Zbigniew Seifert

A masterful improviser who could have ranked at the top with Adam Makowicz and Michal Urbaniak, Zbigniew Seifert's early death robbed Poland of one of its top jazz artists. Seifert started on the violin when he was six, and ten years later started doubling on alto sax. He studied violin at the University of Krakow, but when he started leading his own band in 1964, he mostly played alto, showing off the influence of John Coltrane. When he was a member of Tomasz Stanko's very advanced quintet (1969-1973), Seifert switched back to violin and largely gave up playing sax. He moved ...