Artist: Jorge Szajko
Title: Orquesta Salvaje
Cat Number: SLAMCD246
Year released: 2001
Format: CD & all digital platforms
Barcode: 5028386024620
BUY CD, DOWNLOAD & STREAMING OPTIONS
An “avant-gardist Argentinian progressive rock symphony” from Jorge Szajko, who plays the majority of the instruments including the full string section. It features Latin rhythms, orchestral movements, solo piano, free jazz and left-field fusion.
Jorge Szajko: violins, violas, cellos, double basses, sacha violin, saxophones, flutes, piano, moxeño, melódica, spanish guitar, oboe, percussion
Piny Levalle: drums (on 1, 3, 5-7)
Pablo Rodriguez: bombo legüero (on 1)
Enrique Bonetto: saxophones and bass flute (on 7)
Alejandro Cavalli: double bass (on 8)
Luis De La Torre: drums (on 8)
Facundo Guevara: percussion (on 3, 5 & 6)
“Out of nowhere comes Jorge Szajko with a fascinating debut album. Discovered by British saxophonist and Slam owner George Haslam on one of his trips to Argentina…The music includes strong influences from South American popular music, Latin jazz, left-field improvisation, even a touch of progressive rock’s pomposity…Each track (except the piano solo) is a multitracking tour de force. The title track, a four-part suite lasting 13 minutes, truly is one of a kind…a highly original album.” – Francois Couture, All Music Guide
“Orquesta Salvaje is a richly layered tapestry of strings, percussion, and winds that borders on the most progressive jazz produced but stands firmly in an ethnic tradition of rhythmic harmonies and harmonic rhythms…From the first violently sawed notes of a full string orchestra, performed by one man, through his chaotic, yet melodic piano solo, you must know that Jorge has a musical mind that reaches into the infinite…The tones, the rhythms, the harmonies: they all compliment each other. The music is dark and ominous and at the same time breathtaking and surreal. I try to not gush about music often, but I guess I get carried away sometimes. Just hear one track from this disc and be catapulted into another mind, the mind of Szajko. I hope this music is remembered.” – Fred Barrett, Beyond Coltrane
“Jorge Szajko is an extraordinary multi-instrumentalist who not only has the technique, but also the concept, to make such a project a wholeheartedly successful. All the tracks are original compositions drawing on influences as diverse as classical music, Argentinean folk music and jazz, and a probably as few other I haven’t picked up on as yet (!) in a cohesive and varied set…The music on this disc was recorded over a seventeen year time span, but retains a strong narrative quality and unity of purpose throughout, as opposed to disparate bunch of tracks thrown to make an album. An absorbing fifty five minutes of music, that surprise and confounds every expectation.” – Nick Lea, Jazz Views
All compositions & arrangements by Jorge Szajko.
Recorded in Buenos Aires from 1982 to 1999.
Mastered by Marioano Blaistein.