Record Reviews

VARIOUS ARTISTS ~ POLISH RADIO JAZZ ARCHIVES VOL.22 POLSKIE RADIO 1874 (Barcode: 5907812248741) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 1964 Released: 2015 This is the twenty-second 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 ten tracks collected here were recorded during the seventh Jazz Jamboree Festival, which took place between October 24 and 26 1964 in Warsaw. This is the third part of the Jazz Jamboree 1964 recordings. The music was performed by four different ensembles, which are: the Italian Flavio Ambrosetti All StarsFind albums by this artist (five tracks), led by saxophonist Flavio AmbrosettiFind albums by this artist with trumpeter Franco AmbrosettiFind albums by this artist, Swiss pianist George GruntzFind albums by this artist, Polish bassist Tadeusz WojcikFind albums by this artist and Swiss drummer Pierre FavreFind albums by this artist and three Polish Jazz ensembles, Krzysztof KomedaFind albums by this artist Quintet (one track) with trumpeter Tomasz StankoFind albums by this artist, saxophonist Michal UrbaniakFind albums by this artist, bassist Janusz KozlowskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Czeslaw BartkowskiFind albums by this artist, Polish Jazz QuartetFind albums by this artist (two tracks) led by saxophonist Jan Ptaszyn WroblewskiFind albums by this artist with pianist Wojciech KarolakFind albums by this artist, bassist Juliusz SandeckiFind albums by this artist and drummer Andrzej DabrowskiFind albums by this artist and Zbigniew NamyslowskiFind albums by this artist Quartet (two tracks) with pianist Wlodek GulgowskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Tadeusz Wojcik and drummer Czeslaw Bartkowski. This is by far the most interesting of the three volumes of the Jazz Jamboree 1964 recordings, as it presents the modern Polish Jazz about to explode into modernism, which will shape its destiny for generations to come. Stanko, Urbaniak, Wroblewski, Bartkowski are still active on the Polish scene, fifty years latter, carrying the fire which was first sparkled around the time these recordings were made. The Ambrosetti set is also interesting, as it allows a glance at two legendary Jazz figures: Gruntz and Favre, at their early days. Most of the music performed on this album is original. 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.

Updated: 08/07/2020Posted:

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