Zbigniew Namysłowski

Zbigniew Namysłowski ( born September 9, 1939 in Warsaw) is a Polish jazz musician ( saxophonist and composer ).

Namysłowski, who as a child learned the piano and cello, and later in Warsaw studied music theory, made ​​his debut as a jazz musician in 1955 as a pianist with the student band Five Brothers. In 1956 he played in the Dixieland band from Mieczysław Wadecki. His other musical experiences in the 1950s were the band Modern Dixielanders, Modern Combo, Polish All Stars and New Orleans Stompers, where he performed as a trombonist.

In 1960 he moved to alto saxophone and played in Andrzej Trzaskowskis hard bop jazz group The Wreckers. He then founded his own band called Jazz Rockers, which also Michal Urbaniak belonged, and went on tour through Europe. The mid-1960s he played in the band of film composers Krzysztof Komeda ( Astigmatic, 1965). He was also active as a musician and composer with the Orchestra of the Polish Radio Jazz Studio.

His music lives from the influence of Polish folk music as a point of identity and relapse line against Western and American trends, first the hard bop. In his quartet with Joachim Kühn he approaches 1965 Free Jazz. In 1973, his fusion -oriented concept for the first time on complex radio rhythms. In his band Air Condition, he experimented with influences of reggae and pop, with the Zakopane Highlanders he played Polish folklore. In the late 1960s and the 1970s Namysłowski toured the U.S., India, Australia and New Zealand. The quartet of Imre Kőszegi he also toured Europe. In his new project " Dances " he has included dances from different countries and from different times ( tango and waltz, Balkan dances and Polish folk dances, samba and Charleston, etc.).

Zbigniew Namysłowski is now regarded as one of the known and distinguished representatives of contemporary Polish jazz. His record Lola was the first Polish jazz record, which was also published abroad. His albums Winobranie and Kujaviak Goes Funky were considered by the magazine " Jazz Forum " as the best ever produced Polish jazz records. Namysłowski was founded in 2006 as the best jazz musician and his album " Assymetry " was awarded as the best jazz album of the year with the Polish " Fryderyk Award".

Discography (selection)

• Lola ( Decca LK4644, 1964)
• Live at Kosmos, Berlin with Joachim Kühn, (ITM Archives, 1965)
• Zbigniew Namysłowski Quartet (Polish Jazz Vol.6, 1966)
• Winobranie ( Muza, 1973 with Stanislaw Cieślak, Tomasz Szukalski, Pawel Jarzebski, Kazimierz Jonkisz )
• Kujaviak Goes Funky ( Muza, 1975)
• Zbigniew Namysłowski ( Inner City, 1977)
• Jasmine Lady (Vinyl, 1978)
• Follow Your Kite ( Muza, 1980)
• Air Condition (PDR, 1981)
• Cy to blues cy never blues (Poland, 1987)
• Without a Talk ( Studio Budíkov P & J, 1990, Janusz Skowron, Zbigniew main ways, Cezary Konrad )
• Dances (Poland, 1997)
• Mozart Goes Jazz ( with the Camerata Quartet, 1999)
• Zbigniew Namysłowski / Remy FilipovitchGo! (2003)
• Nice & Easy (2008)