Search - Michael Urbaniak :: Urban Express

In the style of Jean-Luc Ponty

kireviewer | Sunnyvale, Ca United States | 06/17/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"GREAT CONTRIBUTIONS FROM LENNY WHITE



Michal Urbaniak is a Polish jazz musician who plays many instruments, but emphasizes the violin. As such, he could be compared to Jean Luc-Ponty and much of his music is similar.



This album was recorded in 1979. The CD is 51 minutes (with a 6 minute bonus track). The sound quality is pretty good, but not perfect. It has good sharp, clear sound, but it seems a litle flat at times.



The music is your basic jazz fusion from the late seventies. There was still some experimenting going on in this style of music. But, about this time, fusion was going mainstream, and musicians began to mix in more traditional jazz elements and were well on their way to the Sunday Brunch soft jazz movement.



Like many jazz fusion albums of the late seventies and early eighties, this CD has a mixture in styles. There are some tracks that still are fresh and energetic. Other tracks are a little more subdued and not as interesting. I really like some of the tracks, while I really don't care for others, finding them to be boring.



There is one vocal track, that could be interesting if it had more lyrics. It is just "I Just Want To Know Your Name", repeated over and over again.



The group on this CD is mostly a trio, featuring the great Lenny White on drums. He really does contribute and add some very interesting moments to this album.



There are many people out there who are drummer groupies, and really praise an album based on the drummer. Sometimes it is ridiculous, because just how much difference can a drummer make? But, there are times when a drummer does come shining through. Lenny White may have been the best musician in the version of Return to Forever that included, Chick Corea, Al Di Meola and Stanley Clark.



Michal Urbaniak basically followed the jazz movement throughout his career. He played for a long time with jazz singer Urszula Dudziak (his wife). I considered them a Polish version of Airto Morieta and Flura Purim. He has some great albums and he he did some nice experimentation. Mixing jazz fusion with tradition Polish music made him unique sounding for a period of time. I really enjoy about half of this CD, while the other half is nothing special."

Hidden Treasure

Tim Shullberg | Long Beach, California | 12/25/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It is a shame that this only seems to have been released on tape because it is one of Michal Urbaniak's better efforts from the 90's. There really isn't a clunker on it and I only rated it 4-stars because of "What's Your Name?", my least favorite cut. I could just as easily have said 5-stars. Being an old fan of his from New York "back in the day", I'm glad to see tha this turned up on Amazon. Now can someone get me the Urbaniak-Coryell recording "The Far Side"? That was smokin' too!!"