Jackie Orszaczky
Encyclopedia
Jackie Orszaczky was a Hungarian
-Australia
n musician
, arranger, and record producer
, (jazz
, blues
, R&B, funk
) playing mainly bass guitar
, but also various other instruments.
Orszaczky toured Australia in 1970-71 with the jazz-fusion group Syrius. During the tour the group recorded an album
in Melbourne, that was released both in Australia and Hungary.
After returning to Australia in 1974, Orszaczky joining an experimental group Bakery. He then established a career as a leading musician in the front rank of much of the best jazz, soul, funk and rhythm & blues music created in Australia in the 1970s to the 2000s. He also continued to tour in Hungary, and continued to command crowds of 3,000 to 30,000 people at his annual Budapest concerts.
Orszaczky performed with various groups: The Grandmasters, with partner Tina Harrod; Jump Back Jack; the Godmothers; The Orszaczky Budget Orchestra; and, the Jackie Orszaczky Band.
He was musical director and arranger for the Marcia Hines
, and wrote arrangements and orchestrations for The Whitlams
, You Am I
, Hoodoo Gurus
, Tim Finn
, Savage Garden
, Hoodoo Gurus
, Grinspoon
and Leonardo's Bride
. He also collaborated with Tony Buck, Chris Abrahams, Andrew Robson.
His last gig was at the Macquarie Hotel in Surry Hills
on 24 January 2008, a night the trombonist James Greening described as unbelievable. "Since his illness (cancer) 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."
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
-Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, arranger, and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, (jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, R&B, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
) playing mainly bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, but also various other instruments.
Work
While in his 20s, Orszaczky was a well known bass guitarist in Hungary.Orszaczky toured Australia in 1970-71 with the jazz-fusion group Syrius. During the tour the group recorded an album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
in Melbourne, that was released both in Australia and Hungary.
After returning to Australia in 1974, Orszaczky joining an experimental group Bakery. He then established a career as a leading musician in the front rank of much of the best jazz, soul, funk and rhythm & blues music created in Australia in the 1970s to the 2000s. He also continued to tour in Hungary, and continued to command crowds of 3,000 to 30,000 people at his annual Budapest concerts.
Orszaczky performed with various groups: The Grandmasters, with partner Tina Harrod; Jump Back Jack; the Godmothers; The Orszaczky Budget Orchestra; and, the Jackie Orszaczky Band.
He was musical director and arranger for the Marcia Hines
Marcia Hines
Marcia Elaine Hines, AM is a vocalist, actress and TV personality who achieved success in her adopted homeland of Australia. Hines made her debut, at the age of sixteen, in the Australian version of the stage musical Hair and followed with the role of Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar...
, and wrote arrangements and orchestrations for The Whitlams
The Whitlams
The discography of The Whitlams consists of six studio albums, two live albums, one compilation album, and eighteen singles.-Studio albums:-Live albums:-Compilation albums:-Singles:-Videos:-Music videos:-Awards:...
, You Am I
You Am I
You Am I are an Australian alternative rock band, fronted by vocalist/guitarist and main songwriter Tim Rogers. They were the first Australian band to have three albums successively debut at #1 on the ARIA Charts, and are renowned for their live performances.-History:Tim Rogers formed the first...
, Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus are an Australian rock band, formed in Sydney in 1981, by the mainstay Dave Faulkner and later joined by Richard Grossman , Mark Kingsmill , and Brad Shepherd...
, Tim Finn
Tim Finn
Brian Timothy "Tim" Finn, OBE is a New Zealand singer and musician. Finn is most known for his music with New Zealand 1970s and 1980s rock group Split Enz, and later for his solo work, a temporary membership in his brother Neil's band Crowded House and his joint efforts with Neil Finn as the Finn...
, Savage Garden
Savage Garden
Savage Garden were an Australian pop rock performance and songwriting duo. Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones formed the group in Brisbane, Queensland in 1994...
, Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus are an Australian rock band, formed in Sydney in 1981, by the mainstay Dave Faulkner and later joined by Richard Grossman , Mark Kingsmill , and Brad Shepherd...
, Grinspoon
Grinspoon
Grinspoon are an Australian rock band from Lismore, New South Wales formed in 1995 and fronted by Phil Jamieson on vocals and guitar with Pat Davern on guitar, Joe Hansen on bass guitar and Kristian Hopes on drums. Also in 1995, they won the Triple J-sponsored Unearthed competition for Lismore,...
and Leonardo's Bride
Leonardo's Bride
Leonardo's Bride was an Australian pop band that formed in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in 1989. It consisted of singer Abby Dobson , Dean Manning , Jon Howell and Patrick Wong...
. He also collaborated with Tony Buck, Chris Abrahams, Andrew Robson.
His last gig was at the Macquarie Hotel in Surry Hills
Surry Hills, New South Wales
Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is located immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney...
on 24 January 2008, a night the trombonist James Greening described as unbelievable. "Since his illness (cancer) 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."
'Piccolo' bass
In the early 1990s, Orszaczky developed the 'piccolo' bass, a high-tuned bass guitar with light gauge bass strings pitched either at D, G, C, F or E, A, D, G. This instrument became his signature in the later years.Discography
Selected discs:- 1971 - Devil's Masquerade, Syrius
- 1975 - Morning in Beramiada
- 1994 - Most, Múlt, Lesz, Syrius
- 1994 - Family Lore, Jackie Orszaczky and the Grand Masters
- 2001 - Deserted Downtown
- 2004 - Shacked Up In Paradise, Tina Harrod, produced by J Orszaczky