“He lived and felt in great notes.
He passed away at the age of 82,”
wrote Dorota Dosia Urbaniak.
A jazzman, internationally renowned violinist, saxophonist, composer, arranger, discoverer of young talents, born in Poland — a true “citizen of the world.”
The author of over 500 compositions, he recorded more than 120 albums (as a leader and as a guest). Known as a co-creator and pioneer of fusion music, he moved to New York in 1973. He gained worldwide recognition after recording the album Tutu with one of the greatest jazz legends, Miles Davis. He invited and was invited to collaborate by such world jazz icons as Quincy Jones, Billy Cobham, Stéphane Grappelli, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Kenny Garrett, George Benson, Marcus Miller, Jaco Pastorius, Toots Thielemans, Kenny Kirkland, Larry Coryell, Lenny White, and Alphonze Mouzon.
He was the leader, composer, and arranger of his own projects: Jazz Legends, Fusion, Urbanator, Urbanizer, and UrbSymphony. Winner of the Grand Prix at the Montreux Festival for Best Soloist (1971), he performed at the world’s most important jazz festivals, including the Newport Jazz Festival, JVC Festival, Chicago Jazz Festival, Lugano, The Hague, and others.
He gave concerts multiple times at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall, as well as in legendary world and New York jazz clubs such as Blue Note, Village Vanguard, Sweet Basil, and others. Repeatedly awarded, he won international polls, and his name appeared in the prestigious DownBeat magazine (1992), where he ranked first in as many as five categories among the greatest jazz stars. He was the world’s first violinist-inventor to play a five-string violin built according to his own design.
He was also associated with film and theatre. He composed music for films such as Astonished, As the Band Played On, Dreambird (USA), and Pożegnanie Jesieni directed by Mariusz Treliński, Spona by Waldemar Szarek, and Dług and Wielkie rzeczy by Krzysztof Krauze (Poland). He received top awards at the Gdynia Film Festival for music to the films Dług, Pożegnanie Jesieni, and Eden. He was the first to introduce jazz and rap into a philharmonic concert hall with the project UrbSymphony (Częstochowa Philharmonic, 1995). He recorded over 60 original albums worldwide. Urbaniak’s final album project, Miles of Blue (Sony Music, 2010), dedicated to Miles Davis, achieved platinum status.
The jazzman’s personality and charisma were also noticed by filmmakers. In autumn 2012, the premiere of the film My Bicycle, directed by Piotr Trzaskalski, took place; Michał Urbaniak played one of the leading roles and received the award for Best Actor at the international Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia, as well as the Eagle Award 2013 — the Polish Film Award in the category Discovery of the Year.
From 2005, he developed his project UrbanatorDays — unique “anti-training” workshops combined with a concert (www.urbanatordays.com).
In September 2011, a book about his life written by Andrzej Makowiecki, titled Me, the Urbanator. The Adventures of a Jazz Musician, was published by Agora S.A.
(Based on materials provided by PRart Media.)
