INACTIN

Michal Urbaniak was a child prodigy playing the violin in his native Poland and eventually being accepted at a prestigious school in Moscow to further his training. He declined and instead he took up the sax and travelled throughout Europe mastering his new instrument. He won first place at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 1971 for his sax work which I must say blows me away that he could master two very different instruments. He and his wife Urszula Dudziak would move to New York City where he would continue to play and eventually join forces with some of the best including Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Billy Cobham, Lenny White, Larry Coryell and on and on.

This particular album was released according to this site in 1971, but RYM has 1972 and Discogs has 1973 so lets just say the early seventies. They were a six piece band including his wife Urszula who offers up some incredible wordless vocal melodies on a few tracks reminding me of Pascal Son. We also get Fender Rhodes, congas, drums, clavinet, sax, violin, bass, effects and more. The music is very challenging, almost Free Jazz at times and quite experimental too. This is innovative and adventerous even by today's standards let alone the early seventies.

"Inactin" builds beautifully and the cherry on top is Urszula's wordless vocal melodies. So catchy, and when she stops the violin mimics her vocal lines. Fender Rhodes, intricate drum work and more help out. She's back 3 1/2 minutes in as it calms right down and some experimental sounds arrive including her vocal work. This is avant to say the least including her laughter at one point. It kicks back in before 6 minutes. "Alu" is mellow to start with violin, vocal melodies, bass, Fender Rhodes and more. We even get a bass solo before 1 1/2 minutes. That earlier sound returns 3 minutes in. "Ekim" opens with solo violin before drums and more arrive around a minute in. The violin sounds processed here as the bass, congas and more help out. This is all so interesting and the violin melody really hints at MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA for me. Heck even the atmosphere has Miles Davis all over it.

"Silence" is the shortest tune and the safest. It's mostly violin with touches of bells and Fender Rhodes. "Fall" has these violin expressions, random drum patterns, experimental sounds and bass. No real melody here although the vocal expressions that come and go are kind of catchy. "Groovy Desert" is groovy alright and we get some clavinet here. Great sound. This is far from normal though. Drums and congas help out as well. The groove stops around 1 1/2 minutes. Some Fender Rhodes and check out the drum work too after 3 minutes. That groove returns before 4 minutes. "Lato" opens with sax with shuffling drums and bass. The pace picks up quickly but the tempo will change often on this one. I like the Fender Rhodes, bass, sax and drums after 2 minutes. So much going on. Catchy stuff. Sax leads before 7 minutes.

Man this has been the highlight of my week each time I'd put this on for a listen. And Michal Urbaniak is a name I will hold in high esteem from now on. For fans of adventerous music.

Recorded in 1972 for Germany's Spiegelei label, this is another album of 100% Micahl Urbaniak compositions as performed by his loyal band of virtuoso collaborators--though, in truth, it sounds and feels a lot like a collection of scraps and outtakes from the Paratyphus B sessions.

1. "Inactin" (6:58) a funky groove that feels like a slow summertime cruise through the 'hood in a convertible with lots of banter being engaged by sidewalk passers-by. At 3:30 the music cuts out, making way for some very idiosyncratic a cappella electronically-effected scatting (sounding to my imagination like the scurrying of mice around the house under the cover of darkness). The happy-go-lucky music returns at 5:45 and gradually re-establishes the neighborhood groove from the first half, only with Urszula still scatting above. (13.375/15)

2. "Alu" (3:58) with this gentle, spacious song we've re-entered the realm that will be explored more next year by HATFIELD AND THE NORTH. Roman Dylag is given quite a bit of time and room in the spotlight to solo his double bass. Ula's melliflous vocalese are gorgeous. (8.875/10)

3. "Ekim" (5:49) solo experimental electric violin opens this one before Roman's now-Barcus Berry-miked (and thus electronically treated and processed) bass enters and joins in. The combination of Michał's screeching and wining violin paired with Ula's equally feline vocalese and Adam Makowicz's obnoxious clavinet work is a bit disturbing--not unlike some of the work Herbie Hancock experiemented with in his electronic-dominated phase of operations. I understand and appreciate the skill involved to create this stuff, but using an historical perspective, it was kind of a waste of time and vinyl. (8.6667/10)

4. "Silence" (3:31) bowed violin and electrified bass perform a slowly-evolving space-atmospheric duet that is supported by some loosely--almost-randomly--played Fender Rhodes and percussion. Another song that is so predictive of some of the musics that are to come (including some of the great intros to Lenny White songs on Venusian Summer.) (8.75/10)

5. "Fall" (7:42) even more experimental sound production of the avant garde/free jazz sort. It gets even crazier when Ula's IRENE PAPPAS/GILLI SMYTH-like orgiastic scatting and Adam's frantic clavinet play double up in the fifth minute. Wild! (Yes, even wilder than anything published by GONG). Not even the somewhat-coalescent coming together of the band in the final minute can save it from future skips. (13/15)

6. "Groovy Desert" (5:01) faded in as if an excerpt from an extant jam, the groove devolves (while drummer retools or takes a little beer break) into an Adam Makowitz, Czesław Bartkowski, and Branislav Kovacev tuning and brief exploration of two separate themes joined together. Was this album just material grabbed from the cutting floor of the previous album--scraps and discards that the record label pasted together in order to try to make a few Marks from this band of now expats? (8.25/10)

7. "Lato" (8:06) the music of this song reminds me of the very first post-Bitches Brew recordings that Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, and Chick Corea did with their new bands (many members of whom were also in situ during Miles' seminal sessions). that they would eventually be calling WEATHER REPORT, "Mwandishi," and RETURN TO FOREVER, respectively. Nice stuff, a liitle rough in organization--feeling a lot like exploratory jam-like session play--but, unfortunately, not my favorite direction that J-R Fusion took. (13.25/15)

Total time:

An album filled with such renegade experimentation, so much so that it seems to beg the question from us 21st Centurians, "What was going on here?" It's not that it's not admirable and skillful, it's just that it offers very little audio pleasure. I stand by my deduction that this is probably an effort by Spiegelei Records to eke out some more money from their now lost (moved to New York City) commodity.

B-/3.5 stars; a very interesting (and perhaps historically significant) collection of "songs" from the end of Michał and Urszula's time in Europe. Recommended for all those curious about the roots and unusual experiments of infant Jazz- Rock Fusion.