Home » Member Page

Iordache

I am a saxophonist and composer, I write and play new music

About Me

I was born in 1967 in Bucharest, Romania, and began playing saxophone in 1990, under the influence of Charlie Parker, Lee Konitz and Ornette Coleman, whom I tried to imitate.

My first professional gig as a saxophone player was playing a solo on a song by a rock group called Timpuri Noi. Then came a stint with Harry Tavitian's Blues Community. I started a jazz trio in '93, but he wasn't up to the task yet. Then I started a punk-rock group (...). It was very successful for some years and they recorded some good albums, then split in '99. Meanwhile I also played with pianist Lucian Ban's Jazz Unit, a group which became quite a sensation on the local jazz scene.

After having left ( the punk-rock group) I played with Vlaicu Golcea's Rebop Factory then started transcribing big band music for ear training. One of the most difficult things I had chosen were written by Sun Ra so I sought up some of his other records and also read his biography by John Szwed. Out of this came the idea of a band called “Outer Space Seven”, a septet dedicated to Sun Ra's music. After two concerts, the Seven had turned into Five.

Around 2001 after an event which changed some of my ideas about life I started writing my own music. At first it was performed alongside the Sun Ra material by the Outer Space Five (with Sorin Romanescu on guitar, Vlaicu Golcea on bass....and whatever drummer we could find). Then as the new tunes were replacing the old playlist he met Tom Smith, an outstanding trombone player and big band director who had come to Bucharest as a Fullbright scholar to create and rehearse a big band within the Academy of Music. The concerts where Tom Smith played as a guest with Outer Space Five (then with “iordache”... the name was changed to get more gigs and capitalize on the remains of his brief rock career) were, in my opinion, the only real jazz lessons I ever had. Then I rehearsed briefly with the big band, shortly before it disbanded. My first album( “Friday - featuring Tom Smith”) has been released by A&A records. My second one “Dissipatin'” was released in 2005. In 2009 I started my own record label. Fiver House Records. In 2012 I released his album “One Life Left”, released on my own label. In 2013 I followed it up with Garden Beast, an album dedicated to the animals and plants in my garden. In 2015 I recorded Two Hours In June, which featured Alex Harding, a master of the baritone saxophone. It was released in 2016. In March 2017 I recorded on vocalist Ruxandra Zamfir's album Wild At Heart, alongside guitarists Sorin Romanescu and Dan Mitrofan. My next album, Organic Natural, is entirely played on dandelions and leaves and is scheduled for release on December 26, 2017. I am currently crowdfunding it on Indiegogo.

Since 2003 I am the saxophonist of rock band Kumm, from Cluj.

Contact Me

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.