Urszula Dudziak‘s debut single was deemed a ‘Pick of the Week’ by Cash Box whose October 4, 1975 review identified the Polish jazz vocalist as an important new voice from whom big things were expected:
Since Minnie Riperton hit the scene a new vocal approach seems to be in the air. This isn’t to say Ms. Dudziak is a Ripofferton, only that she is enrolled in the same school of thought. “Papaya” reflects an incredible range as well as extraordinary vocal control as Urszula uses her voice (no lyrics) as a jazz instrument, posing very bright possibilities.
“Papaya“
Urszula Dudziak
Urszula Dudziak – Vocals, percussion & synthesizer
Gerald Brown – Drums
Basil Fearrington – Bass
Harold Ivory Williams – Electric piano, keyboards & Moog
Joe Caro – Guitar
Reggie Lucas – Guitar
Producer, arranger & lyricon – Michal Urbaniak
Executive producer – Steve Backer
Engineer – Gene Paul
Engineer – Les Paul Jr.
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45 picture sleeve
A side penned by Dudziak & Urbaniak
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Radio & Records designated Dudziak’s 1975 solo album for Clive Davis’s Arista Records as one of ten ‘Suggested Albums’ in its October 17, 1975 edition and praised the work thusly:
A strange, esoteric album. She plays her voice like an electric instrument. There are few lyrics here. Defin[i]tely worthy of your attention. “Papaya” is quite nimble.
By year’s end, “Papaya” had not only generated buzz on Billboard‘s NYC-centered ‘Disco Action’ chart, but also enjoyed a Top Ten run in Mexico’s pop chart throughout January and February of 1976.
Radio & Records
The previous year, Cash Box had introduced Michal Urbaniak, along with his wife-slash-lead vocalist-slash-percussionist, Urszula Dudziak (“a recording artist in her own right”) to US and Western audiences in its ‘Insight & Sound‘ column from the music trade’s May 18, 1974 edition:
excerpt —
Fusion is the key word when speaking to Michal Urbaniak, a Polish jazz musician who plays jazz violin, and is the only Polish jazz artist to be released on a major label (CBS International) in the United States. Fusion because not only is it the name of his group and the name of his current Columbia LP, but because it best describes what Urbaniak is trying to do through the medium of his music. He is assimilating two very different cultures and synthesizing or fusing Polish tonal scales and rhythms with American jazz techniques. Jazz rock has been done before with people like the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis and Weather Report, but considering Urbaniak’s cultural background as well as his initial influences he has developed a style which is very progressive and very different.
Leonard Feather of The Los Angeles Times extolled the adventurousness of Dudziak and Urbaniak in a November 23, 1975 piece published under the title, “Electronic Poles Attract“
excerpt —
The unlikeliest and most startlingly innovative couple to charge into the contemporary music scene this year (at 110 volts) has consisted of two Poles: Michal Urbaniak, a violinist, saxophonist and composer from Warsaw; and his wife, Urszula Dudziak, from Straconka, who, when not singing in an octave-leaping (you might also say pole-vaulting) coloratura soprano, applies her considerable energy to various percussion instruments and to a synthesizer.
They are well on their way to establishing their aptly named group, Fusion, as an exciting new force, just two years after their arrival in the U.S. as unknowns.
Dudziak, Feather had noted earlier, “does not conform to any of the rules for the use of the human voice” in his piece, “The Last Word In Innovation,” published in the Times‘ May 26, 1974 edition:
Ms. Dudziak’s experiments are not merely sensational for the sake of stirring a controversy. In a part of the world where most American jazz is accessible only via the Voice of America, she has succeeded in giving the homeland of jazz something to ponder. Rarely has there been such a startling use of the voice as a nonverbal instrument.
Dudziak told Feather she had grown up “listening to jazz on Voice of America and learning how to copy note for note 20 choruses of Ella Fitzgerald singing, ‘Stomping at the Savoy’.”
Voice of America
Largest US international broadcaster
Sowing Seeds
Robert Kittredge – 1941
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The magnetic pull of the United States would ultimately prove to be overwhelming for Dudziak and her musical partner. Agnieszka Iwańska‘s 2023 film, Ula, which documents Dudziak’s arduous journey using period performance footage and off-screen narration from the artist herself, quotes Urbaniak telling Urszula, “This is the cradle of our beloved music, we need to verify our skills there.”
Iwańska’s documentary shows Dudziak rubbing shoulders with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, and Bobby McFerrin, among other leading lights of modern jazz and fusion. Dudziak and McFerrin, in fact, are especially compelling in a live improvisational performance (at Carnegie Hall possibly) that brings the entire audience to its feet.
A scholarship offer, fortuitously, from the Berklee School of Music had paved the way for Urbaniak and his ensemble to leave Poland with the government’s good graces, according to Leonard Feather. Urbaniak, however, was much more preoccupied with securing the stateside release of Super Constellation, the 1973 album recorded for CBS Germany, and, in fact, had failed to even show up at Berklee, who then contacted immigration, Feather reported at the time. Just when deportation seemed imminent, according to Urbaniak, “Columbia decided to put our album out, and they took care of our visas.” The six compositions of the Super Constellation album would be issued in the US on Columbia with a seventh selection, “Fusion,” that also served as the title track (and the A-side of a 45 release).
With their immigration status resolved, the Polish musicians immediately ensconced themselves in the New York music scene via a four-week stint at Max’s Kansas City, reported Cash Box, who deemed their “brand of progressive jazz as intriguing as it was expressive” in its June 15, 1974 review. Later that month, Urbaniak and Dudziak found themselves slotted to open the second night of the 1974 Newport Jazz Festival held in Carnegie Hall, and the Associated Press’ Mary Campbell would observe that the group’s “most distinguishing feature” is Dudziak, who “sometimes feeds her voice into a synthesizer for a weird blend.”
1974 would also see the worldwide release of Atma, a full-length effort by Michael Urbaniak’s Fusion, as well as the US issue (on Columbia) of Newborn Light, Dudziak’s full-length collaboration with keyboardist/bassist Adam Makowicz that had been originally issued in Switzerland two years earlier. That same year Dudziak would lend her voice to three songs on Arif Mardin‘s 1974 solo album, Journey, including the LP’s opening (“Strollin’“) and closing (“Forms“) tracks.
The following year’s Fusion 3 album – recorded at Electric Lady and mastered by Bob Ludwig – found Urbaniak and Dudziak in collaboration with Steve Gadd (drums), Anthony Jackson (bass), and John Abercrombie (guitar) as part of the core ensemble (augmented on “Bloody Kishka” by a cameo appearance from Larry Coryell).
1975’s release of Funk Factory‘s one-off album reunited Urbaniak and Dudziak with Steve Gadd, Anthony Jackson, and John Abercrombie as the core of the band, with additional support provided by Tony Levin (bass), Gerald Brown (drums), Barry Finnerty (guitar), Wlodek Gulgowski (keyboards), and Bernard Kafka (voice). Curiously, both the LP and 45 (“Horsing Around” b/w “After All The World Goes Home“) ended up on Atco – not Columbia.
In their quest to explore new musical frontiers, Dudziak and Urbaniak would continue to seek out other accomplished musicians — Steve Jordan, Kenny Kirkland, Harold ‘Ivory‘ Williams, Bernard ‘Pretty‘ Purdie, ‘Crusher‘ Bennett, Ralph Macdonald, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Marcus Miller, Yogi Horton, Victor Bailey, Omar Hakim, Michael Brecker, Kevin Eubanks, Peter Erskine, Lester Bowie, Archie Shepp, Mike Stern, Lenny White, Ray Gomez, Gil Evans Orchestra — as the 1970s progressed into the 1980s and beyond.
Present day finds the two musicians plowing their own separate musical paths, with both artists posting current information on their respective social media accounts — Urszula Dudziak (Facebook & Instagram) and Michal Urbaniak (Facebook & Instagram).
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History Spotlight:
Earliest Release?
Dudziak and Urbaniak’s 1967 vinyl offering — “One Note Samba” b/w “Russian Twist (Dark Eyes)” — also happens to be one of the earliest 7-inch releases from Norway’s Atlas Records. The picture sleeve, curiously, shows Dudziak (as “Ula“) getting the prominent billing. Both songs would appear on the group’s full-length album released in 1968 by Atlas, with the artist now billed as Urbaniak’s Orchestra. Could this 45 be the first recorded release from Dudziak and Urbaniak?
45 picture sleeve
1967
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“Papaya” & Its Cultural Spawn
According to Wikipedia —
In 2007, Dudziak’s classic 1970s song “Papaya” saw a resurgence in popularity in the Philippines where it was regularly featured in the local noontime TV game show, Pilipinas, Game Ka Na Ba? A favourite track for Filipino drag queens as lip-synch material in the ’70s gay disco/bar scene, the song then saw a revival when a TV host danced to the tune, helping to spread the popularity of the song to Latin America and the US. The dance has then been featured in several news programs, including MSNBC, and Reuters. On 21 March 2008, the dance was featured on ABC’s Good Morning America, where the hosts also danced to the song. Before the breakthrough of papaya dance in 2007, the song “Papaya” became a success in Brazil in 1970s as the opening theme of the original version telenovela Anjo Mau, produced by TV Globo in 1976.
Note: Those who want to revel fully in the “Papaya” experience can purchase a digital album on Bandcamp entitled, Papaya Dance, in which the original “Papaya” recording is joined by 15 different “Papaya Dance” remixes (plus a special Christmas mix). Originally released in 2018, this party album is attributed to Michal Urbaniak’s Urbanator Featuring Urszula Dudziak.
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Bonus! * Live! * Music!
On Urbaniak’s own YouTube channel one can find a 36-minute live performance from 1972 of Michal Urbaniak Fusion featuring Urszula Dudziak that was filmed in Oslo.
