Zbigniew Namysłowski Modern Jazz Quartet - Lola

“Considering that the Polish jazz scene is only eight years old (prior to 1956 the authorities ruled it as immoral) this record is a miracle…For to have produced such gifted, professional musi­cians, playing advanced music, in so short a space of time is almost unbelievable.” So wrote Mark Gardner in the January 1965 edition of Jazz Journal about alto saxophonist Zbigniew Namysłowski Modern Jazz Quartet’s “Lola”, released on the English Decca label at the end of 1964. The first album by Polish jazz artists recorded outside of the Iron Curtain, “Lola” was produced at Decca Studios in West Hampstead by Mike Vernon who would make his name with acts like Fleetwood Mac and John Mayall. But how did the Warsaw group come to record an album in London for Decca in the same year as The Rolling Stones’ debut for the label, with one of the most famous rock and blues producers of the 1960s?. The story is explored in great detail in Tony Higgins’ erudite liner notes to this beautifully presented reissue, down to the group’s purchase of M&S sweaters for the front cover photograph.