Thoughts about the music from Ed Partyka:
Stolen Blues is just that - It’s a minor blues and I stole
it from someone. The story is longer (and much more interesting)
than the piece itself. It’s just a nice way to say „Hello“ and let a
few of the guys’ blow.

Overcast was “given” to me by two wonderful
muscicians. The
opening four notes are from a composition called „Frames“ by
pianist Oliver Kent that I couldn’t get out of my head. Efrat gave
the lyrics to me last year as a birthday present and it grew from
there, picking up quite a bit of Gil Evans along the way.

Opium For The Masses was originally commissioned for
chamber
ensemble by Nürnberg´s Ensemble Kontraste and is in a new
style I call “Fake Classical”. This piece came about while I was
playing around with minor 9th intervals and different instrumental
colours. I suppose my 7 years as a member of the Vienna Art
Orchestra influenced the tango; it just seemed like the least likely
thing that I could do at that point in time, so I did it.

My friend Verena Sternbach gave Time to me and we
used to
perform this piece in the vocal/tuba duo we had in Vienna (don’t
laugh). I wanted to feature the bass clarinets and low brass and
before I knew it, the rhythm section had a coffee break and we
had an „a-Capella/country/chorale/slow waltz“.

Homecoming was originally a piece from my good
friend Oliver
Leicht. He sent me a lead sheet a couple of years ago and asked
me to arrange the piece for his band. After I changed so much
that the only thing that remained from his original composition
were a couple of chords and an F# in measure 47, he said I could
keep the damned thing for myself.

Silent Weeping is a composition from an Australian
composer
named Mia Brine who I met on my last trip to the fabulous city of
Perth. I brought a lead sheet back for Efrat and we both agreed
that the haunting lyrics and melody were very special. I started
playing around with keys and modes and it ended up quite a
different place than Mia intended - My sincerest apologies to the
very talented Ms. Brine.

Get Happy is a tune I’ve been singing with my detect
for the last
couple of years, and in minor the lyrics about the judgement day
take on a slightly sinister meaning. I left the singing duties to
Efrat but I couldn’t resist adding some preaching at the
beginning, musical sacrilege in the middle and a bit of weirdness
at the end.

Ed Partyka – conductor, arranger
Efrat Alony – vocals (tracks 2, 4, 6,7)
Marko Lackner – alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute,
clarinet, bass clarinet
Florian Trübsbach – alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet
Hubert Winter – tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, bass
clarinet
Lutz Häfner – tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Norbert Emminger – baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Tobias Weidinger – lead trumpet & flügelhorn
Sebastian Strempel – trumpet & flügelhorn
Martin Auer – trumpet & flügelhorn
Stephan Zimmermann – trumpet & flügelhorn
Matthieu Michel – flügelhorn
Jeffrey McGuire – french horn
Stefan Schaller – french horn
Klaus Heidenreich – lead trombone
Gerhard Gschößl – trombone
Johannes Herrlich – trombone
Eberhard Buziat – bass trombone & tuba
Hendrik Soll – piano & prepared piano
Markus Schieferdecker – bass
Mario Gonzi – drums