Displayed on the posters in Michał Urbaniak’s band’s van while playing across Europe in the 60s, this hippy travelling player was soon to become one of the most innovative Polish jazz musicians in history. Though his  European career was quickly evolving,  the old continent simply didn’t feel like enough. From a very young age, Michał knew at heart that he was a New Yorker, eventually jumping at the first chance he got to move to the world’s jazz capital and signing with the legendary Columbia Records. The rest is history.

Time stamps

[01:11 ]  The Boys of America
[02:29 ]  An Introduction to Miles
[03:22 ]  New Yorker at heart
[07:52 ]  100$ a night
[09:55 ]  The violin
[11:23 ] New York
[12:14 ]  Columbia
[13:19 ]  Folk
[16:16 ]  The impossible deal
[19:08 ]  Young talents
[19:52 ]  Meeting Miles
[23:15 ]  Poetry & jazz
[27:22 ]  Young musicians

Music from the episode

[07:33 ] Composition: Bengal
Artist: Super Constellation
Album editions: Super Constellation / Fusion I

[14:13 ] Composition: New York Baca
Artist: Michał Urbaniak/Michał Urbaniak’s Fusion
Album: Atma

[20:34 ] Composition: Don’t Lose Your Mind
Artist: Miles Davis
Album: Tutu

[25:44 ] Composition: Square Park Sunday
Artist: Urbanator
Album: Urbanator

Further reading

• Michał Urbaniak // on Culture.pl

• Interview with Michał Urbaniak // on Culture.pl

• Michał Urbaniak’s web page

Further watching

•  “New Yorker by Choice” // documentary film about Michał Urbaniak

• "Chameleon" by Urbanator // Music video

• Michał Urbaniak performing with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra

Credits

This episode of Rebel Spirits was hosted by Paweł Brodowski. The show is brought to you by Culture.pl, the flagship brand of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

Written by Wojciech Oleksiak & Monika Proba
Produced by Move Me Media
Edited by Wojciech Oleksiak
Proofread by Adam Żuławski
Design by Dawid Ryski
Scoring & sound design by Wojciech Oleksiak

Copyrights

The publisher would like to thank all copyright owners for their kind permission to reproduce their material. Should, despite our intensive research, any person entitled to rights have been overlooked, legitimate claims shall be compensated within the usual provisions.

The project was carried out thanks to the cooperation with Polskie Nagrania / Warner Music Poland, Sony Music Publishing Poland Sp. z o.o and Urbaniak.com Foundation.