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One of the few non-Polish albums issued by Polish alto genius Zbigniew Namyslowski – a really great player who rarely got any Western exposure during the Soviet era! The set's got a tight funky fusion feel – reeds mixed with Fender Rhodes, bass, and drums – all in a blend of soulful lines and freer moments, not unlike the complex groove you'd get on 70s work from Sonny Fortune! Michal Urbaniak produced the record, but the overall feel is much more spacious than his own records – a good sense of groove that really makes things sit right. Titles include "Hobble", "Ohh-Hah", "Tango", "Mango Boogie", and "Pastorale".

A pretty sweet 70s session from Michal Urbaniak – done in the same heavy funk style as his bigger label recordings of the time, with a solid blend of electric rhythms and some nice trippy solo work! The core of the group is Urbaniak on violin and lyricon, Urszula Dudziak on voice and percussion, and the great Zbigniew Namyslowski on alto sax and flute – and Kenny Kirkland adds more than a few nice touches on Fender Rhodes and mini moog. Jamming is at a minimum, and the tunes really keep a strong rhythmic pulse – making for a good set that's filled with jazz funk groovers! Titles include "Stray Sheep", "Always Ready", "Jasmine Lady", "Strife", and "Tie Breaker".

Double length CD that brings together all the tracks from the Polish Jazz and Novi Singers LP releases on JCR! The set's an exquisite compilation of rare jazz tracks from the vastly under-documented (at least in the west!) Polish jazz scene! Poland was hipper than a lot of its eastern european counterparts, and despite years of Soviet oppression, the country did have a thriving jazz scene that turned out some incredibly groovy music. Lots of that music was only ever issued in Poland, and not exported to the rest of the free world – so this collection does an even better service of breaking down the iron curtain, and finally unleashing some real jazz gems! The tracks range from funky to groovy to straight ahead, but they all have the kind of fresh twist that makes the compilation essential listening – with a flavor that's vaguely similar to some of the MPS titles we've carried, but only vaguely so. The quality of the work is impeccable, as is the packaging by the folks at Jazzanova/Compost! Titles include a lot of numbers by the Novi Singers ("Torpedo", "Next, Please", "Jeansy", "The Runaway", and others), plus cuts like "Why Not Samba" by Wojciech Karolak, "Mala Septyma" by Jazz Carriers, "Fair Lola" by Zbigniew Namyslowski Quartet, and "Choreographic Sketches" by Jerzy Milian.

A weird little group led by Polish saxophonist Jan Ptasyn Wroblewski – easily one of his strangest projects of the time! The style here has some of the groovier traces of Jan's other 70s albums – but it's also oddly nostalgic too – kind of an ironic take on jazz modes of the 20s, with a sound like similar projects from the US and UK in the late 60s. Other players include Zbigniew Namyslowski and Janusz Muniak on saxes – who both really add a choppy, staccato feel to the set by vamping along with the rhythms on the tracks!