Biography
Urszula Dudziak — according to music critics, a leading figure of Polish jazz vocals. She has recorded more than 50 albums.
She has performed and recorded with, among others, Krzysztof Komeda, Adam Makowicz, Michał Urbaniak, Bobby McFerrin, Herbie Hancock, Jaco Pastorius, Ron Carter, Michael Brecker, Flora Purim, Nina Simone, Carmen McRae, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Sting and Lionel Hampton. She has toured almost every country in Europe, Asia and the Americas — at Carnegie Hall in New York and the Newport Jazz Festival.
In 1972 „Down Beat" gave her album „Newborn Light" the maximum five-star rating. In 1979 the „Los Angeles Times" named her Singer of the Year. Her track „PAPAYA" became a worldwide hit.
HONOURS
· „Artist Without Borders" — 45th KFPP Opole (2008)
· Bronze Medal „For Merit to Culture — Gloria Artis" (2005)
· Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2009)
· UNESCO „Artist for Peace" (2016) — the first such title for an artist from Eastern Europe
· Fryderyk Lifetime Achievement Award in Jazz (2017)
She possesses an extraordinary vocal range — she has been compared to the Peruvian singer Yma Sumac (5 octaves). A master of scat — the jazz technique of imitating instruments with the voice.
In 2026 she appears at Rawa Jazz Fest on 27 June as special guest of Grzech Piotrowski's LUDOVICA.