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Iordache

Iordache was born in 1967 in Bucharest, Romania, and began playing saxophone in 1990. His first influences were Charlie Parker, Lee Konitz and Ornette Coleman.

In the early 90's he played with Harry Tavitian's Blues Community.

Between '96 and '99 he played with pianist Lucian Ban's Jazz Unit, then with bassist Vlaicu Golcea's Rebop Factory. In '99 he was asked to play alto with Orient Express, a 9-piece band led by pianist Harry Tavitian and recorded the album "Axis Mundi".

After discovering Sun Ra and reading his biography by John Szwed, he started a band called "Outer Space Seven", a septet dedicated to Sun Ra's music. After two concerts, it had turned into "Outer Space Five", for obvious reasons.

Around 2001 after an event which changed some of his ideas about life he started writing his own music. At first it was performed alongside the Sun Ra material by the Outer Space Five (with Sorin Romanescu on guitar, Vlaicu Golcea on bass... and various drummers). Then as the new tunes were replacing the old playlist he changed the band name to Iordache and met Tom Smith, an outstanding trombone player and big band director who had come to Bucharest as a Fullbright scholar to create and rehearse a big band within the Academy of Music. Later he invited Mr. Smith to join his band for club gigs and jazz festivals.

His first two official albums - "Friday - featuring Tom Smith" and "Dissipatin' " have been released by A&A Records. The subsequent three albums, "One Life Left", "Garden Beast" and "Two Hours In June" - featuring baritone saxophone great Alex Harding - have been released by his own label, Fiver House Records. He describes his music as free funk, where compositions and improvisations are governed by the rules of chance.

A second version of Iordache - 2006 to 2011 - included drummer Tavi Scurtu, bassist Utu Pascu, Sorin Romanescu and Eugen Nutescu on guitars. In 2006 they had the first concerts abroad, in Jerusalem and Luxemburg. Later he became interested in writing for larger ensembles.

"Three's a Crowd" is another collaborative duo with guitarist Sorin Romanescu. Their actions range from playing standards to bold explorations of chaos. They opened for Mats Gustafsson's "The Thing" in 2011, in Oradea.

Five years ago, a friend started recording all his live performances. This has resulted in a few homemade records: "hesitations" and "the lazy prince" (on sale at CD Baby), "naked saxophone", "cheap fun", and most recently "start from scratch" and "abstract dynamics". The covers are recycled cardboard; the graphics are mostly by his daughter Kim aka Medicine Madison. She also made his website.

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Take Five With...

Take Five With Iordache

Read "Take Five With Iordache" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Meet Iordache:I was born in 1967 in Bucharest, Romania, where I still live. I started playing saxophone in 1990. My first gigs were with rock groups. In 2000 I started a band which was dedicated to the music of Sun Ra, called Outer Space Five. After my tunes started to outnumber the others I renamed the band Iordache and we invited an American trombonist, Tom Smith, to sit in on a few occasions. The first album, Friday/featuring Tom ...

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4

Recording

"Garden Beast" By Iordache Recently Released By Fiver House Records

"Garden Beast" By Iordache Recently Released  By Fiver House Records

Source: Iordache

Iordache's jazz funk album Garden Beast was recently released by his own record label, Fiver House Records in jny:Bucharest The album is inspired by Iordache's own garden and the animals and plants within it, as well as nature's own rhythms and cycles. The band is a septet which features saxophonist Iordache, trumpet player Sebastian Burneci, trombonist Florian Radu, guitarist Dan Alex Mitrofan, keyboardist Toni Kühn, bassist Utu Pascu, and drummer Tavi Scurtu. It was recorded at Studioul de Baza in ...

40

Recording

My New Album "One Life Left" Was Released In Cluj and Bucharest

My New Album "One Life Left" Was Released In Cluj and Bucharest

Source: Iordache

Iordache's new album One Life Left (Fiver House Records) was released in Cluj and Bucharest last week. Personnel include: Iordache (saxophone), Petre Ionutescu (trumpet), Lucian Nagy (saxophone), Dan Alex Mitrofan (guitar), Toni Kuhn (keyboards and guitar), Utu Pascu (bass) and Tavi Scurtu (drums). One Life Left was recorded by Alexandru Pascu from AudioTM at Casa Tineretului in Timisoara and mastered by Dan Griober in the UK. The music was composed entirely by Iordache between 2007 and 2011. The album cover, ...

The three horns, and sometimes flute, combine with the electronic guitars and keyboards to create instrumental textures that work perfectly with the music they play. Drawing upon elements of cool jazz, nu jazz, exotica and lounge funk, Iordache’s tone colors can sound like Herbie’s “Speak Like a Child”, Jagga Jazzist, Snarky Puppy, Henry Mancini, Gil Evans or Dolphy's "Hot Cool and Latin". “One Life Left” is new cool jazz for the 21st, with lots of odd quirky eccentricities to boot.

Some album highlights include “Peace” with its classic mid-90s trip-hop down tempo beat and lush vibratoed chords on the electric piano, and “Suriname” which opens with smooth horn orchestrations backing an exotic synth melody that recalls the old Don Ellis experimental big band. This is a very creative and well executed album.

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Primary Instrument

Saxophone

Location

Bucharest

Willing to teach

Beginner to advanced

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Organic Natural

Fiver House Records
2017

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Iordache Meets Alex...

Fiver House Records
2016

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Garden Beast

Fiver House Records
2013

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One Life Left

Fiver House Records
2012

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Dissipatin'

A&A Records
2005

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I Wanna See Your Funk

From: Organic Natural
By Iordache

So Many Nights I've Been Waiting

From: Organic Natural
By Iordache

Spider's Diner

From: Iordache Meets Alex Harding -...
By Iordache

Garden Beast

From: Garden Beast
By Iordache

I Guess It's Love

From: One Life Left
By Iordache

Peace

From: One Life Left
By Iordache

Triangle

From: One Life Left
By Iordache

Videos

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