Urszula Dudziak

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Urszula Dudziak

Background information
Born	October 22, 1943 (1943-10-22) (age 64)
Origin	Bielsko-Biała, Poland
Genre(s)	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	1972-
Label(s)	Inner City Records
Associated acts	Krzysztof Komeda, Michał Urbaniak, Gil Evans, Archie Shepp, Lester Bowie
Notable instrument(s)
Piano

Urszula Dudziak (born October 22, 1943) is a leading Polish jazz vocalist. She has worked with such artists as Krzysztof Komeda, Michał Urbaniak (her ex-husband), Gil Evans, Archie Shepp, and Lester Bowie. Her 1970s song "Papaya" gained widespread popularity in Asia and Latin America in 2007.

1 Life and career
2 Discography
3 Papaya dance
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Life and career

Dudziak was born in the Straconka neighborhood of Bielsko-Biała, Poland. She studied piano, but began to sing in the late 50s after hearing records by Ella Fitzgerald. Within a few years she was one of the most popular jazz artists in her native country. She met and later married Michal Urbaniak, In the late 60s they began to tour overseas and in the 70s settled in New York.

Dudziak has few language problems, as she customarily eschews words in favour of wordless vocalizing that is far more adventurous than scat. Already gifted with a remarkable five-octave vocal range, Dudziak employs electronic devices to extend still further the possibilities of her voice. She has frequently worked with leading contemporary musicians, including Archie Shepp and Lester Bowie, and was a member of the Vocal Summit group, with Jay Clayton, Jeanne Lee, Bobby McFerrin, Norma Winstone, Sting, Michelle Hendricks, and Lauren Newton.

[edit] Discography

Newborn Light (1972)
Super Constellation (1973)
Atma (1974)
Urszula (1976)
Midnight Train (1977)
Urbaniak (1977)
Future Talk (1979)
Magic Lady (1980)
Ulla (1982)
Sorrow Is Not Forever... but Love Is (1983)
High horse (1986)
Magic Lady concert from Walk Away (1989)
Jazz Unlimited (1993)
Journey, Saturation (1994)
And Life Goes On (2002)
Painted Bird (2003)

[edit] Papaya dance

In 2007, Dudziak's classic 1970s song "Papaya" saw a resurgence in popularity in the Philippines where it was regularly featured in a local noontime TV game show. A favorite track for Filipino drag queens as lip-synch material in the '70s gay disco/bar scene, the song refreshed the era in the hearts of those who delighted in the song's upbeat jazz-funk rhythm and uber-campy appeal when it originally came out 30 years ago. A cheerful dance was added, helping to spread the popularity of the song to Latin America and the US. The dancing in the game show resulted from the constant bullying of the host as "old and having weak knees;" thus, he showed that he's still got the spunk by grooving in tune to some of his favorite songs from his era. The Papaya Dance has then been featured in several news programs, including MSNBC^[1], and Reuters^[2]. On March 21, 2008, the dance was featured on ABC's Good Morning America, where the hosts also danced to the song.^[3]