There is this epidemic of labeling, everybody labels everybody - seems some people can't sleep at night without having everything neatly classified. I don't give a damn if somebody says I sing church music, and somebody says it's military marches and somebody says it's nursery rhymes, and somebody else wonders if it's jazz. (...) I don't care what it's going to get called, I just want it to be good." (Bernard Kafka of the Novi Singers)
NOVI SINGERS
Novi sing Bacharach
Label: Polskie Nagrania - Muza , 1976/2001
Catalogue No: PNCD 538 (SX 1297)
Format: CD (24-bit re-mastered from original master tapes)
Tracks:
- The look of love
- It Doesn't Matter
- Bacharach Medley
- Close to you
- Do You know the Way to San Jose
- Are you there
- Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head
all Music by Burt Bacharach
Recorded:
at Polish Radio Studio in 1976
Line-up:
Ewa Wanat, Bernard Kafka, Janusz Mych, Waldemar Parzynski - vocal
Aleksander Mazur - Hammond organ, tenor sax, clarinet, Józef Gasior - drums, Zbigniew Zietara - bass guitar, Andrzej Krupinski - percussion
About:
"There is this epidemic of labeling, everybody labels everybody - seems some people can't sleep at night without having everything neatly classified. I don't give a damn if somebody says I sing church music, and somebody says it's military marches and somebody says it's nursery rhymes, and somebody else wonders if it's jazz. (...) I don't care what it's going to get called, I just want it to be good." (Bernard Kafka of the Novi Singers in: Jazz Forum 1/1971)
The vast artistic output of the group for the state-owned Polish record label Polskie Nagrania remained a well-kept secret for the Western-European countries and the rest of the world. The emergence of the CD in Poland had a detrimental effect upon the Polish Jazz scene by confining many of these excellent jazz-recordings to the vaults. Those three CDs prove this point.
With their absolute technical perfection and their musical approach, the vocal jazz ensemble Novi Singers were at the time often compared to Lambert-Ross-Hendricks or Les Double Six. The story of the Novi Singers begins in 1964 when Bernard Kawka, a student at the Warsaw Music Conservatory, decides to found his own jazz group with other students, choosing the voice as an ideal instrument. The original members of the group are Ewa Wanat (violin), Janusz Mych (flute), Waldemar Parzynski (percussion), Aleksander Gluch and Bernard Kawka (violin), all of whom both sang and played their respective instruments.
"Above all we found the human voice to be a perfect jazz instrument" recalls Ewa "and that the possibilities in sound, expression and interpretation were unlimited. We knew that there was still much to be done in the field we had chosen and so we decided to become real improvisers: to create music while singing. We resigned from lyrics, and began to scat. Texts are self-determining and make improvisation difficult, while we want our music to be spontaneous, fresh and full of improvising expression and rhythmic dynamism that belongs to afro-rooted music". (Jazz Forum 1/1971)
One of the most innovative albums of the group, "Torpedo" was recorded in 1969. The name Torpedo shouldn't frighten you off. As they put it themselves: "Torpedo - the mysterious device specially designed to obliterate musical orthodoxy, heartless craftmanship, the smug self-confidence of those who clutch well-worn ideas and tread well-worn trails". That's a clear statement.
"Bossa Nova" (1967) album shows that the jazz scene in Poland was also infected by the Bossa Nova craze of the time. By the way, it was in 1960 that Stan Getz, who was heavily engaged in the Bossa Nova movement, visited Poland for the first time and gained widespread recognition, leaving his own musical influence in Poland by giving several outstanding concerts. He was actually the first American jazz musician to record with Polish jazz musicians.
The very gifted songwriter and arranger Bernard Kawka left the Novi Singers, the group he had founded in 1972 and took his over ten years of vocal experience to the mother country of jazz, the USA. In fact, the vocal arrangements and performances of many Michal Urbaniaks releases on Arista, such as "Funk Factory" (1975) are those of Kawka and his new group, the BK-Singers - a sample favorite with the Beastie Boys.
After Kawka left the group, the remaining three members of the Novi Singers were joined by the pianist and arranger Tomasz Ochalski, who had already contributed several arrangements to previous albums. Ochalski stayed in the group until 1977. The Album "Five, Four, Three" (1974) was cut in the trio formation without Kawka. The album name documents the development of the original group "Five, Four, Three" from a quintet to a trio.
"Bacharach" album was recorded with the Aleksander Mazur Quartet, the Novi Singers do their vocal thing - absolutely marvelous.
Novi Singers also produced two albums with vocal interpretations of Chopin compositions Novi Singers sing Chopin (1971) and Chopin up to date (1977). They were naturally big with the Polish due to Chopin's national popularity.
Many of NOVI's LPs became a highly sought-after cult record for a new, young generation of consumers. Luckily their music is now available once more as a high-quality pressing and provides an opportunity to discover its mixture of evergreens and own compositions. There's no longer any need to make do with a scratched and most probably expensive copy from the secondhand shop. That the Novi Singers can compete with the best in the world is more than clear - just listen to the music. (all text courtesy of compost records)
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