Stodola Big Band – Let`s Swing Again (Polish Jazz Vol.28, 1971)

Stodola Big Band

Henryk Majewski, Wiesław Ejssmont, Jerzy Florczak, Jan Kluska, Zenon Wachowicz - trumpets
Stanisław Cieślak, Zbigniew Konopczyński, Piotr Michałowski, Wiesław Żukowski, Ryszard Borowiecki - trombones
Janusz Zabiegliński, Henryk Miśkiewicz - alto saxophone
Zbigniew Jaremko, Andrzej Lipiński - tenor saxophone
Waldemar Kurpiński - baritone saxophone
Paweł Perliński - piano
Marian Komar - bass
Henryk Stefański -guitar
Wojciech Kowalewski - drums
Jerzy Bojanowski - manager

Let`s Swing Again (Polish Jazz Vol.28)

This is the only album by the Polish Stodola Big Band, one of the relatively few Big Bands active in that country over the years. The logistic and economic complexity of sustaining a working Big Band without continuous and frequent performing opportunities is simply to much in most cases anywhere in the world, and even more so in a country under a Socialist regime, where Jazz opportunities were limited. The fact that this Big Band managed to exist for several years and make this album is a rare treat indeed. The band was conceived and founded by the veteran Polish Jazz trumpeter / composer Henryk Majewski, who managed to enlist some of the best Jazz players on the local scene, such as saxophonists / composers Janusz Zabieglinski and Zbigniew Jaremko. The band was named after the Warsaw's Jazz club Stodola, which was the bastion of traditional Jazz in Poland for many years. They played a very original brand of Swing, based on the American tradition, but much more adventurous as far as the compositions and improvisations are concerned. Of the eleven tracks on this album only two are standards and the rest are originals, mostly composed by Zabieglinski, Jaremko and Majewski. In retrospect the music lost nothing of its swing and freshness and is a great document of the era. Big Band fans will love this stuff!

Track listing:
1. Dogrywka (3:58)
2. Sweet Georgia Brown (2:40)
3. Salaam Alejkum (4:53)
4. Skwar (3:54)
5. Riff Blues (5:10)
6. Osik (2:48)
7. Agata Na Sprzedaż (3:49)
8. Przez Rzekę (3:32)
9. After You've Gone (3:46)
10. JA Z.Z. (2:33)
11. Słodka Izabella (4:17)

By Adam Baruch
http://www.adambaruch.com/