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Take Five With Iordache

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IordacheMeet Iordache:

I was born in 1967 in Bucharest, Romania, where I still live. I started playing saxophone in 1990. My first gigs were with rock groups. In 2000 I started a band which was dedicated to the music of Sun Ra, called Outer Space Five. After my tunes started to outnumber the others I renamed the band Iordache and we invited an American trombonist, Tom Smith, to sit in on a few occasions. The first album, Friday/featuring Tom Smith was released in 2003 and was well received by the audience. In April 2005 we released a second one, Dissipatin'. Later I did some self-produced albums.

Instrument(s):

Saxophone

Teachers and/or influences? Garbis Dedeian.

I knew I wanted to be a musician when... I heard my first record of Charlie Parker, Charlie Parker on Broadcast. At the time I didn't know who was playing, for me it was just some music on the B side of a cassette I got from a friend. Side A was Babylon by Bus by Bob Marley.

Your sound and approach to music: My sound is whatever I feel like at the moment. My approach, if I really have one, is to try keeping an open mind.

Your teaching approach: I tell them to listen, then practice. And try not to get bored.

Your dream band:

Sorin Romanescu: guitar; Eugen Nutescu: guitar; Utu Pascu: bass; Tavi Scurtu: drums. These are the guys I play with. And I would really like to add another saxophone or trombone player. I like so many people, so I can't really tell who the dream horn player would be.

Road story: Your best or worst experience: My cell phone started ringing as I was playing a solo saxophone performance. I integrated that sound into what I was doing and tried to keep a straight face.

Favorite venue:

In Romania, Green Hours Jazz Café;

Abroad, Porgy and Bess (Vienna), Kulturfabrik (Luxembourg), Artel Jazz Club (Jerusalem).

Your favorite recording in your discography and why? The Lazy Prince. Because the music is very relaxed. And it also comes with a short story that reads like a kind of anti-work manifesto.

The first Jazz album I bought was: Brothers and Other Mothers with Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Brew Moore, Serge Chaloff.

What do you think is the most important thing you are contributing musically? I'm kind of funny. I don't know, really. I turned a lot of people on to jazz, not always the same people who heard me play.

Did you know...

I have a pond with real live frogs? Not the croaking type, but those who sound like early cell phones.

CDs you are listening to now:

Santogold, Santogold (Downtown);

Rujindiri, Maitre de L'Inanga, Musique de L'Ancienne Cour de Rwanda (fmd186);

Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Money Jungle (Blue Note);

Sonny Rollins, What's New (Bluebird);

Gilberto Gil, Parabolicamara (WEA).

Desert Island picks:

Rujindiri, Maitre de L'Inanga, Musique de L'Ancienne Cour de Rwanda (fmd186);

Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Money Jungle (Blue Note);

Sonny Rollins, What's New (Bluebird).



How would you describe the state of jazz today? Too many professionals, and the real stars are so few. Especially the original ones.

What are some of the essential requirements to keep jazz alive and growing? It's all about being creative and hip. A lot of musicians today underrate the importance of being hip. A lot of the jazz legends, from Fletcher Henderson to Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie or Miles Davis knew this, and worked with this.

What is in the near future? A new album, hipper than the one before. It will probably be called One Life Left, as I'm a fan of PacMan.

By Day:

Thank God, I don't. But I sometimes do things around the house.

If I weren't a jazz musician, I would be a: Rabbit.

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