The Romanian-American Jazz Orchestra – Jazz as an International Language

An event of a tremendous local, national and even international importance was organized by the Hungarian State Theater from Cluj on Sunday, the 4th of December. It was a crème de la crème type of event, an opportunity which rarely arises in a lifetime. For jazz lovers, the concert meant even more, which makes my interpretation much more difficult, simply because this type of event is a phenomenon almost impossible to put down in words.

The Romanian-American Jazz Orchestra brought in front of the numerous audience gathered for one of the most important events of the year 11 artists of an unquestionable value: Sam Newsome (saxophone & orchestra), Lucian Ban (piano & orchestra), Cristian Soleanu (tenor saxophone), Cătălin Milea (alto saxophone), Mircea Neamţu (trombone), Gabriel Cupşa (French horn), Ştefan Dobrican (trumpet), Gabriel Gyarmati (trumpet), as well as three exceptional guests from the United States, considered to be real pioneers in their field – Joe Bowie (trombone), Eric Revis (contrabass) and Nasheet Waits (drums). Eleven outstanding performers. Eleven masterful artists. Some geniuses, I could say, without any exaggeration and without fear of the patheticalness that such an assessment could create in some totally different contexts. Some of the most meritorious musicians of the world, aligned on the same stage, under the gaze of the same audience, tuned to the same orchestral score, in the same time, the same spirit and with the same impressive intensity. This could be the summary of the almost 2-hour concert, which I can only feel honored that I attended.

The Romanian-American Jazz Orchestra project is a highly respectable initiative in itself, setting the highlight on two different cultures – Romanian and American, while managing to keep the result of this unexpected musical combination to a standard that amazed critics and audiences from all over the world. Moreover, the concert in Cluj was a premiere: a world premiere of a work conceived by the American Sam Newsome and the Romanian Lucian Ban, a work which combined the Romanian folklore, the Romanian traditional music, with the classic American jazz and its diverse modern influences.

In order to present the work, the two protagonists shared the concert, each of them taking over the role of orchestrater of certain pieces, as well as the role conductor (read: guide or interpreter of the orchestral score), giving indications to the other artists before and during their moment. While the first part of the concert (which evidently belonged to Sam) was dedicated to the musical spirit of New-York, the last part (belonging to Lucian Ban) highlighted more of the Romanian culture. Accordingly, the last two pieces of the concert were an incredible fusion of a Hungarian song performed by Marta Sebestyen and a Romanian traditional carol – O ce veste minunată (a moment dedicated to Lucian’s mother, who could not attend the concert, for medical reasons), as well as a version of the Romanian traditional song Învârtita de pe Mureş, when the exceptionally intense contrabass and trombone featuring found our hypnotized gazes to the stage which announced the ending of the event. As required by a moment of such intensity, the public, still unsatiated, asked enthusiastically for an encore. An encore which was offered with the same enthusiasm.

Now, after a couple of days have passed, I am still unable to decide what I liked the most. Was it the simple idea of this project, the group of artists, or the music they make together? Was it the atmosphere, the audience, the exceptional mutual respect shown by people from both sides of the stage? Was it the combination of the two cultures or the result which exceeded all expectations? It surely was a mixture of all these aspects together. I can only congratulate the Hungarian State Theater from Cluj for this outstanding and well-earned achievement, the CEC Artslink Foundation for its involvement and support in organizing this beautiful event, as well as each artist for their sensibility, which justifies their reputation an all occasions. Occasions that I hope we will have as often as possible in the future.