Ed Partyka explains, “…we need to look forward and to the side and not back. I try to find “places” where a big band has never been before.”
His music challenges the musicians as well as the listeners and rewards both sides in equal measure – it is everything valuable music should and wants to be. And while this sounds like a deadly serious statement, Ed’s compositions and interpretations never lack subtle irony and an exuberant joy in playing.
Ed met the Israeli singer, composer and arranger Efrat Alony several years ago. The two artists have in common their studies with Bob Brookmeyer and their participation in his “New Art Ensemble” – Bob, who has given them important impluses both as musicians and composers, and whose encouragement and support have been fruitful sources of inspiration for their search – and finding – of their own originality. Efrat Alony and Ed Partyka share, besides technical perfection, their unconditional will for (musical) adventure as well as their romantic traits.