Michał Urbaniak obit

Michał Urbaniak Dies at 82 After a Year of Severe Health Complications

 He was not on the list.

Breaking news: Renowned jazz violinist Michał Urbaniak has died at the age of 82. His wife, Dorota Pawlowski, announced the death on Instagram, expressing that he “lived and felt with grate notes” before passing away. The family did not publicly disclose the exact cause or circumstances surrounding his death.

Over the past year, Urbaniak faced serious heart-related health challenges and underwent intensive medical treatment.

Health battle details

In early 2024,he underwent a planned cardiac procedure that encountered complications. He was placed in a medically induced coma for five days. After waking, Urbaniak spent more than seven weeks in intensive care and cardiology care, followed by a rehabilitation period. He later described a strenuous recovery, noting that he initially could not stand after months of bed rest but eventually began walking again.

During interviews, Urbaniak spoke about his experiences in the coma, including surreal episodes and conversations that occurred while he was unconscious. He described a challenging, transformative period that impacted his voice and performance.

Urbaniak was born in Warsaw, General Government on 22 January 1943. He started his music education during high school in Łódź, Poland, and continued from 1961 in Warsaw in the violin class of Tadeusz Wroński. Learning to play on the alto saxophone alone, he first played in a Dixieland band, and later with Zbigniew Namysłowski and the Jazz Rockers, with whom he performed during the Jazz Jamboree festival in 1961. After this, he was invited to play with Andrzej Trzaskowski, and toured the United States in 1962 with the Andrzej Trzaskowski band, the Wreckers, playing at festivals and clubs in Newport, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York City.

After returning to Poland, he worked with Krzysztof Komeda's quintet (1962–1964). Together, they left for Scandinavia, where, after finishing a couple of contracts, Urbaniak remained until 1969. There he created a band with Urszula Dudziak and Wojciech Karolak, which gained considerable success and was later to be the starting point for Michał Urbaniak Fusion.

After Urbaniak returned to Poland agaIn and the violin (which he abandoned for the saxophone during the time in Scandinavia), he created the Michał Urbaniak Group, to which he invited, among others, Urszula Dudziak (vocals), Adam Makowicz (piano), Pawel Jarzebski – bass, and Czeslaw Bartkowski – drums. They recorded their first international albums, Parathyphus B, Instinct and played in many festivals, including Jazz Jamboree in 1969–1972. During the Montreux 1971 festival, Urbaniak was awarded "Grand Prix" for the best soloist and received a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. After many triumphant concerts in Europe and the United States, in May 1973 he played for the last time before a Polish audience and emigrated with Urszula Dudziak on September 11, 1973, to the United States, where he lived as a U.S. citizen.

Despite getting an award from Berklee, he did not study there. Recommended by John H. Hammond, Urbaniak signed a contract with Columbia Records, who published the West German album Super Constellation under the name Fusion. For the tour, he invited Polish musicians, including Czesław Bartkowski, Paweł Jarzębski, and Wojciech Karolak. In 1974, Urbaniak formed the band Fusion and introduced melodic and rhythmic elements of Polish folk music into his funky New York-based music. With this band Urbaniak recorded another album for Columbia in New York: Atma.