POLSKIE RADIO 1664
By Adam Baruch
This is the fourteenth installment in the new series of releases initiated by the Polish Radio, which presents archive Jazz recordings. 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 material collected here
presents the third volume of recordings made in 1963 during the sixth Jazz
Jamboree festival in Warsaw.
In contrast to the two earlier volumes, this one presents only Polish Jazz
musicians, and therefore is by far the most interesting and enlightening of the
three. In many respects this album is a comprehensive review of the Polish Jazz
scene at the time and presents the early days of the modern Polish Jazz at its
pivotal stage of forming its own identity, as far as sound, atmosphere,
character and unique stylistic aesthetics are concerned.
The album includes just six
tracks, by four different ensembles, playing expanded compositions, three of
which cross the fifteen minutes duration time, a clear signal of creativity and
improvisational freedom typical of modern Jazz. The ensembles are: Zbigniew
Namyslowski (saxophone) quartet with pianist Wlodek Gulgowski, bassist Tadeusz
Wojcik and drummer Czeslaw Bartkowski (one track), Andrzej Trzaskowski (piano) quintet
with saxophonists Zbigniew Namyslowski and Michal Urbaniak, bassist Julian
Sandecki and drummer Adam Jedrzejowski (two tracks), Alek Musial (trumpet)
quintet with vibraphonist Ryszard Kruza, pianist Wlodzimierz Nahorny, bassist
Wieslaw Damiecki and drummer Bogdan Jopek (one track) and finally Krzysztof
Komeda (piano) quintet with trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, saxophonist Michal
Urbaniak, bassist Maciej Suzin and drummer Czeslaw Bartkowski (two tracks). Of
the six compositions three are standards and three are originals, one by
Trzaskowski and two by Komeda.
Stylistically the music is
quite similar, ranging from more traditionally based modern Jazz in case of the
Namyslowski and Musial tracks to more advanced characteristic Polish Jazz material
in case in of the music by Trzaskowski and finally most dramatically in the
music by Komeda, which is already eons ahead of its time. The two Komeda tracks
are the epitome of modern Polish / European Jazz, which clearly show a mature
approach free of the restrictions imposed by the American Jazz tradition. These
tracks are alone worth the price of the entire album, but of course the rest of
the material is also quite excellent.
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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