Kwartet Wojciecha Gogolewskiego

Polish jazz fusion band (1973-1977). In 1973 Wojciech Gogolewski decided to set up his own team, to which he invited his colleagues from the university. After the formation of line-up crystallized - which was completed by a flutist Mieczysław Wolny, a double bass player Zbigniew Wegehaupt and a drummer Czesław Szymański - in the spring of 1975 quartet performed for the first time at the festival "Jazz nad Odrą" in Wrocław. Musicians returned there a year later - much more experienced and aware of what they wanted to achieve. The second time they took part in the competition and were noticed. In the category of ensembles, the jury awarded them second place, while in the category of soloists the members of the rhythm section were awarded, that is Wegehaupt and Szymański. Year 1976 was by far the best year in the history of quartet. It was then that their only piece ("Skok nr 8") was released on the album. It was a published by Poljazz compilation collecting the compositions of the winners of two festivals: the XVI Złote Tarka (on A side of the longplay) and the XIII Jazz on the Odra (on the B side, next to the Big Band pieces of PWSM Katowice and Andrzej Olejniczak Quintet). It was also then that the band made their first professional studio recordings, which was the aftermath from Wrocław success, on Polish Radio Warszawa. At that time, five songs were recorded in one day, on May 28, 1976, that would have had no problems filling an entire vinyl disc (as they lasted almost forty minutes), but it didn't. As a result, after another series of concerts, Wojciech Gogolewski Quartet entered Radio studio only once more, this time in Katowice (date is given on January 29, 1977, although you can find information elsewhere that it happened at the end of the previous year) to record an extended, three-part "Suite for M.". The band ceased to exist shortly after this recording session, although the musicians did not part ways. For some time, all four collaborated with Big Band Katowice. In 2019, all recording sessions of the band were released on an album by GAD Records. They make us aware of the potential of this line-up and, unfortunately, it was wasted by the shortcomings of the Polish phonographic industry at the time. Regret is deepened by the fact that the Quartet was exceptional against the background of European fusion music.