“I played and will play New York” – an interview with Michał UrbaniakOn Saturday 22nd November 2014 one of the world’s greatest jazz musicians will perform at the Polish Jazz

Café POSK with his London band. The concert is listed in the official EFG London Jazz Festival programme.

Michal Urbaniak does not need any recommendation – he is a violin virtuoso, also playing saxophone,

composing and promoting young jazz talent. Prior to his performance in London he was talking to Tomasz

Furmanek from the Polish Jazz Café POSK.

Tomasz Furmanek: What was your reaction when you got a call from Miles Davies inviting you to take part in

recording of his album? What were your feelings?

Michał Urbaniak: I have to say that it was not in my dreams, I would never envisage that I will record with

Miles Davies. In one hour I recorded 3 solos, Miles was not present in the studio at that time. Next day I came

back to the studio, he was there and he asked me “How did you play”? I said: “I think the way you wanted”.

“Yeah” he mumbled in his characteristic, rough voice and started to massage my shoulder. Then I was overcome

with emotions. It came to me that this is Miles Davies and I have just played on his album. I started crying.

TF: In one of yours interviews you said: “I have never planned to record for Miles but I was not surprised when

his agent called me”. Can you explain why you were not surprised when they called you?

MU: The band which played with Miles played with me 2 months earlier. We played very similar music. In my

band I had very talented youngsters, for example Markus Miller who was 15 at that time. Later they all joined

Miles David’s band. So the invitation to record with him was not a big surprise to me.

TF: You played major role in the development of fusion music in the 70s and 80s. You introduced to jazz music

elements of folks, R&B, hip-hop (Urbanator) and classical music. As a very young artist from communist

Poland you signed a contract with Columbia Records. You also helped young musicians to developed their

careers, Steve Jordan, Markus Miller, Omar Hakim and many more… This is just a small part of your

achievements and successes. Have you ever thought and expected that you will find yourself between the best

known jazz musicians in the world?

MU: I had this intuition and somehow expected this, because my dreams and aims were always the same: to get

to the source of music: jazz music. I always wanted to verify myself as a musician to perform with my favourite

black musicians – this is why I came to New York. I had to work very hard, however I believed in my talent. I

remember what one of the Polish journalists Daniel Passent said to me: “You were lucky there”. I said to him:

“For that luck I had to work for 15 years, for many hours every day”. The biggest complement came to me

when I was recording an album with Marcus Miller and Lenny White. In the studio I overheard their

conversations: “Michał is playing New York”… That is way I think that I found my way there.

TF: Your album “Atma” is regarded as a milestone in the library of the Columbia Records. What in your

opinion was so important in the music material recorded on that album?

MU: In my opinion, the crucial point for my career was the album “Fusion 3”, however “Atma” was my first

album recorded in New York. I remember the reaction of the Columbia Record bosses when I asked them to

bring my band from Poland: “You have the best jazz musicians here in New York”! I said: …”but none of them

played with me for the last 5 years”. I always believed that one harmonious band is better than 5 different

musicians. In “Atma” album I opened myself to the new genres of music. Before that, my recordings in Poland

or Germany were strictly jazz or jazz fusion. Coming to Broadway I said to myself: “why not present myself as

a musician from Eastern Europe? So, a few tracks on that album had elements of Polish folklore and this was a

breakthrough and also bringing a band from Poland was a new thing in the practises of Columbia Records. This

is how my first album in New York was created.

TU: You have received a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in California however you have never

studied there. Why was that, did you think that that you did not need this extra music education?

MU: Truly, I never wanted this. I received this scholarship as a first prize for the best soloist on the Montreaux

festival. However when I came back to New York I could not adjust the timings to go there. The Berklee people

even offered for me to teach there… I simply had to reject this offer.

TU: You have been living in New York since 1973, however all the time you keep your close ties with Poland.

You spend a lot of time there, you organise various musical projects – for example Urbanator Days. You said

once: “I preserved my Polish soul” – what is the meaning of that for you?

MU: I have been living in Poland quite recently, mainly for private, family and medical reasons, however all the

time I feel like a New Yorker. A world has become small nowadays. By the way, talking about preserving my

“Polish soul” – I did not say this but I hear very often this comment: How do you do that? You play black music

with a certain dose of melancholia?” Probably they mean my “Slavonic soul” – in the end these were my roots, I

grew there and shaped myself. To recapitulate: I play New York music with the elements of Slavonic

melancholia.

TF: We are all waiting eagerly for your concert in the Polish Jazz Café POSK. Londoners and Polish people

love you and value your music. Have you thought about a little musical surprise for this performance which is

also a part of the London Jazz Festival and also celebrates 50th anniversary of the Polish Cultural and Social

Association in London?

MU: Bearing in mind the character of music I play with my band it is difficult to envisage what sort of concert

we are going to present, but I am sure that it will be a music with fire, black music – it will be a celebration of

live music with audience participation. For sure we will transfer you to New York. We have not planned any

surprises, but everything is possible, everything depends on the atmosphere and the mood of the audience. It is

good to play again in London and I am happy that this concert will be celebrating the Polish Centre anniversary

and the London Jazz Festival. But above all I am looking forward to share my music with the fantastic London

audience.

Michal Urbaniak Band: The Polish Jazz Café POSK, Saturday 22 November, 8.30pm Femi Temowo - guitar, Xantone Blacq – keyboards and vocals, Otto Williams – bass, Troy Miller – drums. This concert is presented in the series “Tomasz Furmanek recommends…”.Tickets £25 on the door or through www.wegottickets.com Doors and bar opens at 7.30pm.www.jazzcafeposk.org