It was all in his SOUND; he would play just one note and everyone could instantly and completely hear and feel the immensity and power of his heart, the fundamental and undeniable humanity of his music and his pure joy in simply improvising with other musicians or playing solo violin. I had the amazing good fortune to know him well and to play and record with him many times. He and Agnieszka would come to my house in NYC and hang about and laugh and play and rehearse. He loved my tunes like Zal, which I wrote for him: my Leaving and Elm and Broken Wing and The Pearl. Then he got sick, and he wanted to do one more recording before he died. It turned out to become his CD PASSION for string orchestra and jazz ensemble with Zbiggy, Eddie Gomez on bass Jack DeJohnette on drums John Scofield on guitar, Nana on percussion and myself on piano. Zbiggy somehow was able to integrate the strings with the jazz ensemble seamlessly. He was sick and sometimes feeling weak but he played like an angel burning with a superhuman intensity that soared above and away from this earth yet was truly of it. It’s my favorite CD of all I’ve ever heard or been part of. Few people knew of him, but the ones that did and do know that HE is the source of the modern post-Coltrane violin.
With love, joy and remembrance
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