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Musical Transformations Jackie Orszaczky 1948-2008
Paul Chapman
A wake was held at the Harold Park Hotel on the 10th February for Jackie Orszaczky, the major Australian bandleader of the past 25 years. The event accurately reproduced the conditions Jackie usually played in and created the best live music. A venue packed to over-capacity, sweaty, intimate; boundaries pressed, all ages, ethnicities, social types brought together experiencing a sense of community that over wise would not happen. The physical bringing together of bodies in unexpected intimacy was the counterpoint of Jackie Orszaczky’s musical architecture. That intimacy with his audience was a characteristic of his work, and sustained him. Musical integrity, however, does not have exchange value. Jackie played thousands of gigs at various venues often with little or no cover charge. Financially, it was the publicans who benefited most from Jackie’s music; he nearly always brought full houses. Some of his best work was done at residencies where he was able to negotiate a percentage of the till, but that was by no means the norm from what I have heard. Even in death Jackie was creating a windfall of money for others.
The death of a great musician central to Australia‘s and Sydney’s music life is a time when the community can look holistically at his body of work and the conditions this society allowed him. Jackie was an exile from Communist Hungary in the 70’s. The Jazz and Rock he played and loved was considered subversive by the authorities and they attempted to prohibit it. After an extensive tour with his band Sirius in Australia, he was able to return and became Marcia Hines Musical director. The influence of Hungarian cultural traditions on Jackie’s music was not obvious for outsiders. Hungary was a multi-cultural society where from music from all over central Europe: Magyar, Roma, Slavic, Balkan, Levantine were appreciated and absorbed along with Western classical traditions. Slow soulful dirges that developed into vigorous dances have long been characteristic of Hungarian traditional music; Gospel and Soul embody a similar approach through different musical vocabularies. It was Jackie’s openness to other music and awareness of music’s latent subversiveness that marked him out. As became evident in the numerous original and creative bands he led from the 80’s his mastery of musical styles was always expanding into new areas. Jump Back Jack, The Gray Suits, The Godmothers, The Grandmasters, and The Budget Orchestra were some of groups he led, that gave bohemian Sydney its focal point. Rock, Pop, Soul, Funk, Jazz, Afrobeat, Reggae, at various times he incorporated elements of all of these in his ever-developing arrangements and compositions. His sense of harmony was Ellingtonian in its depth and warmth. Like the great bandleaders of the American Jazz tradition of the forties and fifties he listened to his musical environment, reshaped it and always retained intimacy with his audience. Unlike most of those more famous American musicians Jackie avoided the pitfall of ego inflation.
Jackie was a world musician, as modern musicians playing to heterogeneous audience need to be to remain relevant. Another Hungarian exile who lived his life as world citizen was Karl Polyani. The great Hungarian scholar and thinker on economics said of his own life in 1959 ‘ My life was a world life- I lived the life of the human world. My work is for Asia, for Africa, for the new peoples.’ The same could be said for Jackie, who while a huge star in Hungary chose to live in Australia, a country now more part of Asia than ever before.
With little fuss Jackie received the Hungarian ‘Knights Cross of the Order of Merit’ in 2006. But for Jackie the freedom to be a nonconformist was most important. Polyani was of similar view and wrote in the Great Transformation (1944):” In an established society the right to nonconformity must be institutionally protected. The individual must be free to follow his conscience without fear of the powers that happen to be entrusted with administrative tasks in some fields of social life.’ (255).
The death of a great musician central to Australia‘s and Sydney’s music life is a time when the community can look holistically at his body of work and the conditions this society allowed him. Without Jackie and the bands and musicians he helped develop, Sydney compared to other capitals in Australia or the World would have been a complete musical wilderness. The Australian deserts, criss-crossed with songlines, arguably, would have more music associated with them than Sydney. This is after all the city that produced John Howard. Your worth, whoever you are, is defined by your bank balance and harbourside mansion. In Sydney the music scene has been run as an adjunct to the market, former venues turned to gambling rooms on a calculation of predictable revenue per square foot. Musicians have been all too readily dispensed with, their skills lost, and the loss of community bonds- all not so easily calculated. Musical quality as everyone knows cannot be equated with units sold. The gap between the free markets aspiration to meet the demand for musical quality and reality is an everyday experience of frustrated utopianism.
Karl Polyani’s ‘The Great Transformation’1944 continues to grow in status. It provides the best understanding of how the market has come to dominate every aspect of our society, and how we both relish and recoil from it. He wrote: ‘Our thesis is that the idea of a self-adjusting market implied a stark utopia. Such an institution could not exist for any length of time without annihilating the human and natural substance of society; it would have physically destroyed man and transformed his surroundings into a wilderness.’ Our clinging to that utopianism is taking us closer to that outcome than Polyani might have imagined in 1944. His central observation that as ‘the consequences of unrestrained markets become apparent, people resist’ remains valid - proven, over and over in many different situations and countries. Polyani’s historical argument is premised on the notion Land, Labour and Money are fictitious commodities. We pretend that they behave as real commodities even though they were not created for and by the market. The reality is that Land, Labour, Money cannot and do not behave as manufactured products. Any more than Music and Musicians can be produced automatically from a machine or factory.
Jackie embedded his music and his philosophy of music in this society. It is quite likely that as time goes on the status of his contribution to Australian musical life will increase. He played with virtually every notable improvising Sydney musician of note- vc the list is long. Briefly his most notable and constant collaborators were James Greening (trombone) and Tina Harrod.(vocals) both now with the musical resources and ability to interest a world audience. Jacky was different to all the other local bandleaders and composers in his willingness to give aspirant newcomers of lesser standing ‘a go’, and let them experience some of the different possibilities of the musical moment. If they could express their heart well enough, technical idiosyncrasies, Jackie was aware, added character and a human personal touch. His rhythm sections were always strong enough to compensate for individual vagaries. It was Jackie’s willingness to take musical risks in content and personnel, that made e a night out with him unpredictable and exciting. His musical legacy is one thing, but another is that philosophy of music making. Fashions and styles in music change and future audiences maybe unaware of the derivation of the some of the musical practices they will experience. If the next generation of musicians have the confidence to take risks; transform material; listen to everything and keep close to their audience, Jackie’s gift to Australia will have been received.
Sydney Morning Herald
Beauty shone in his music
February 13, 2008
Jackie Orszaczky, 1948-2008
http://www.smh.com.au/news/obituaries/beauty-shone-in-his-music/2008/02/12/1202760295139.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
MORE than anyone else, Jackie Orszaczky was the hub around which the many-spoked wheel of the Sydney music scene revolved. While the music itself was always his priority, he engendered a sense of community in making it.
That a community of musicians could better serve the music, and that the music innately served the needs of the wider community, were central concepts to his philosophy.
The singer, band leader, bassist, composer, arranger, producer and festival organiser died on February 3 after living with lymphoma for two years. He was 59. While he preferred to live in relative anonymity in Australia, he was a star in his native Hungary, where he headlined at massive outdoor concerts.
In 2006 he quietly received Hungary's Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit for his contribution to music and culture. What was to have been a 60th birthday concert in Budapest in April, organised by the Hungarian Government, will go ahead as a tribute.
If he eschewed stardom, he lightly wore the mantle of guru bestowed on him by two generations of soul, funk, jazz and rock musicians who passed through his bands, and learned about integrity as they learned about arranging for horns, or weighting the parts of a rhythmic structure to give it momentum. Players of all ages crammed into the tiny front room of his Erskineville home, eager to drink from the Orszaczky wellspring.
He was born Miklos Jozsef Orszaczky in Budapest in 1948 to Laszlo, an engineer, and Giselle. He initially studied classical piano and violin, and at five his singing already excited his violin teacher. If Hungary was then something of a political basket case, it was a musical crucible. Children learned countless folk songs (thanks to Kodaly), Bartok had recently left a towering legacy, and snippets of Western pop, soul and jazz stole across the borders - enough to whet appetites, launch imitations and make this music seem like the voice of freedom. It was a combination of influences which informed Orszaczky's music.
Perhaps some of his resilient character is explained by the fact that when the counter-revolution came in 1956, the Orszaczky family had to hide in the cellar of their house, while bullets ploughed into the walls. When they emerged a week later he saw the "pancake people", those who had been run over by tanks.
At 12 he was in a four-piece vocal group singing doo-wop and gospel. "At 14 we formed a band," he recalled, "and it was decided I would be the bass player." It stuck. He fleshed out his knowledge of jazz and soul by listening to the Voice of America when the short-wave broadcasts could be picked up. His early professional experiences were character-building, including playing eight hours a night in a Berlin strip club, paid half the German rate, but five times what Hungary offered.
His progressive rock band, Sirius, already a force in Hungary, came to Australia in 1970. Their impact was considerable, although by the time their one Australian album was released they were heading home, Orszaczky having been called up.
He returned four years later and stayed, becoming musical director for Marcia Hines, which established his reputation as Australia's maestro of soul.
Bands of his own followed, including the irrepressible and popular Jump Back Jack, the Gray Suits, Godmothers, Grandmasters, Lesleyans, Budget Orchestra and the Jackie Orszaczky Band. Meanwhile, there were off-beat projects such as Industrial Accident, for which he transcribed the rhythms of the machinery in a shoe factory, and the Hungarian Rap-Sadists, which merged Hungarian poetry with something between punk and jazz. He also arranged for such pop/rock acts as the Whitlams, Tim Finn, Savage Garden, You Am I and the Hoodoo Gurus.
Orszaczky loved his Hungarian heritage, proudly showing off his homeland to his touring bands, and he relished the food, baking his signature dish, beigli, a poppy-seed and walnut roll, each Christmas Eve. He saw a strong parallel between Hungary's ancient folk dirges and the blues, believing they expressed and purged the same primal human emotions. He was a keen chess player and reader of philosophy.
He played his last gig on January 24, by which time moving was difficult. But once seated on his habitual stool his singing was stronger than ever, to everyone's surprise, including Orszaczky's.
The beauty of the man shone through his music. Although singing was his favourite craft, he will be equally remembered for his profound bass lines, his multi-faceted piccolo bass playing, and his brilliant songs, epitomised on the Family Lore album. If his presentation was pleasantly eccentric and relaxed, there was always an intensity about the intent. Some marvel at the breadth of his endeavour, but to Orszaczky it was all music; all life rendered in sound.
He is survived by his partner and collaborator, the singer Tina Harrod, and two daughters Anna and Mia. His brother, Laszlo, died a week before.
John Shand
ABC Radio National
The Music Show with Andrew Ford pay tribute to the life and work of Jackie Orszaczky. http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/current/audioonly/msw_20080209.mp3
YouTube
View the various clips of Jack now available on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jackie+Orszaczky&search_type=&search=Search
SBS
TRIBUTE TO JAZZ GREAT JACKIE ORSZACZKY
5.2.2008 17:59:46
Even if you don't recognise the name, you will have heard his music. Bass player Jackie Orszaczky, who died on Sunday morning from Lymphoma disease. The Hungarian-born muso emigrated to Australia in 1974, and enthralled audiences from every walk of life, right up until his last performance in January, a few weeks before he died. Sasha Pavey asked drummer and friend of 25 years, Hamish Stuart, about his life, his love of music, and his legacy, and found out he wasn't just a brilliant musician, but a much-loved friend and mentor to many.
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO http://203.15.102.140/elg/worldview-080205-45f.mp3
Sydney Morning Herald
Music lovers mourn band leader Jackie Orszaczky
Clare Morgan
February 5, 2008
JACKIE ORSZACZKY, a renowned bass guitarist and one of the nation's most influential band leaders of the past 25 years, has died after a long illness.
Orszaczky, 60, died in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on Sunday from complications in his treatment for lymphoma. He had been admitted after collapsing at home.
His last gig was at the Macquarie Hotel in Surry Hills on January 24, a night the trombonist James Greening described as unbelievable. "Since his illness he continued to sing better and better every time I played with him," said Greening, who played with Orszaczky for 25 years. "It was inspiring and really empowering."
On Sunday night some of Orszaczky's close friends returned to the hotel to play and to remember a giant of the music scene.
Greening said Orszaczky's legacy was the way he demonstrated how to create a band that worked in total unity. "He had absolute clarity about what was important in music. Because of this he led with total clarity … and allowed everyone in the group to play at their best."
In his wry and humble way he passed on knowledge not only to those he worked with but to "the hundreds of players who came to see him play," Greening said.
Born in Hungary, Orszaczky moved here in 1974 and soon became an in-demand session bass player and band leader, fronting Marcia Hines's band in the late 1970s. As a muso, arranger and producer he contributed to albums from artists including the Whitlams, Tim Finn, Savage Garden, You Am I, Hoodoo Gurus, Grinspoon and Leonardo's Bride.
John Shand, Herald jazz critic, said this breadth of activity and depth of knowledge set Orszaczky apart. "I can't think of anyone in the entire country who touched so many different musicians in so many different ways."
Orszaczky remained popular in Hungary and attracted 30,000 people at his annual Budapest concerts. He is survived by his partner, the singer Tina Harrod, and two daughters. A private funeral will be held this week and on Sunday from 4pm there will be a wake at the Harold Park Hotel.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/music-lovers-mourn-orszaczky/2008/02/04/1202090320716.html
ABC NEWS
Jazz musician Orszaczky dies
Posted Mon Feb 4, 2008 2:23pm AEDT
Accomplished and innovative musician and composer Jackie Orszaczky died on Sunday after nearly two years of having treatment for lymphoma. He was 60.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/04/2153888.htm
Talk Bass Forum
Has a chat page for Bass players to talk about Jacks playing
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5256753
themusic.com.au
Christie Eleizer
VALE JACKIE ORSZACZKY
Orszacsky was a musician who was so driven by music that he often had several projects on the go at the same time. "I'm always looking for things that are different and obscure," he told this columnist. "It made your playing veer from the obvious. The joy of discovering new stuff is the fun. These days you really have to seek it out, you can't rely on radio to do it for you." Friends this week remembered him as a musician who worked at fusing spirituality and justice with his music, a deep and caring person who was concerned about his local Erskineville community where, as he would say, "I just love to hang out."
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