Record Reviews

ZBIGNIEW SEIFERT ~ NORA GAD 001 (Barcode: 5901549197006) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 1969 - 1970 Released: 2010 This wonderful album collects all the existing recordings by the early Jazz quartet led by Polish violinist / saxophonist / composer Zbigniew SeifertFind albums by this artist, a world class virtuoso who was unfortunately taken away from this world by the ever-so-cruel cancer at the ridiculous age of 32. Seifert discovered Jazz while being a student at a music high school, where he studied classical music. Immediately stricken by Jazz, he started to live a double life, continuing his degree studies as a classical violinist and in parallel playing and later leading his own Jazz quartet. Seifert almost immediately moved into modern Jazz, even ultra-modern at the time, as his immediate model would be the late period John ColtraneFind albums by this artist. Seifert´s hypersensitive and well trained ears were able to follow Coltrane´s convoluted music note by note, thus enabling him to absorb his style. In order to emphasize the separation between his classical violin training Seifert played the alto saxophone exclusively at the early stages of his career, returning to the violin only much later, a move which gained him his international recognition and success, cut short soon after by his untimely death. By the end of the 1960s Seifert was a permanent member in the Tomasz StankoFind albums by this artist quintet, Poland´s pioneering Free Jazz outfit at the time, as well as leading his own quartet with pianist Jan JarczykFind albums by this artist, bassist Jan GonciarczykFind albums by this artist and drummer Janusz StefanskiFind albums by this artist (who was also a member of the Stanko quintet). The quartet never recorded an album for the "Polish Jazz" series, but three of their performances were recorded by the Polish Radio and are presented on this album: The 1969 concert at the Jazz nad Odra Festival and the 1969 and 1970 concerts at the Jazz Jamboree Festival – all together eight tracks, only two of which (taken from the 1969 JJ) were previously released on record in a various artists compilation entitled "New Faces In Polish JazzFind albums with this title" (Polish Jazz Vol. 20). Seifert composed five of the tunes, Jarczyk one and the other two are standards. The music is just sensational, mostly almost Free, with long and well developed solos by Seifert and Jarczyk, with superb backing by the rhythm section. That kind of music would fit perfectly well anywhere in the world at that time, but taking into account the fact it comes from Poland, a country deep beyond the Iron Curtain with minimal exposure to the latest trends and under a Socialist regime, which does not tolerate artistic deviance, it is an absolute miracle. The historic importance of these recordings is invaluable, especially since the quartet wasn´t able to secure a proper studio recording in a reality when the only record company on the market was state owned and run by party officials. Thank God for the Polish Radio archives and the initiative to compile and release this album. Although "too little too late" applies here, so does "better this than nothing". I´ll add that in order to fully appreciate this music in proper historic perspective and its meaning in the history of Polish (and Eastern European) Jazz, I´d recommend reading the recently published Zbigniew Seifert excellent biography entitled "Man of the Light", by Aneta NorekFind albums by this artist – alas this privilege is limited to people who can read Polish (unless the book gets translated into English, which it truly deserves). In the meantime savor this fantastic music, as it lost nothing of its intensity over time. A must to all Polish Jazz lovers!

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ZBIGNIEW SEIFERT ~ POLISH RADIO JAZZ ARCHIVES VOL.32 POLSKIE RADIO 2145 (Barcode: 5907812248697) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 1970 - 1978 Released: 2018 This is the thirty-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 seven tracks presented here were recorded by one of the most iconic Polish Jazz figures: saxophonist / violinist / composer Zbigniew SeifertFind albums by this artist, who sadly died at a ridiculously young age succumbing to cancer. Influenced by the music of John ColtraneFind albums by this artist, Seifert revolutionized the Polish Jazz violin school and achieved international recognition. All the tracks are original compositions by Seifert. The first five tracks were recorded live on November 14, 1978 at the "Pod Jaszczurami" Jazz club in Krakow, just three months before Seifert´s death. They were recorded by a quintet, which also included guitarist Jaroslaw SmietanaFind albums by this artist (also not with us anymore, another victim of cancer), keyboardist Janusz GrzywaczFind albums by this artist, bassist Zbigniew WegehauptFind albums by this artist (my dear and sadly also departed friend) and drummer Mieczyslaw GorkaFind albums by this artist. Grzywacz and Gorka were at the time members of the legendary Polish Jazz-Rock ensemble LaboratoriumFind albums by this artist while Smietana and Wegehaupt were at the time members of another no less legendary ensemble Extra BallFind albums by this artist. The music, although composed by Seifert, gets here a Fusion oriented treatment, as a result of the fact that all members of the quintet except for Seifert were involved with Fusion at the time. Sadly these five tracks are only a selection from the entire recording session captured by Polish Radio Krakow, which has been previously partially released as a double LP entitled "KilimanjaroFind albums with this title" by the Polish Jazz Society label PoljazzFind albums on this label (available also separately as "Kilimanjaro Vol.1Find albums with this title" and "Kilimanjaro Vol.2Find albums with this title") and later on as a double CD bootleg album in its entirety. Why wasn´t the entire material finally released properly and legally on this album is a mystery and sadly a grave opportunity loss to put things in order once and for all and honestly a mess! The sixth track originates from a recording Seifert made with the Polish Radio Jazz Studio OrchestraFind albums by this artist directed by Jan Ptaszyn WroblewskiFind albums by this artist in 1972. It presents him as a soloist backed up by an excellent Jazz orchestra, performing one of his early compositions, which is also previously unreleased. The seventh and last track goes even further back and was recorded in 1970 during the thirteenth edition of the Jazz Jamboree Festival. On this track Seifert plays saxophone and is accompanied by pianist Jan JarczykFind albums by this artist, bassist Jan GonciarczykFind albums by this artist and drummer Janusz StefanskiFind albums by this artist. This track was already released in 2010 by the great Polish reissue label GADFind albums on this label Records on the album "NoraFind albums with this title", dedicated to Seifert´s early recordings, and the inclusion of this track here is redundant and somewhat questionable. 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: 01/10/2018Posted: 28/09/2018

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