Atom String Quartet

Does groove really need electric guitars, synthesizers and a large rhythm section? Or does it come from something far deeper – a shared pulse, imagination and the freedom of improvisation? This is exactly the question posed by the newest project of Atom String Quartet. As the musicians themselves argue, you can take away the instruments typical of funk, and as long as the rhythm, the energy and the musical imagination remain, funk will still be funk.

Paradoxically, although Poland of the 1970s and 1980s remained behind the Iron Curtain, it was precisely then that one of the most interesting jazz scenes in Europe flourished here. The Jazz Jamboree festival drew the greatest stars of the world, and the legendary Polish Jazz series documented the arrival of one generation of outstanding artists after another. Poland did not copy the West, however. Polish musicians created a language of their own, joining jazz with funk, rock, classical music and Slavic melody.

That was when the compositions of Michał Urbaniak, Zbigniew Seifert, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski, Władysław Sendecki, Andrzej Zaucha and Krzesimir Dębski came into being. Their work proved that even in a reality of political constraints music can retain complete artistic freedom.

The idea for the album was born quite unexpectedly. While preparing a concert devoted to Zbigniew Seifert, the musicians of Atom String Quartet reached for his piece Nasty Gal. As Mateusz Smoczyński recalled, that was the moment the thought appeared: perhaps this is a good lead, to go in the direction of playing funk music? Out of a single piece grew a project spanning an entire era of Polish music. Not all of the chosen compositions are funk in the strict sense of the word. What joins them is a shared pulse, groove, energy and the distinctive atmosphere of those decades.

The project also has a symbolic dimension. Atom Goes Funky was released by Warner Music in the legendary Polish Jazz series as its 91st volume, and it is the first album in the history of that collection to be recorded by a string quartet. It is a beautiful sign of continuity – music that set the direction of Polish jazz half a century ago is today becoming an inspiration for the next generation of artists.