Kazimierz Jonkisz Quartet - Monty & Soul. Out on 10 May 2024. (SJRecords 078)

Available on CD, streaming platforms and as digital downloads.

The latest album from the magnificent Polish drummer Kazimierz Jonkisz is a tribute to a friend and frequent musical collaborator, the American saxophonist Monty Waters.

Winner of the prestigious Jazz nad Odrą Festival at just 18 and a Komeda grant scholar, Jonkisz climbed the musical career ladder early and all the way to the top. The 2024 Golden Fryderyk Lifetime Award is just a confirmation of what fans and musicians have known for years.

Monty Waters' alto was inspired by Parker and Coltrane; his vocals reached to the deepest roots of the blues, half-sung half-cried stories that eventually also gave rise to rap.

This album is a return to the years of collaboration between the two musicians and their soulful music. The compositions are mainly Waters', including one dedicated to Jonkisz - the humorously named "Casimir the Great", recalling both Jonkisz and a medieval Polish king, and two archival recordings of Waters giving bluesy lectures, or maybe recalling anecdotes about Buddy Bolden, the tragic legend from jazz's prehistoric - pre-phonograph - times, finished off with Maxwell Davis's "Bad, Bad Whiskey".

Kazimierz Jonkisz - drums / leader
Borys Janczarski - tenor saxophone
Mark Waggoner - electric guitar
Michał Jaros - double bass
Monty Waters - spoken word / vocal

Recorded at Take 1 Studio.

Recording - Paweł Lipski (Take 1 Studio)
Mix & Master - Michał Kupicz
Cover Photo - Robert Wierzbicki
Cover Design - Tomasz Olszewski
Executive Producer - Adam Jabłoński (Take 1 Studio)

The album was produced with funds from the Promotional Fund of the STOART Association of Performing Artists.