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Namyslowski Quartet that cut this important record in January 1966, started its life some five month earlier as a result of personal changes in Namyslowski's previous group: Adam Makowicz replaced Wlodzimimierz Gulkowski and Tadeusz Wojcik was replaced by Janusz ?Lala" Kozlowski. Namyslowski himself participated a month earlier in the memorable recording of Krzysztof Komeda's ?Astigmatic" /PB 00129/. Still earlier there was a string of successful concerts in Britain, topped by recording an LP ?Lola" for Decca. The January 1966 recording by the new Quartet was Namyslowski's first major disc made in Poland. More important, his natural leanings toward Podhale folklore, previously manifested in ?Piatawka" and also in Komeda's ?Svantetic", showed again. The opening piece, ?Siodmawka"/seven to the bar/ is actually a regular alteration between 3 and 4 beats, and the modal climate of Podhale region is created in surprisingly simple way, through combination of two neighbouring major chords /e.g.: C-D/. Also in ?Szafa" /the wardrobe/ there's some folklore associations. Another variety brings ?Chrząszcz..." /"Beetle sounding in the reeds"/, reminding us of Krakowiak, Cracow region dance, or ?Lola Drinking Honey" that is close to ragtime and swing. But the most beautiful intraditional sense is ?My Dominique", a wistful ballad devoted to then newly-born composer's daughter. Just as ?Terrible Franka" is an adventurous excursion into free jazz, ?Despair" brings a peculiar brand of blues, with leaps toward distant harmonies and Dolphy-like chains of motifs. All above considered, this is unquestionably colourful, varied and attractive music, as the quartet's 1966 English tour proved for by that time this group was undoubtedly one of the most fresh and interesting in Europe.

POWER BROS

ZBIGNIEW NAMYSLOWSKI QUARTET