Michal Urbaniak's Fusion feat. Urszula Dudziak - Smiles Ahead (2016) [Hi-Res]

Michal Urbaniak’s Fusion raised the violinist/saxophonist up into the pantheon of electric crossover groups in the 70’s and 80’s. The band is comprised of top-flight New York-based musicians, all masters in funk, fusion and jazz. The title piece consists of three sections – a swinging adventure with Urbaniak’s exploratory violin moves into From Smiles to Smiles, as an unaccompanied Ursula Druziak sings making extensive use of electronic affects. More Smiles Forever brings the band back in on a bright romp with a percussive Brazilian feel. Hymn of the Uranian Sequels presents a funky fusion piece with outstanding violin and vocal solos and fascinating rhythmic riffs. The orchestral sounding Piece for Fifteen Strings highlights Urbaniak’s violin in duo with Emmitt Chapman playing his polyphonic chordal instrument, the Chapman Stick. In the Wake of Awakening has Michal on the electronic wind instrument, the Lyricon, as the band fuses funk and jazz into an amalgam of inventive fun. Aflatus presents Urbaniak and Dudziak in a freely envisioned duo. On Schwarzwald Vibes there’s the impression of otherworldly sounds blowing through the Black Forest, whereas Sunday Melody is a minute 20 second exhibition of Dudziak’s vocal legerdemain. The band takes a scenic ride down the fusion highway on Autobahn to drive the album home. It’s a trip well worth taking.

Michal Urbaniak, violin
Joe Caro, guitar
Harold Ivory Williams, keyboards
Basil Farrington, bass
Robert Anthony Bunn, bass
Emmet Chapman, Chapman Stick bass
Steve Jordan, drums
Transcending Sonship, drums, percussion, vocals
Urszula Dudziak, vocals, percussion

Engineered by Chips Platen, Gene Paul, Les Paul Jr.
Recorded November 1976 Tonstudio Zuckerfabrik, Stuttgart, Germany and January 1977 Dick Charles Studio, New York
Produced by Joachim-Ernst Berendt

Digitally remastered