Iconic jazz pioneer Michal Urbaniak has died in hospital on Satuday December 20 at the age of 82. His wife Dorota Dosia Urbaniak confirmed the news on his social media accounts writing: “He lived and expressed himself through music”. His ex-wife Urszula Dudziak, subsequently revealed the star had not regained conciousness since a fall on Thursday December 18.
“Today, Saturday, December 20th, at o’clock 17.00, two hours before Michał left, we were at the hospital with him: Kasia, Mika, Dosia and me. We talked to him, gently massaged his hands and feet. “He hasn’t regained consciousness since the fall on Thursday last week, but he probably felt that we were with him and went in peace. Sorrow is not forever… LOVE IS!!! the legendary Miles Davis after he appeared on Davis’ 1986 album Tutu.
He explained how the collaboration with Miles came about in a 2019 interview: “I called Tommy LiPuma at his New York office, and he said to me: ‘Great that you’re calling! Miles is coming back, working on his new album.
“‘He heard you on Johnny Carson’s Tonight show (where I played my talking violin) and he said that he would like to have you on the record. Marcus Miller will be producing it’.
“I said to Tommy, ‘so what exactly did he say?’, and he quoted Miles: ‘Hey Tommy, get me this Polish f****** fiddler, he’s got the sound!'” Over his more than six decades career Michal also collaborated with huge names such as Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Billy Cobham and Stéphane Grappelli, and performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Beacon Theatre in New York.
He also recorded dozens of albums under his own name and composed music for films and theatre. In 1992 he was placed among the genre’s top global performers by the influential jazz magazine DownBeat.
In 1971 he won the Grand Prix award for best soloist at the Montreux Jazz Festival and in 2016 he received Poland’s Golden Fryderyk lifetime achievement award.
Tributes flooded in as the news broke with friends and fans taking to Facebook to pay tribute. “Michal Urbaniak RIP. Your music and spirit will live on forever,” one wrote. “Farewell, Master… Thank you for the shared sounds, humor, inspiring conversations about music and your open heart. It was a great honor to stand on the same stage with you To the whole family and to you, Dorotka – we send our sincerest sympathies,” another added.
Meanwhile a third chimed in: “Michal Urbaniak has died . I was a teenage electric violin enthusiast in the 70 s , You had Jerry Goodman , You had Jean Luc Ponty , but Urbaniak ‘s sound was the one for me . Those records were a different sound world . R.I.P.”
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.express.co.uk ’
