Zbigniew Namyslowski has been in the limelight for almost 35 years. His appearance at Jazz Festival in Sopot in 1957 thrilled everyone: it is always so when we are brought face to face with an exceptional talent. In 1961 Namyslowski become the leader of his own group "Jazz Rockers" and ever since has taken the lead of many groups which determined the visage and prestige of the Polish jazz. It was then that he produced his first compositions which impressed with their extreme originality. "Pietavka" from 1963 commences a folklore series in his music though folk inspirations constitute merely a pretence since in nearly every piece Namyslowski invents his peculiar and often very comp­licated rhythms, difficult to be played yet natural to listen to. Furthermore he changes chords, modulations, tempos in kaleidoscopic fashion and employs melo­dious miscellany and unusual meters, for instance. 7/8 in "Siodmavka" or 15/8 in "Kuyaviak Goes Funky". All those characteristic composition devices make his work enigmatic. The audience seems to be drawn into his music as if into a beautiful thicket where it is so pleasant to lose your way. It is pleasant because Namyslowski's music is so joyfull and so full of humour, and it is only sometimes dimmed by a moment of romantic reflection.
Apart from the first registrations of his concerts live at Jazz Jamborees in the 60s and festival-club recordings in Germany, among others the long play "Live in der Balver Hoehle" from 1977 and "Jasmin Lady" from 1978, the majority of his records were created in studios. It has, however, become evident that none of the studio recording will ever substitute for the phrene­tic excitement, charged atmosphere and feeling emit­ted by his music performed live. This is his latest compact disc, containg vivid music - recorded at Jazz Jamboree Festival in Warsaw in 1991. During his career Namyslowski cooperated with outs­tanding Polish as well as European and American musicians to mention but a few: Andrzej Trzaskowski, Krzysztof Komeda, S?awomir Kulpowicz, Adam Makowicz, Wlodek Gulgowski, Tomasz Szukalski, Janusz Stefanski, Adzik Sendecki, Krzysztof Scieranski, Woj­ciech Karolak, Artur Dutkiewicz and Joachim Kuhn, Jane Schafer, Harris Simon, John Raily or Tony Williams.
After the folk period ("Kuyaviak Goes Funky"), the free jazz period ("Vintage"), jazz rock, fussion, electronic jazz Namyslowski resumed acoustic jazz. Alongside his new compositions there appear more and more Ameri­can standards in his repertoire. But thez are often so transformed that they could easily pass for his original pieces.
The cooperation with Deborah Brown is one of the significant traits of the contemporary period. As a result of this a first rate record "Double Trouble" was created in 1989.
At Jazz Jamboree'91 Namyslowski performed in a qu­artet with: Janusz Skowron, the outstanding pianist and in the past the mainstay of the leading Polish jazz groups - "String Connection" of Krzesimir Debski and "Freelectronic" of Tomasz Stanko; Zbigniew Wegehaupt, the leading musician of Polish double-bass, participant of numerous recording sessions with outs­tanding jazzman and Cezary Konrad, an unquestionab­le talent, playing the percussion Maciej Strzelczyk, a young violinist and follower of Zbigniew Seifert performed as a guest during the session. The concert of the group war recorded live with the reactions of the audience, its applause and the announcements. It is then fully authentic: no cosmetic touches have been introduced. Every composition sonstitutes a separate entity differing in respect of its climate, tempo and structure. The cementing link uniting the concert into one whole are the solo parts by Namyslowski - jazz in its purest form.
The opening piece of "Total Incompetence" presents an an agressive and witty theme with a story thrillingly related by Konrad's drums. The audience is made to listen to it with concentrated attention. "Half Done Chicken", which is perhaps the most interesting com­position, has an unusual, distressing mood whose secret lies in its polyrhythmic structure. The composer himself labels it "Pol Quick Waltz. Pol Non-Quick Waltz". In keeping with his intention "Samba under Control" produces on the listener the effect of rhythmic uncertainty, giving at the same time the impression of an even dancing swing. We should not be confused: in both pieces the meter is 4/4 but the secret lies in simple and yet ingenious fragmentation.
The ballad "Something to Sing" presents Namyslow­ski with an opportunity to demonstrate his skill of playing the flute. The theme is so melodious that perhaps one day it will be made into a song. Maciej Strzelczyk performs the following two pieces. "Five in One" - the first of them with its unusual meter 108 and at time 5/8 has an absorbing and muddled melody and Namyslowski's favourite contrasting or "biting" har­monies. "What's Up in Yenikoy" is a musical impres­sion, holiday reminiscence from Yenikoy in Turkey. It is a ballad monotonous in its rhythm, taking inspiration from the Near East vibrations. The ending piece "Sam­ba-przestawianka" has always been problematic for it demands a great amount of concentration and atten­tion from the performer.
The quartet performance had a very flattering review by Roman Kowal from "Jazz Forum". Led us quote some of it: "Though the performance was worked out in the fullest detail it impressed with its complete freedom; beeing composed and arranged with great accuracy and precision it left at the same time so much room for improvistaion. As usual Namyslowski presented his own jazz - difficult but easy to perceive; the easier the less we seem to know about such problems as "jazz and the cause of Poland", which is quite surprising. The world of his "originals" constitutes a hermetic area of music, not to be adopted by any other group, typically Polish, easily discernible..." Strzelczyk was also praised. "He turned out to be a surprisingly mature musician; he played the violin in his own specific style, phrasing the music in a peculiar cantilena-like, vocalic way. His performance at Jazz Jamboree'91 was a tre­mendous success..."
A few months after the festival Zbigniew Namyslowski was announced the Musician of the Year. His quartet was acknowledged the best group of the year. The best record of 1991 was "Without a Talk" by Namyslowski and his group. Cezary Konrad was acclaimed a new talent. It is difficult to state how many times Zbigniew Namyslowski has been distinguished since... 1961. He was 30 years younger then. However, as Wojciech Karolak, a well known pianist and organist, has put it: "After so many years Zbyszek has not changed much. He still has the same temperament and style of life. This bloke never gets old. Even his approach to music is still so youthfull. "When I asked Namyslowski about the role of music in his life, he said: "Jazz is all the world for me". (Krystian Brodacki. The Author of the Book "Follow Namyslowski". Translation: Elzbieta Lesiak)