IN THE TRADITION keeps the promise that's inferred in its title. Without a doubt the Ed Partyka Jazz Orchestra maintains the tradition of great jazz big bands. It begins in a formal manner: Fletcher Henderson, Earl Hines, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton and Gil Evans all called their large ensembles an „Orchestra and not a big band. With that, they meant that they conducted a constant body of sound that - as a jazz orchestra - followed similar high aspirations as those of classical orchestras. The compositions and arrangements of Ed Partyka stay true to these traditions. Like the great bandleaders of the past, he handles his orchestra like a multilayered instrument whose timbres he employs with all of his ingenuity. The Ed Partyka Jazz Orchestra plays polyphonic brass sections, sometimes crisp like Count Basie, sometimes Sound Paintings as previously done by Duke Ellington, and at times elegant like his professor, the composer and arranger Bob Brookmeyer; A person - like Ed Partyka - who is able to combine these different sounds with such coherence that they seem forever intertwined clearly knows his or her craft. In doing so, he creates something new, because despite all historical references, his orchestra imitates none of these historical models. Ed Partyka's imagination and skills range far across the customary big band arrangements. Where others would write flatly, he combines with a fine sense strong rhythms, voluminous wind instruments, precise breaks and tender interludes on complex voice leading. Moreover he highlights the instrumental solos and the singer Julia Oschewsky with finely graduated orchestral sounds - also a sign of high musical quality. Top soloists crown these complex arrangements.
