Rama 111 – Rama 111 (Swinging Tricity Vol.2) (2012)

Jan Rejnowicz - leader, organs, piano
Przemysław Dyakowski - tenor & sopran saxophones
Maciej Flont - sax tenor
Eugeniusz Kadyszewski - guitars
Piotr Nadolski - trumpet
Andrzej Nowak - piano
Tadeusz Petrow - sax, flute
Bogusław Skawina - trumpet
Aleksander Śliwa - bass
Andrzej Śliwa - drums

SOLITON 101

By Adam Baruch

This is the second installment in the excellent archival series documenting Polish Jazz created in the country's Tricity on the Baltic Sea, one of the important centers where Polish Jazz thrives and over the years produced numerous first-rate musicians and superb bands. The series presents material, which in most cases never previously appeared in any form and therefore is of immense historic importance.

This chapter presents the Rama 111 ensemble, which is now almost completing five decades of musical activity, having toured extensively worldwide. The group was founded in 1966 and exists to this very day, but unfortunately never managed to record even one album under their name (they did record with the Polish Jazz vocalist Marianna Wroblewska), which sadly was the fate of many Polish Jazz artists during the Socialist regime. However they did record for the Tricity Polish Radio station in Gdansk, where all of the material included on this album comes from.

Rama 111 changed musical directions over the years and in retrospect covered a wide range of styles, from modern mainstream, via Jazz-Rock-Fusion, Swing and even Dixieland. The recordings included on this album originate mostly in the early to mid-1970s, and present primarily their Jazz-Rock side, although the Jazzy side is much more dominant than the Rock elements. It was founded by keyboardist Jan Rejnowicz and over the years featured the following musicians present on this album: saxophonists Przemyslaw Dyakowski, Maciej Flont and Tadeusz Petrow, trumpeters Piotr Nadolski and Boguslaw Skawina, pianist Andrzej Nowak, bassists Eugeniusz Kadyszewski, Roman Skurzynski and Aleksander Sliwa and drummer Andrzej Sliwa.

The group performed both their original compositions, mostly by Rejnowicz, which were truly excellent, as well as their arrangements of Jazz standards, also mostly by Rejnowicz, which were unique and elaborate. The radio recordings have excellent sonic quality and the overall level of performances is superb.

This is another great piece of Polish Jazz history, which should definitely be told and preserved as part of the country's Cultural Heritage. Kudos to Marcin Jacobson for creating this series and keeping it going!