ROMANIA: Iordache-Suita Titan (2019)

 Suita Titan represents a sentimental archaeology of my childhood in Bucharest's largest district, Titan, in the 70's and 80's, as a member of the population boom which followed Ceausescu's 1966 decree which outlawed abortion. It was also a time when Romania switched from the somewhat relaxed socialism of the late 60's to the Stalinism which ultomately led to the regime's demise, in1989.

 Our neighborhood, Titan, was built in the 60's by modernist architects inspired by Le Corbusier. It featured large open spaces and a huge park, which was yet halfway wild at the time. It was the place where I discovered the world, between the Communist and the patriotic marches we were made to sing at school and, on the other hand, the faint echoes of the hippy movement which had filtered to Romania, the cassette tapes we kept copying from each other and the smuggled LPs we traded. The minds of my generation began to open to the world in a society that was increasingly closing itself to all exterior influences.

 The music on this album evokes those times, as I have lived them. It is about childhood's games, the shouts of ambulant recyclers who offered to take away the empty bottles or scrap iron, shouting in front of the apartment buildings, president Nixon's visit, it'as also about my friends, our park and the cop shows we watched on TV. The album was recorded live, in 2017, during a concert organized by pianist Lucian Ban at Bucharest's cultural center ARCUB.

 The band included Vlad Simon, a very gifted young player, on trumpet and vocals, the excellent Spanish saxophonist Daniel Torres, my long time collaborators, guitarist Dan Mitrofan and drummer Tavi Scurtu (whom I've had the pleasure to feature on Garden Beast and One Life Left, too), and Adi Stoenescu, one of Romania's best organ players. Due to technical reasons, Vlad's voice on the last tune was not properly recorded, so I preferred re-recording (overdubbing) the vocal part myself in the studio, which was a first-time thing for me.

 credits
released December 22, 2018
 Iordache - alto and baritone saxophones, percussion, melodica, voice, composer. Daniel Torres - tenor saxophone. Vlad Simon - trumpet Dan Mitrofan - guitar Adi Stoenescu - organ Tavi Scurtu - drums