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 to Germany in 1973, was with Hans Koller's Free Sound from 1974-1975, and freelanced (including with Joachim Kuhn). Seifert played at the Monterey Jazz Festival with John Lewis in 1976, and the following year recorded with Oregon. As a leader, Seifert (who was affectionately known as "Zbiggy") performed music that ranged from free jazz to fusion. Seifert recorded for Muza in 1969, Mood from 1974-1976, MPS in 1976, and Capitol from 1977-1978. He died of cancer at the age of 32. ~ Scott Yanow