europe and the U.S. While in Western Europe he also played with Red Mitchell, Putte Wickman, Leroy Lowe and others. He then returned to Poland and co-led the group Mainstream and worked as a composer-arranger for the Polish Radio Studio Jazz Orchestra.
In the 1980s established, with Tomasz Szukalski and Czeslaw Bartkowski, a "superformation"; 'The Killers'. The resulting recording was voted the best Polish jazz record of the decade.
Since the 1990s Karolak has played with the guitarist Jaroslaw Smietana (who counts among his fans Pat Metheny), and recorded three records with him. With Piotr Baron and Zbigniew Lewandowski, Karolak has started "The High Bred Jazz Trio". He has played in numerous concerts with Leszek Cichoński’s 'Guitar Workshop' and continues to write, arrange, and perform in Poland and abroad.
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski awarded him the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, Poland's second highest civilian honor after the Order of the White Eagle.

Czeslaw Bartkowski (born Apri 19, 1943 in Lodz) -Polish jazz drummer, educator. He has performed music since age 6. He graduated from the School of Music in Wroclaw (drums class). Officially debuted in 1960 as a drummer of Jerzy Pakulski Far Quartet. In 1963, started cooperation with Zbigniew Namyslowski and became a musician in his band (Quartet Zbigniew Namyslowski). He has also cooperated with other well-known jazz groups, including the Niemen Enigmatic (Czeslaw Niemen) and Michal Urbaniak Group.
Bartkowski is especially known for his cooperation with various jazz trios, which among others included:
Tomasz Stanko (trumpet) and Adam Makowicz (piano),
Wojciech Karolak (piano, organ) and Tomasz Szukalski (tenor saxophone),
Artur Dutkiewicz (piano) and Andrew Cudzich (bass),
Mark Blizinski (guitar) and Zbigniew Wegehaupt (bass),
and Andrzej Jagodzinski (piano) and Adam Cegielski (bass).
He also collaborated with the Polish Radio Jazz Studio, and with bands Mainstream and Slawomir Kulpowicz's Information. He also participated in various project by leading Polish Jazz singers, like Ewa Bem, Urszula Dudziak, Stanislaw Sojka,  and the Polish group Novi Singers. He performed with many foreign musicians, such as: Freddie Hubbard, Clark Terry, Joe Newman, Art Farmer, Ben Webster. He has extensively performed in Poland as well as abroad (India, USA, New Zealand, Australia and many European countries). In 1993 he became a lecturer in the Secondary School of Music to them. Frederick Chopin Society in Warsaw and the Warsaw Jazz Studies.