PARATYPHUS B

3.5 stars. I think I own six studio albums by this very talented Polish band and all of them are excellent but this happens to be my least favourite. So it's tough not giving this 4 stars but it's the most avant and experimental album that this band has done so what for me is my least favourite could well be your favourite depending on your tastes. A six piece at this point with Michal's incredible violin and horn work along with his wife's beautiful vocal melodies standing out.

"Paratyphus B" is led mostly by violin early before other sounds start to come and go throughout. It kicks in with electric piano, drums and spacey sounds late to end it. "Valium" opens with sax and keys before the violin arrives. Dissonant sounds after 2 minutes along with some energetic percussion. It's chaotic after 3 minutes then turns jazzy after 5 minutes. Female vocal melodies join in too. Spacey sounds join in before 7 minutes. Sax to the fore before 10 minutes.

"Irena" is uptempo with vocals, violin, keys and more before calming right down with some jazzy piano and bass. Big finish too. "Winter Piece" is jazzy with female vocal melodies, bass and drums standing out. Violin too and this is a little crazy 1 1/2 minutes in before it kicks back in before 3 minutes.

"Sound Pieces" kicks in quickly but calms right down with violin. This is experimental as sounds come and go but no melody. It turns more intense but no less avant here. Vocal expressions too then we get another calm before 5 minutes with electric piano leading this time. The tempo picks up with bass and drums helping out. Another calm then it picks up around 6 1/2 minutes. Bass and drums lead around 11 minutes and the violin returns a minute later. It then leads 13 minutes in as it settles again. Vocal melodies and more will join in to the end.

Lots to like here but there's better albums by Urbaniak in my opinion.

Virtuoso violinist and award-winning saxophonist, this is Michał Urbaniak's debut album for Germany's Spiegelei Records. Though Michał is recognized within the jazz world as an innovator and pioneer of many of the breakout styles of music that have sprung up since Jazz-Fusion burst open the floodgates, his name is not nearly so known among the public (like me).

1. "Paratyphus B" (3:40) from the very first notes of this dynamic song we are informed of the amazing talents and skills contained in this band: from the drumming talents of Czeslaw Bartkowski (who would go on to play with Czesław Niemen and Extra Ball), electric bass playing of Pawel Jarzebski, and incredible NORTHETTES-like happy-go-lucky vocal talents of Urszula Dudziak scatting wordlessly at 100 miles per hour right in the thick of the rest of the high-speed weave. The song opens with 46-seconds of a high speed motif that sounds like something coming straight off of HATFIELD AND THE NORTH's debut album (which wouldn't come out for another few years). Then the frenzied yet- tightly-synchronized band lays perfect support and impetus for some of Urszula's most impressive scatting until the band sits back for some solo drum display from Czesław. They return for a reprise/variation of the opening motif for the final 30-seconds. An undeniable crowd-pleaser. And you know how I love The Northettes! (9.75/10)

2. "Valium" (12:36) a 15-second bass-and-drum jazz-funk opening belies the following long section of sparsely populated sonic fields which incorporate free-form violin and crazed percussive scatting. There is some multiple violin interplay with minimal support from the others--mostly from the percussionists.--before Ula joins in during the third minute with effervescent bubbles ascending from her voice, eventually driving her husband into the role of second fiddle (pun intended). There is an increase in contributions from Adam Makowicz' electric piano and Czesław Bartkowski's indisciplined drumming beneath Ula's vocals for the next couple of minutes before the music subtly changes directions: allowing Adam to noodle freely on his electric piano as if he's practicing high-speed runs of his scales. Pawel and Czesław participate, at first minimally, then with increasing fervor as Ula and Branislav Kovacev's percussion contributions also increase. Michał begins his slow return to the scene in the ninth minute before the band suddenly jumps in with a very engaging jazz-funk groove beneath Michał's continued effected-electric violin play. Getting into the groove, Michał's playing becomes far more melodic and fluid (though still remarkably fast). Such great play from everybody else: they're really synched in, maybe even entrained. Pawel takes off on a solo in the 12th minute with only the fantastic team of Czesław Bartkowski and Branislav Kovacev supporting him from beneath. Then Adam, then Michał, and then a rather crazed Urszula return until they are all faded out at the end of the 13th minute. Not my favorite kind of music but I fully respect the band's fervor and enthusiasm for this freestyle form of experimental Jazz-Rock Fusion. (22/25)

3. "Irena" (3:26) a slow-holding violin and vocal melody line (that previews some of Fermáta's best stuff). This is really beautiful--and haunting for its two-person entrainment. It also sounds very much like the intro to the VANNELLI brothers' "Storm at Sunup." (Est-ce possible?) (9.3333/10)

4. "Winter Piece" (3:39) this sounds like a little STÉPHANE GRAPPELLI interlude: as if the Master was playing for one of Fred Rogers' "Neighborhood of Makebelieve" skits. In the fourth minute the music tries to congeal into something jazz- funky--a really cool groove--but, alas! It's over as soon as it begins! (8.875/10)

5. "Sound Pieces" (14:57) more jungle free jazz, this time with flutes and saxophones leading the way through (a different part of the jungle) while the percussionists, electric piano, bass and violin populate the jungle ambiance. In the sixth minute the music congeals into a more pleasant Caribbean groove with Chick Corea-like smoothness and a relaxing electric piano-dominated Latin fusion conveying a beach-side bar/cabana feel while Ula Dudziak sings in her best monkey and toucan style of animal talk. By the end of the ninth minute Ula is resting while Adam and Pawel groove to a "lime in the coconuts" kind of motif. Michał's soprano sax is the next instrument to take the lead while Czesław, Pawel and the percussion crew seem to really amp up their expressions of joy and enthusiasm under neath. At 11:20 the whole band rests while Michał's sax continues to flit and flail like a bird experimenting with flight skills over the palm tree-shaded windy beach. Fender and drums begin to add their little flourishes until they're back and full supporting Michał again. The final minute sees Michał desist with a whole-band flourish before Adam takes us out with a circus motif organ and piano on his own. Free jazz is not my favorite type of music but the Caribbean beach scenes conjured up by the mid-section's beautiful groove are enough to save this song from total disregard. (27/30)

Total time:

Since I started my awareness of Michał 's music with his 1975 release, Fusion III, I have an unusual perspective from which to view this album--the start of his experimentation with J-R Fusion. Despite the predominance of cacophonous free jazz music on over half of this album's music there is stunning musicianship throughout the album and many instances of sublime jazz-funk as well as undeniable creative genius.

There is quite some confusion over where the two adjacent songs, "Valium" and "Irena" begin and end, which may be hindering my review of the two songs. I've tried listening multiple times to the wide variety of offerings available on the Internet, but none of them seem to line up with the time indicators given on sites like ProgArchives and Discogs. I hope I've done the two songs justice--I think I was able to discern and recognize each for their true identities but am still unsure.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of experimental Jazz-Rock Fusion--an album that definitely helps explore some of the more adventurous possibilities offered by the combination of the more experimental Jazz musics of the Sixties with the up-and-coming technologies of studio engineering in the world of rock music. Michal and his crew were definitely at the leading edge in defining that which we've come to recognize as "jazz-Rock Fusion."