Zbigniew Namysłowski - saxophone
Adam Makowicz - piano
Janusz Kozłowski - bass
Czesław Bartkowski - drums
and others
Polish Radio Jazz Archives Vol.30
POLSKIE RADIO 2063
By Adam Baruch
This is the thirtieth installment in the series of releases initiated by the Polish Radio, which presents archive Jazz recordings from the radio vaults. Radio recordings are always a fabulous source of remarkable material, and as far as Polish Jazz history is concerned, the Polish Radio, which was a state monopoly for 45 years, recorded over time a plethora of invaluable material, which apart from the albums released by the Polskie Nagrania record company (also a state monopoly), is the only available additional source of Polish Jazz recordings. For many years Polish Radio recorded concerts presented during Poland's most important Jazz venues, including the annual Jazz Jamboree Festival and many other festivals as well. The tracks presented here were recorded live in October 1966 during the ninth Jazz Jamboree Festival in Warsaw and are the second volume of a collection of tracks from that event.
The first ten tracks present the
legendary French vocal group The Swingle Singers, led by Ward Swingle (an
American in Paris)
and including seven more vocalists. The vocal octet is accompanied by bassist
Guy Pedersen and drummer Daniel Humair. In contrast to the earlier iconic
French vocal ensemble Les Double Six (which included several of the Swingle
Singers members earlier on), which sung vocal versions of Jazz standards, The
Swingle Singers performed mostly vocal Jazz arrangements of Classical Music
pieces, by Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and others. The
tracks present here are all in this particular idiom.
The next two tracks present a
trio led by American organist Lou Bennett, who moved to Paris in 1960. The other members of the trio
are: Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine and Italian drummer Franco Manzecchi. These
tracks are of interest as early examples of Catherine's playing before he
started his illustrious solo career. The last track presents a
Polish Jazz quartet led by saxophonist Zbigniew Namysłowski, which also
includes pianist Adam Matyszkowicz (a.k.a. Adam Makowicz), bassist Janusz
Kozłowski and drummer Czesław Bartkowski. They perform an original composition
by Namyslowski, recorded on his debut Polish album by the same lineup.
The beautifully restored sound
quality is excellent and the warm ambience of the analog recording is a true
joy. As usual with this series, which is very reasonably priced, I miss the
presence of "in depth" liner notes/booklet, which should convey the
circumstances at which this music was recorded and its importance to the
development of Jazz in Poland.
Nevertheless this is an absolutely essential piece of Jazz history which every
Jazz fan will surely consider an absolute must.
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