Michał Urbaniak, jazz saxophonist, violinist, composer and arranger; born 22 January 1943 in Warsaw.

As a student of the Music Secondary School in Łódź, Urbaniak played in a Dixieland band Tiger Rag. A self-taught saxophonist, he enrolled at the National Higher School of Music in Warsaw in Tadeusz Wroński's violin class in 1961, simultaneously approaching Zbigniew Namysłowski's Jazz Rockers, the band with which he would have his debut at the "Jazz Jamboree" Festival in Warsaw the same year. The following year he left for the United States where he gave concerts in jazz clubs with Andrzej Trzaskowski's quintet The Wreckers and to appear at jazz festivals in Newport and Washington. In 1962-64 he played in Krzysztof Komeda's Quintet, and in 1965 he appeared in the film "Jazz aus Polen", made by Joachim Berendt for West-German television. In 1965-68 he stayed abroad, mostly in Scandinavia, playing and recording with the local musicians.

After he had returned to Poland, he led the Michal Urbaniak Group which included, in different periods, Adam Makowicz (piano), Paweł Jarzębski, Michał Komar and Janusz Kozłowski (bass), Czesław Bartkowski and Andrzej Dąbrowski (drums) and Urszula Dudziak (vocal). It was with the Group that Urbaniak released in 1970 his first foreign record, "Parathyphus B", to a wide "Jazz Podium" readership acclaim. The Group was active from 1969 to 1972, and Urbaniak appeared with it at the Jazz Jamboree festivals in 1969-72 and at the European festivals in Nurnberg, Kongsberg, Molde, Heidelberg and Montreux (Grand Prix in 1971). In 1971 he performed with Violin Summit at the Berliner Jazztage and took part in Wolfgang Dauner's jazz workshop. In May 1973 he played a farewell concert to the Polish audience and, accompanied by his wife, Urszula Dudziak, left for the United States. Although he had received a scholarship, he did not take up studies at the Berklee College of Music. Instead, with John Hammond's support, he signed a recording contract with Columbia, and the label released his West-German record "Super Constellation" under the name of "Fusion" in the US. The record's promotional concerts featured Polish jazz musicians Czesław Bartkowski, Paweł Jarzębski and Wojciech Karolak. Urbaniak's next Columbia records, "Atma" and "Fusion III", sparked off a streak of success for himself and Urszula Dudziak in America.

In 1975-89 he led the group The Michał Urbaniak Fusion with young American musicians such as Kenny Davis, Tom Guerin, Harold Williams, Ronnie Burrage, Joe Caro, Basil Farrington, Gerald Brown, Bernard Wright and Steve Jordan. Together they recorded and concertised in prestigious jazz clubs (Village Vanguard and Village Gate), concert halls (Carnegie Hall) and festivals (New York, Newport and Washington). Urbaniak appeared a number of times in Europe, touring the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden. He worked with the big names of jazz, including George Benson, Lenny White, Wayne Shorter, Marcus Miller, Billy Cobham, Joe Zawinul, Ron Carter, Stéphane Grappelli and Miles Davis (on the Tutu project). After a thirteen-year break Urbaniak visited Poland in 1986 and performed at the Jazz Jamboree with his American Michal Urbaniak Constellation. Since then he has kept in close touch with his home country, playing in the "Komeda żywy" / "Komeda Live" concert in 1989, at Jazz Jamboree in 1991, at the "Jazz nad Odra" festival in 1982 and at Zbigniew Namyslowski's jubilee concert in 1994.

Urbaniak has also composed theatre, film and TV scores for Polish and foreign productions. His scores to Krzysztof Krauze's "Dług / The Debt" and to Andrzej Czeczot's "Eden" won him awards at the Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia in 1999 and 2002, respectively. He has come top in a number of Polish and foreign music magazine rankings: was named no. 2 tenor saxophonist by "Jazz" readers in 1962-63 and was Down Beat's critics' choice in talent deserving wider recognition in 1975, no. 2 jazz violinist in 1976 as well as no. 2 record of the year, no. 5 musician of the year, no. 5 jazz electronic combo, no. 9 composer and no. 4 violinist in 1992. Readers of the "Jazz Forum" magazine have voted him the violinist of the year several times.

Film scores:

"Kici... Kici..." dir. Jadwiga Kędzierzawska (1972)
"Jaś Kowalski, Warszawa, ul. Bajkowa 2" dir. Stanisław Lenartowicz (1972)
"Schody / Stairs" dir. Zbigniew Rybczyński (1987)
"Astonished" dir. Jeffa Kahn (1988)
"Czwarty Wymiar / The Fourth Dimension" dir. Zbigniew Rybczyński (1988)
"Misplaced" dir. Louis Yansen (1989)
"Pożegnanie jesieni / Farewell to Autumn" dir. Mariusz Trelinski (1990)
"Szuler / Cheat" dir. Adek Drabiński (1991)
"Odjazd / Departure" dir. Piotr Łazarkiewicz and Magdalena Łazarkiewicz (1991)
"Tak tak / Yes, Yes" dir. Jacek Gasiorowski (1991)
"Z Czeczotem przez Niebo i Pieklo / With Czeczot through Heaven and Hell" dir. Piotr Bikont (1999)
"Dług / The Debt" dir. Krzysztof Krauze (1999)
"Wielkie rzeczy: System / Big Things: The System" dir. Krzysztof Krauze (2000)
"Wielkie rzeczy: Gra / Big Things: The Game" dir. Krzysztof Krauze (2000)
"Wielkie rzeczy: Sieć / Big Things: The Net" dir. Krzysztof Krauze (2000)
"Sieć / The Net" dir. Krzysztof Krauze (2001)
"Eden" dir. Andrzej Czeczot (2002)

Author: Małgorzata Kosińska, Polish Music Information Centre, Polish Composers' Union, October 2006

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