couw

yup...

They look very nice as they use the original cover art. The sound is pretty good. It says 24bit remastering from the original master tapes on the back, but those tapes are not the best then it seems to me, as there is quite some noise there. I have none of the older disks to compare though. If you go to http://www.polishjazz.com the cover reproductions on the right hand side of the screen show you the whole series.

some are closer to the source though...

besides the mp3 I posted above, this site has some pronunciation soundfiles with various Zbigniews throw in. Another tongue breaker is "Andrzej," where the RZ is pronounced as a combined sound that is impossible to describe (at least for me), so once you manage pronouncing Zbigniew Namyslowski you can have a go at Andrzej Trzaskowski

1946, Charles Mingus records for Four Star Records (reissued on Uptown) 1953, Buddy DeFranco records for Verve (for the Mr Clarinet album) 1955, Eddie Condon - Bixieland (Columbia) 1956, Lucky Thompson records for Disques Swing 1960, Horace Parlan - Us Three (Blue Note) 1965, Earl Hines - Blues in Thirds (Black Lion) 1967, Eddie Harris - The Electrifying Eddie Harris (Atlantic) 1987, Ulrich Gumpert - The Secret Concert (ITM)

oy, RIP Niels-Henning

http://www.zeronews-fr.com/flash/70s.php

From what I have learned from our Polish exchange students, the B in Zbigniew is heard, the Z preceding it buzzes, the G is hard, the IE goes like Yeh, and the W comes out as -ff. The Y in Namyslowski is a short "i" (like in "it") and goes almost unpronounced. The L has a dash through it, making it sound like an extremely thick one that has in fact become a W. Bluerein spent some time in Warsawa, I expect he has more experience. I have ripped an mp3 of an announcement of a live performance of Wroblewski with following players announced: Zbigniew Wegehaupt, Marek Blizinski, Andrzej Dabrowski, and Jan Ptaszyn Wroblewski. The N in Blizinski has a ´ on it that makes it sound like the "ng" in song. The A in Dabrowski has a little accent at the bottom, making it sound like "am," so it's Dambrofskee. mitglied.lycos.de/couw/announcement.mp3

for those with bad eyes: click another one here (these are quite big and I thought I'd better not paste them in the post here)

not really.

I just looked at all the album covers that All Music Guide has and nobody whizzin' anywhere... What albums are you referring to? Pics? B-)

nah...

and while your at it, get the Namyslowski - Lola album as well. It shows up as available at Dusty

http://www.polishjazz.com/ makes me believe the Wroblewski - Polish Jazz Quartet disk has recently been released in this "anex" digipac series as well. I'm having difficulties getting hold of it though and the older CD looks very crappy and I am told the sound isn't too spiffy either. As Jim mentions, Ptaszyn is a hell of a player that makes you want to hear more. If it can still be found, there is an older CD release of a Stan Getz 1960 live performance at the Jazz Jamboree that is paired with a Wroblewski/Milian EP -- four tunes of pure energy and with the awesome vibes of Jerzy Milian. The sound on that CD is not fantastic, apparantly it's a vinyl dub from an EP in the same deplorable state as my own... For more Jerzy Milian there is the Bazaar compilation (also available from Dusty), but there are a lot of Novi Singers on that one as well and that's much of an acquired taste... Look here. The Makowicz - Unit is an album with the typical Polish fusion feel of the early 70s. Good one for fans of the Fender Rhodes in a trio setting. On other things I heard of him, Makowicz sneeks in some nice folk influenced sounds, much like Namyslowski did actually. What I heard of the Kosz struck me as a bit too cocktail hour, frankly. The 70s/80s sounds of Polish fusion can be pretty great as well. Not a fan of fusion in general and I haven't sprung on any of the Anex titles, but my Jazz Carriers - Carry On LP is one of the few fusion albums I play and return to often. Namyslowski did a lot of this fusion infested stuff from the early 70s on. Some of his 80s albums can be a bit annoying with their overly smooth sound. The Quartet disk now up for grabs at DustyGroove is from 1966 and gritty and fresh. Get it! Maybe someone can weigh in on the Winobranie disk? There is a LOT more fantastic music from this Polish Jazz series. The big band albums led by Kurylewicz or Wroblewski and those led by Jerzy Milian are filled with wackness for example. Let's hope this series is successful and more lies up ahead!

1951, Don Byas records for Blue Star 1956, Louis Prima - The Wildest (Capitol) 1963, Wes Montgomery finishes the Fusion! recording for Riverside 1964, more Mingus recorded in Paris

8763... Gil Mellé - Quadrama (Prestige)

go see it before you go blind and crippled and grumpy. never heard a complete Beatles album either. The Beatles bug me.

Jiri Stivin & Co Jazz System - Five Hits in a Row (Supraphon)

Carla Bley - Dinner Music (Watt)

http://www.severin.ch/cloudnine/

1944, Johnny Guarneri Swing Men feat. Lester Young record for Savoy 1944, Earl Warren and his Orchestra, feat. Lester Young record for Savoy 1956, Henri Salvador Plays the Blues on a Fontana EP 1957, Toby Fichelser records for Amiga 1962, Roland Kirk records for Mercury 1963, Wes Montgomery - Fusion! (Riverside)

All the Cats Join in for a Goodman Party (Fontana)

Dancing with Gustav Brom (Supraphon)