Zbigniew Seifert

A supremely gifted improviser capable of standing alongside Adam Makowicz and Michal Urbaniak, Zbigniew Seifert was widely viewed as one of Poland’s finest jazz musicians until his untimely passing deprived the country of his talents. He began violin lessons at six and took up alto saxophone a decade afterward. While pursuing violin studies at the University of Krakow, he formed his first band in 1964 and concentrated on alto, drawing heavily from John Coltrane. During his tenure with Tomasz Stanko’s forward-looking quintet from 1969 to 1973, Seifert returned to violin and essentially abandoned the saxophone. After relocating to Germany in 1973, he performed with Hans Koller’s Free Sound between 1974 and 1975 and worked as a freelancer, notably alongside Joachim Kuhn. In 1976 he appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival with John Lewis, and the next year he recorded with Oregon. Leading his own ensembles, the musician affectionately called “Zbiggy” explored territory stretching from free jazz to fusion. His recordings appeared on Muza in 1969, Mood from 1974 to 1976, MPS in 1976, and Capitol from 1977 to 1978. Seifert succumbed to cancer at thirty-two.