Mieczysław Kosz - Polish Radio Jazz Archives, Vol..37, Mieczysław Kosz Solo, Duo, Trio, Vol. 2 (2023) Hi-Res

The first album with recordings by the blind piano master Mieczysław Kosz appeared in the series "Polish Radio Jazz Archives", published by the Polish Radio Music Agency ten years ago. Five years ago it was reissued on the eve of the Polish premiere of Maciej Pieprzyca's film "Icarus. .

Mieczysław Kosz was a unique figure in Polish jazz at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s. Called the lyricist of Polish jazz, in his short life he managed to conquer not only the stages of Krakow, Warsaw, Wrocław or Sopot, but also Vienna, Montreux and Paris.

Here is the second set of Mieczysław Kosz's recordings discovered in the Polish Radio Archive. Sixteen pieces recorded in the years 1967-1971, mainly in the studios of Polish Radio, and two come from Kosz's recital at the Warsaw National Philharmonic during Jazz Jamboree '70. These recordings have never been presented on CD before.

Half of the proposed works are written by Mieczysław Kosz. The rest is jazz standards, Polish and foreign pop hits, and even Ferenc Liszt's nocturne and a folk melody. All interpreted by the Recycle Bin in a way that no one else can. For this pianist, music was a way of releasing his emotions, not a patent for virtuoso cheap tricks.

Most of the recordings on the album feature Kosz solo on the piano. However, there is also a miniature recorded in a duet with bassist Bronisław Suchanek and a trio with Janusz Kozłowski on double bass and Sergiusz Perkowski on drums.

To this day, it is not certain whether the fact that the blind Mieczysław Kosz, only twenty-nine years old, fell out of the window of a rented room on the third floor of a tenement house at Piękna Street in Warsaw on the last day of May 1973, was an unfortunate accident or a suicide spurred by the impulse of the moment. What is certain is that it was a premature death and a huge loss for Polish music and culture.

The album closes with two short excerpts from Mieczysław Kosz's statements, taken from the Polish Radio programs of Andrzej Jaroszewski and Krystyna Melion.

In the "Polish Radio Jazz Archives" series, published by the Polish Radio Music Agency, you can find the most interesting recordings of jazz sessions and concerts from the Polish Radio Archives. So far, albums with recordings by, among others, Krzysztof Komeda, Zbigniew Seifert, Wojciech Karolak, Janusz Skowron have been released , Zbigniew Namysłowski, Stan Getz, Don Ellis, Dizzy Gillespie and many others.For jazz lovers, we recommend taking a closer look at this series.