Bottom line...Vorcza is explosive; a musical evolution at high speed. Their sound marries jazz, funk and world-influenced rhythms into a layered, sultry, and at times lusty sound.
The band features Ray Paczkowski of Trey Anastasio's 70 VOLT PARADE on vocals and keys, Robinson Morse on acoustic and electric bass and Gabriel Jarrett (formerly of Jazz Mandolin Project) on drums.
Vorcza is a collaborative project interested primarily
in improvisation. Contained in that word, however, is a
great wealth of history, nuance, and potential. From the
freely played cadenzas of the classical idiom through the
realms of blues and jazz and onward into the age of the “
creative†D.J. and electronic musician, improvised music
has woven itself into the collective conciousness. You
may love to hear Charlie Parker improvise yet shudder to
hear Albert Ayler hold forth; Jimi Hendrix’s sound may
appeal while Jerry Garcia leaves you cold. Certainly all
these artists, in part, found their expression through
improvisation, yet the boundaries each pushed and the
material they chose to explore seem wildly disparate.
When you listen closely, you will hear in each a distinctive
tension, that beautiful intangible created by
instantaneous composition, unique, ephemeral,
unforgettable. Improvisation encompasses a vast
territory, unlimited in its potential for the creation of
that beautiful sound; it is a geography that inspires and
thrills this trio.
Vorcza's process is straightforward. Individually, they
bring compositions, rhythmic ideas, and harmonic ideas
to the group. Influences in this respect have ranged from
Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra and other proponents of “freeâ€
music, to Stravinsky and Bach, to Balinese chants, to Fela
Kuti’s sounds, and to traditional dance musics, tango,
samba, etc. However, it is the process of arranging these
pieces and ideas in a collaborative, “on the fly,†manner
that is most interesting when listening to this band.
Essentially, what the musicians do is take the core rhythmic/harmonic
idea in a piece, discover it, and then shift it into another framework. All
in the process of performing the piece. This is not
improvisational arrangement by an individual
conductor, but rather as a group discovery. It involves
exploring the implications of aspects of a given piece to
an “unknown†place. When thinking of Vorcza, use this metaphor:
Music as
yourself, running full bore to the edge of a cliff and then
balancing one foot out over the abyss. In itself an
exciting thing but not unimagined. But to take the next
step and leave the ground itself, stand on air over nothing
takes imagining the unimaginable. Of course, the
moment you might find yourself standing over nothing,
well...the instinct is to either look down, or scramble
back to solid ground. Try to resist!
