Hold Your Fire Ed Partyka Jazz Orchestra

• 1 Hold Your Fire 08:40
• 2 I'm Not Runnung Away 08:23
• 3 Isabelle 08:09
• 4 I Told Jesus 05:58
• 5 Dead Man 06:55
• Total Runtime 38:05

Info for Hold Your Fire

"Ed Partyka and Julia Oschewsky make music that is original and unique. To put it in a nutshell: Is there another singer who writes profound, probing, singable songs about life and love, arranged for a thoroughly modern, 18-piece jazz ensemble with an amplified low instrumentation of tuba, bass trombone, baritone saxophone and contrabass clarinet? [...]

As fans know, Hold Your Fire is their fourth album, preceded by two other recordings as co-leaders, Hits (2014) and Kopfkino (2017), and Partyka's In the Tradition (2018), on which Oschewsky contributed on two tracks. Their musical acquaintance dates back to 2008, when Julia played in the Bundesjugendjazzorchester BuJazzO, which Partyka led. When Julia sang "Time" by Tom Waits, Ed was blown away.

"She sang it so great that I put a little tick next to her name in my head," he recalls. "When my vocalist left the band in 2012, Julia was the first person I thought of." They've been working together ever since." (Paul de Barros)

Julia Oschewsky, vocals
Ed Partyka Jazz Orchestra
Ed Partyka, arranger, musical direction

The Ed Partyka Jazz Orchestra (EPJO)

As on their previous CD Hits! Vol.1 (MONS Records), the singer and composer Julia Oschewsky plays a prominent role on the current album Kopfkino. “Her voice adds a clarity and intensity that had been lacking in the sound of the orchestra so far” enthused Ed Partyka, “and it definitely colours my arrangements in a very special way.”

“Kopfkino” – it means fantasies, and the sequences of events and occurrences that play out in your own imagination.

Ed Partyka purposely chose this title for the new album by the Ed Partyka Jazz Orchestra, and he uses the concept as a synonym for his composition (The Summer Of My Discontent (Summer In My Disco Tent)) and arrangements.

Composers such as Wayne Shorter (Fee Fi Fo Fum), Harold Arlen (Out Of This World), Ola Onabule (It’s The Peace That Deafens), Julia Oschewsky (One Two Three Ten) and Joris Roelofs (Ataraxia) all have their say; Ed Partyka puts his stamp on their work with his unmistakeable arrangements and inimitable musical ingenuity.

“This music invites you to (day) dream. The dense texture of the orchestration, the melodically improvised solos, and the bright-sounding voice of Julia Oschewsky fire up the imagination. A feeling of sad beauty infuses the music and the whole power of the orchestra is revealed in my dramatic arrangements” said the artist. According to Ed Partyka, every big band has its own language. Judging Kopfkino on those terms, the composer and arranger has once again managed to create an unforgettably eloquent work in a refined and polished language!

Julia Oschewsky
To think the music away from my life - impossible. It was somehow always there and when it was gone, it quickly reappeared, tapped me on the shoulder and said. "I want more".

I am originally from Bingen, a beautiful town in the romantic Rhine valley. In 2003, Amsterdam became my new home for 13 years when I started studying jazz singing at the conservatory there. After returning to Bingen at the end of 2016, I quickly felt at home again and was able to gain a musical foothold. I continue to feel deeply connected to Amsterdam and my fellow musicians there.

My life as a musician is colourful, exciting and full of variety. Again and again, new doors seem to open to areas of my thinking that I had no idea existed before. Music makes me stumble, be on the road, doubt, encounter myself and others, ask questions, find answers, grow.

In the following, I have retraced my path and summarised the most important stations for you.

This album contains no booklet.