Sound Pieces

by Micha Urbaniak Group, Michal Urbaniak

Overview

Polish-born, New York-based jazzman Michal Urbaniak is a saxophonist, flutist, and violinist. Active since the 1960s, he's released, played on, produced, and/or arranged hundreds of recordings. During the '70s and '80s, Urbaniak's various groups relentlessly pursued their own direction. Their ambitious sound wed Polish and Eastern European folk music to modal, classical, post-bop jazz, funk, swing, rock, vanguard experimentation, and more. Sound Pieces is a three-disc compilation from Germany's Moosicus label. It comprises the Michal Urbaniak Group's two 1973 studio releases, Paratyphus B and Inactin, with a Radio Bremen live performance from late 1972. This lineup -- Urbaniak on violin, tenor sax, flute, and lyricon; then-wife Urszula Dudziak on vocals, echocord, and percussion, Adam Makowicz on piano, electric piano, and clarinet, Czeslaw Bartkowski on drums and cymbals, Branislay Kovacev on conga and drums, and Pawel Jarzebski on bass -- had been playing clubs and festivals for several years by this point. Paratyphus B's eponymous opening cut reveals the band's unusual approach: A massive upright bassline guides Makowicz's electric piano and Dudziak's scat vocals through a knotty progression over free form improvisation from flailing drums. Eight of "Valium's" 13 minutes wind electronic sounds, Rhodes piano, drums, vocals, and bass as they roil and prattle before Urbaniak's violin, bass, and drums erect a funky jazz vamp and the band jumps in. The 15-minute "Sound Pieces" begins as a saxophone/electric piano and percussion ballad, while Jarzebski plays arco. A third of the way in it opens wide toward spiritual jazz, before Dudziak's sweeping, soulful, almost otherworldly singing and a restrained electric piano transform it into a lithe groover. Inactin relies on more funk and rock in its articulations. "Ekim," deceptively introduced by a violin solo, becomes a slow, narcotic jazz-funk jam. While "Fall" is an exercise in speculative improvisation, "Groovy Desert" is driving, nearly danceable avant-jazz-funk. The Radio Bremen material is vital and kinetic. The electric "Winter Piece" showcases Dudziak's command and creativity as a vocalist. While the rest of the band endeavors to frame that startling soprano instrument, she transcends breaking barriers and setting up a new approach to jazz vocals -- her only peer at the time was Flora Purim. Urbaniak's gentle, swinging, Monk-esque intro to "Valium" belies the frontiers it travels across in 28 minutes. "Irena" is delivered as a spaced-out, nearly free psych jam that offers prime solo space to Jarzebski, Urbaniak, and Dudziak. "Sound Pieces" is a free jazz for its first half before melting into bossa, samba, and mellow funk and back again a la later Hermeto Pascoal. The closing medley combines "Green Desert" and "Lato" in a spiraling work that melds swinging Latin funk, charging jazz-rock, psychedelic improv, and Eastern drone with adept post-bop for over 34 minutes. It's breathtaking and worth the price of admission on its own. While there have been many compilations and anthologies of Urbaniak's work, Sound Pieces is the first to comprehensively address the primacy of the MUG and sounds wonderful to boot. This is for anyone interested in the murky roots of jazz and world fusion. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	12/08/2023
Label:	Moosicus Records
UPC:	0885513122322

Tracks

Disc 1

1. Paratyphus B
2. Valium
3. Irena
4. Winter Piece
5. Sound Pieces
6. Inactin
7. Alu
8. Ekim
9. Silence
10. Fall
11. Groovy Desert
12. Lato

Disc 2

13. Winter Piece
14. Introduction and Valium
15. Irena

Disc 3

16. Paratyphus B
17. Sound Pieces
18. Groovy Desert/Silence/Lato

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Micha¿ Urbaniak Group   Primary Artist
Michal Urbaniak   Primary Artist,Flute,Violin,Sax (Tenor),Sax (Soprano),Violin (Electric)
Roman Dylag   Bass (Acoustic),Bass
Pawel Jarzebski   Bass
Branislav Kovacek   Drums,Congas
Czeslaw Bartkowski   Drums,Cymbals
Adam Makowicz   Piano,Clavinet,Piano (Electric)
Urszula Dudziak   Vocals,Percussion

Technical Credits

Hans Kumpf   Photography
Wolfgang Schmidt   Producer
Claus H. Reisser   Engineer
Peter Springer   Producer
Sandra Hiltmann   Artwork
Christoph Romanowski   Mastering
Fritz Blankenhorn   Cover Design
Joschi Jaehnicke   Photography
Johannes Scheibenreif   Mastering,Remastering
Eberhard Bogena   Recording Technician
Rathin Chattopadhyay   Design
Dietram Koester   Recording Technician
Robert Friedrich   Engineer
Radio Bremen   Engineer
Adam Makowicz   Composer
Michal Urbaniak   Composer