Please accept the kind gratitude for sending the CD of the Jazz Band Ball Orchestra “C’est si bon” to the President of the Republic of Poland, Mr. Bronisław Komorowski.
By presenting the CD with recordings of musical standards performed by the jazz musicians, you have pleasantly surprised Mr. President.
The Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland
The Revue [JBBO] started in the club “Jaszczury”, which was packed, including the basement, with the veterans as well as many youngsters. The composition of musicians on stage was changing, however, its core always constituted of JBBO musicians. The composition I enjoyed the most was the squad number 1 with Jan Kudyk and his son Tomasz playing the trumpet. Amongst many other, they performed the famous piece of Miles Davies “Milestones” which was once a standard piece of the “modernists”. For me, one of the main features of the JBBO musicians is their ever-growing interest in new forms of jazz. Jan Kudyk, who 30 years ago was being called the Krakow Bix Beiderbecke, played some of Davis’s themes. He played them not like Miles but like a genuine boper, not like a jazzman in a beret with a “white lady” but with authenticity and open-mindedness out of Kansas City.
On Thursday the Revue was shown in its full glory in the club “Rotunda” […] With the crucial help of JBBO, Sylvie Droste, a jazz lady from Germany […], performed the show which led the audience to get carried away. In this part of the show, the public could listen to the Krakow Philharmonic string section of the orchestra playing beautiful sounding chords in Wojtek Groborz’s arrangements.
Grzegorz Tusiewicz
JBBO is a band well accomplished for European jazz. Created in 1962, from the beginning of its existence, the band was an important part of a newly born Polish jazz scene […] The popularity of the formation quickly extended beyond the Polish borders – concerts in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, both German Republics and Canary Islands, participation in foreign festivals, inter alia, in the North Sea Jazz Festival in Hague, Dixieland Meeting in Oberhausen as well as multiple participations in the American Dixieland Jazz Jubilee in Sacramento, has truly helped JBBO establish itself as one of the most important European formations of traditional jazz.
The music of Jazz Band Ball Orchestra is a one of a kind. It is a mix of swing and blues which you will recognize from the very first beat […] JBBO is not a loud Dixieland band but an elegant orchestra playing relaxed musical repertoire in the style of Kansas City. They managed to maintain the ludic element and remained a ball jazz orchestra. An orchestra which is highly successful in passing swing and enthusiasm to the big audience attending their concerts.
Igor Rakowski-Kłos, Gazeta Wyborcza
They are happy that young people attend their concerts. Most importantly, people enjoy our music and have fun whilst listening to it. Those who hear us for the first time say that they didn’t expect jazz music to be so cheerful, melodic and to bring so much joy – says Marek Michalak while talking about the recent concerts in Warsaw and Lublin. And no wonder because the swing music of the band does sway its listeners. Maybe because the Krakow sextet does sound like the best big-band? – If the audience feels that you are playing not only well but also that you are authentic, then it reacts even better because your emotions hit the crowd – says Kudyk.
In its artistic career, JBBO has collaborated with many well-established musicians such as Wallace Davenport, Kenny Ball, Chris Barber, Albert Nichols, Bill Ramsey, and Acker Bilk. They also had the joy of having the famous trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and his musicians joining them during one of the concerts in Krakow. The collaborations are documented on the albums, which JBBO has several. They have 25 vinyl records created in Poland, USA, Germany and the Netherlands (their long play “Home” won the Golden Disc award”) […] and approx. 20 CDs recorded in the abovementioned countries as well as in Singapore […]
And so 50 years have passed and we still feel like we need to play. – The 50th golden anniversary will definitely not be the end of Jazz Band Ball – says Jacek Mazur. Well, it is easy for him to say as he is only four years older than the band itself. Kudyk is in a slightly more difficult position. However, Tolek Lisiecki understates the matter of age – Will Bill Davison was still blowing his trumpet, even at the age of eighty. We are not rock stars so we can play until the end…. or even one day extra.
And let them play because they are indeed fantastic.
Wacław Krupiński, Gazeta Wyborcza