Urbanator

The composition of the band is co-created by fantastic musicians from the New York and London music scene. Urbanator (interchangeably) played among others: Lenny White, Frank Parker, Troy Miller (drums); All McDowell, Otto Williams (bass); Jon Dryden, Xantone Blacq, Pawel Tomaszewski (keyboards); Femi Temowo, Ed Hamilton, Jane Getter (guitar); Tom Browne, Michael Patches Stewart (trumpet); Solid, Andy Ninvalle, OSTR (rap).

Michal Urbaniak & Urbanator performed on the most important music stages in the world: Ronnie Scott in London, Blues Alley in Washington, Bottom Line in New York, New Port Jazz Festival, Baker’s Keybords Launge in Detroit, West End in Chicago, Blue Note Tokyo and Osaka.

And so the first track from „Urbanator” (probably the best cover of Herbie Hancock’s „Chameleon” ever) is one of the pioneer fusions of jazz with rap. Scratches, horns, “broken” beats, laid-back drums and rap merged into a burning hit. Not less interesting is “Here I Go Again” with a gripping hook. And “Hot Jazz Biscuit” with its more classical attitude that exudes a pure acid-jazz spirit. The majority of tracks remained instrumental, but each one caught a vibe of early 90s. The most notable one is “Cats”, a splendid cover of „Kattorna”, a classic piece by the legendary Polish pianist, composer and Urbaniak’s mentor – Krzysztof Komeda. But the „Urbanator” LP wouldn’t be such a success without a bunch of top musicians – Herbie Hancock, Michael and Randy Brecker, Kenny Garrett, Lenny White, Al McDowell, Jon Dryden and Bernard Wright.