Harry Tavitian

Harry Tavitian, considered by International Herald Tribune "the most interesting contemporary Romanian jazz-man", was born in 1952 in Constanţa in an Armenian family.

Tavitian started classical piano at the age of 6 and graduated the Academy of Music in Bucharest. In 1970 he saw bluesman Memphis Slim live in Braşov and this was a major influence in his future career. After this event, he started singing and playing the blues and soon he made his first steps in jazz, and in 1976 he gave up classical music completely for jazz. He came to prominence in 1978-1987, when he set up a jazz club, organizing recordings and listening sessions where he presented albums by some of the world's most prominent jazz-men. The club was hosted by Constanţa Library, where he was working at that time.



Harry Tavitian is jazz pianist and singer, whose style covers free-jazz, blues, ethno-jazz and avant-garde. He has a style of his own, well defined in East European new jazz, through his incessant artistic experiences. His sound is a melting pot of American jazz, folklore of the Balkans, contemporary chamber music, blues, old music. Also, his Armenian roots are obvious. His music has a strong ethnic character. The Romanian spiritual area, where he has developed is a synthesis between the cultural traditions of Orient and Occident. In this area archaic convictions are still preserved and Tavitian's music is full of myth. Harry Tavitian is also concerned about the syncretism of the arts. In his performances he uses elements of instrumental theatre and costumes.



Harry Tavitian performed concerts and attended important jazz festivals in Romania, Russia, Lithuania, France, Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Yugoslavia, Poland, Scotland, Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Netherlands, USA, Armenia (as a personal guest of the president of Armenia), Slovakia, Switzerland, Slovenia, Austria.

Harry Tavitian - Old Balkan Ballad


Harry Tavitian - At Levant's Gates


Harry Tavitian - Tanarica

Jazz Made in Romania

In a steady Saturday night, some of my favorite Romanian jazz players... Enjoy!


Teodora Enache - My Favorite Things


Marius Popp - Xybaba


Aura Urziceanu - Paganini, Capriccio no. 24


Dan Mândrilă - Ballade


Aura Urziceanu - J.S. Bach, Air from Suite no. 3


Decebal Bădilă - Georgie's Pub


Teodora Enache - Erev Shel Shoshanim

Jazz Made in Romania

Romanian-American Jazz Suite - Transylvanian Dance


Emy Drăgoi & Jazz Hot Club Romania - The Skylark


Marius Preda - Cimbalom Piece


Marian Petrescu Jazz Trio - Lacrymosa


Andrei Roşulescu & Răzvan Slama - Virtual Seasons

Jazz Made in Romania

Teodora Enache

Teodora Enache (born September 30, 1967 in Oneşti) is considered one of the most important Jazz musicians in Romania.


She graduated with Honors the "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University in Iaşi, with a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics. Then, she managed to switch to a successful career in Jazz, graduating the Canto section of Academy of Music in Iaşi and studying canto, improvisation and harmony with Johnny Răducanu and Edmond Deda and rhythm & bongos with Maurice de Martin.


Teodora won the Award for Best Debut at Sibiu International Jazz Festival in 1993. Between 1993 and 2004, she participated in numerous Jazz concerts and festivals in Romania, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Russia and the USA. She performed with internationally acclaimed stars such as Curtis Feller, Les Paul, Stanley Jordan, Johnny Griffin, Rick Condit, Johnny Răducanu, Guido Manusardi, Al Copley and Philippe Duchemin. In 2004 Teodora Enache won The Excellence Prize for the Most Important Contribution in Jazz. She recorded her first disk in 1997, followed by other eight in Romania and the USA. Hers latest project is Rădăcini - Shorashim (English: Roots), Romanian and Jewish songs in Jazz Rhythms.


Teodora Enache & Guido Manusardi Trio - My funny Valentine

After her latest US tour, she has quite often described as "the second Ella Fitzgerald". She is among the few female singers whom, due to her musical spontaneity, one completely discovers only by listening to her live singing.


Teodora Enache - My Favourite Things

Endowed with a rare musical sensitivity, a deep, rich and warm contralto voice and an exceptional emotional intelligence, she has established herself as one of the brightest stars of vocal Jazz. Teodora's voice is laden with dramatic inflections and unexpected tenderness.


Teodora Enache - Mociriţă cu trifoi

Teodora's distinctive trait is her natural use of scat technique, her inborn swing as well as her joy of singing that bursts out of the stage. (from www.teodoraenache.com/)

Marius Mihalache

Marius Mihalache (born May 27, 1974, Bucharest), is a well-known musician, composer, maybe the best ţambal (cymbalo or dulcimer) player in the world.


Born in a Gypsy family with rich musical tradition (his great-great-grandfather was a dulcimer player, his grandfather was one the greatest violin player of the interwar period, his mother was a piano player), he started playing at 6 yo. As a child and teenager he played at Şarpele Roşu (The Red Snake), a restaurant famous as a meeting place for the Bucharest bohéme. He won at 10 (1985) the second prize at the International Festival in Athens, interpreting Rachmaninov and Chopin. In 1988 Mihalache won the first prize at the International Youth Festival in Paris (Rachmaninov, Chopin, Liszt). By 17, in 1991, Marius was already storming Scala in Milano performing Rahmaninov, Chopin, Schuman, Schubert and Mozart in front of a stunning audience. Marius Mihalache is graduate of the Faculty of Music of the University "Spiru Haret" and applied at Berkeley to study music and composition.


He shared same stage with Gloria Gaynor (1992, in Palermo) and Nina Simone (1993, in Rome), Teodora Enache, Ovidiu Lipan-Ţăndărică, among others. He toured in Italy, Spain, Germany, Turkey, Belgium, Holland, USA and others.


Marius writed some movies and tv soundtracks (Asfalt Tango, California Dreamin', Filantropica, The Bastards, La vie en rose) just before his debut album Eclipse in 1998, followed by others, all cult-albums from jazz to gypsy music, and of-course classical stuff (Roots, Performance, Ges Romano (Gypsy Life), La Passion, Best Years, Love and Fire, World Symphony).


Marius Mihalache - Jelem, jelem

Gypsy Life (Ges Romano) album includes music influences from Gypsies in Yugoslavia, Hungary, Russia, Bulgaria, Spain and even Azerbaijan, which Mihalache collected during his project Gypsies in the Balkans. Late 2007, he released his latest production: World Symphony - a mixture of jazz, ethno, roots and lounge - this new musical experiment that amazingly mingles cembalo with flute, harmonica and solo-vocal of both beautiful and gifted Irina Sârbu, among others instruments. His latest project is named Ethnotize (ethno + hypnotize), a world-music masterpiece that includes DJ and black-music beats, all fusion, and ethno-jazz, of-course!


Marius Mihalache - Love of Corea

But his most important self-declared moment was the meeting with his mentor Chick Corea (1998), who offered him the honor of opening a few shows; Marius signed a 5-years contract with Time Concerts, one of the most important management agencies in US, and will release also an album together with his master. "At 17 years I have listened Chick Corea for the first time and the first impulse was to quit music. It was and is a God for me".


Marius Mihalache - Oci Ciornie

Get this experience at least once in a lifetime - see and listen Marius Mihalache!

Anca Parghel

Anca Parghel (born September 16, 1957 in Câmpulung Moldovenesc — died December 5, 2008 in Timişoara) was a celebrate Romanian jazz singer.


Born in the northeastern region of Moldova in 1957, Parghel began singing when she was 3 and studied at the Iaşi Conservatory from the age of 14. She made 16 albums over more than 20 years. "She was a great talent and more than that she was self-taught because there aren't any jazz schools in Romania", musician Damian Draghici told the Associated Press. "She was an extremely talented singer the way she expressed herself. The impact she had on her audience was amazing".


Parghel began performing professionally in 1984 and two years later released her first album "The Young Dance". Her last album "Zamorena" was released this year; she made 16 albums over more than 20 years. She appeared at jazz festivals across the United States and Europe, performing with musicians including Peter Herbolzheimer, Paolo Radoni, Larry Coryell, Charles Loos and Norma Winstone. Parghel also taught jazz in Belgium and Germany.

Johnny Răducanu

Born in Romania the 1st of December 1931 in Brăila, Johnny Răducanu is descending from a long line of Gypsy musicians. At the age of 8, he starts playing the piano with one of his brothers. A year later, he knows the first Czerny notebook by heart, and gets a grant for the academy of music of his native town.

During his young years, he discovers on his older brothers’ gramophone 'Caravan' and 'Prelude to a Kiss' by Duke Ellington. Jazz is a revelation, even if at that time Johnny believes that «Jazz» is the name of an artist, and not that of a musical trend. A premonition perhaps, given that 20 years later, the so-called Duke Ellington nicknamed him "Mister Jazz of Romania", during a performance in Bucharest.

The war begins, his father and brothers leave for the front. At 10, he lights up officers’ dance with an accordion to help his family. At the same time, he carries on his piano studies and gets his first two working contracts: the first one in a Jazz Club (where he plays music from Rogers, Gershwin, Col Porter or Charles Trenet), the second, as test pianist in a music shop. The repertoire of the young wonder is wide: sonatina from Mozart and Beethoven to trendy ragtime. Step by step, Johnny builds his reputation among the city’s music-loving and is invited in private parties of the local bourgeoisie. The pleasure to play live often is a better reward than that of a fee.

At 19, in 1950, he joins the Music Academy of Bucharest, where he piles up subjects: chamber music, harmony and above all bass, the instrument of a long family tradition. He is fired three years after, for refusing to have his exam of military strategy. At that time, advanced studies, whatever the subject, included a military training sanctioned by an exam. Summoned by the dean, he hears him say 'You can play like Paganini with your bass, if you don’t take the exam, you will be dismissed', he answers: 'I applied to the music academy to study music, not to become a soldier. If this exam is compulsory, I’ll be a musician, without a degree'. He then drops his studies and become studio musician for Electrecord (the only music publishing house of the communist Romania). In 1957, he take his revenge over the music academy. The Culture Ministry asks him to represent the country for the Youth Festival of Moscow, but Johnny needs to be a student. Whatever, the minister enrolls him immediately to secure his appearance. He plays in Moscow with I. Körössy at the piano and P. Osadici at the battery. The trio is noticed by the accordionist Marcel Azola (Michel Legrand’s father), chairman of the panel of judges, who awards them the gold medal. He asks Johnny where in the States he learned Jazz, Johnny answers: 'I have never been there'.


From the 50’s, Johnny will keep a total devoutness for his art, described by the composer Pascal Bentoiu: 'In Johnny lives Jazz, Johnny is jazz'. Johnny plays with passion in the different jazz bands and clubs before their closure by the communist power. The government imposes his censorship and exclude words music: a godsend for our musician, who can introduce without barriers instrumental jazz in the intellectual groups of the country. Thanks to this, he records in 1966 one of the first Romanian jazz discs: "Jazz in Trio".

At the end of the 60’s, sunnier climes give him the opportunity to meet his idols: Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, during a tour in Eastern Europe organised by the US State Department. After playing bass standards for years, he introduces this instrument as solo in Romanian jazz. He then turns towards composition and naturally comes back to piano. He gives his last bass concert in 1977 and sells his instrument to buy a ticket to Paris, where he wanted to get drunk with the beauty of the city of lights, as described by his father.


Johnny comes back in his country and develops his art, by creating his own style. The talent of Johnny Raducanu spreads abroad. The pianist takes part in numerous festivals, concerts and tours in Europe and in the United States. His fame build in the Jazz world, the American Library of Bucharest finds in him a wonderful cultural ambassador, and takes him under his wing. It finances his trips to the US in the 80’s. These trips allow him to play in mythical Jazz locations such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, New York or New Orleans, where he is awarded in 1987 an honorary membership of the Louis Armstrong Academy. His collaborations in the world of Jazz (he recorded with Art Farmer, Frederich Gulda, Slide Hampton or Barney Kessel) and his unquestionable talent makes him the musical reference of Romania.


During his musical career, Johnny Raducanu not only tried to promote his art, but also passed on his passion for music to the young generation. He creates the Romanian Jazz school by training a great part of his elite.: Ion Baciu Jr, Ionut Dorobanţu or Theodora Enache. He chairs the Romanian Jazz Federation. Generous and passionate, his philosophy can be summarized by: 'The signification of art, for the musician I am, is to give all the music I have in my heart to the public'.

Aura Urziceanu

Aura has one of the most brilliant, expressive and improvisational voices of our time. Her interpretations of the masterful writings of the Jazz classics and original material reflect a new freshness in vocal artistry. As a singing phenomenon, her career encompasses every possible direction, from Pop to Folklore and from Classical to Jazz, which includes concerts, television shows promotional jingles and recordings.

Aura Urziceanu (aka Aura Rully, Aura Borealis) was born in 1946 in Bucharest in a family of musicians. She started studying the violin with her father when she was 5 and singing when she was 16 years old. In 1969, after being awarded the second prize at the National Festival in Mamaia, she left for a long tour in Canada and USA, where she appeared on stage together with Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald. She met here the canadian jazz drummer Ron Rully and married him.


Back in the old Continent for a short time, she represented Romania at the International Festival of Knokke, Belgium, in 1971. She won the "European Cup" with the Romanian team and, together with the European team, the long wished-for "World Cup", in a strong contest with the USA team. She was also awarded the Press prize for the best interpreter of the Festival and, as unprecedented event in the 13 years of existence of this competition, she received mark 10 from all the members of the jury.

In 1972 she made her first appearance at the famous New York (Newport) Festival, together with Duke Ellington. She has toured in the USSR, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Poland, Bulgaria, Brazil, Portugal, Japan and Australia. She has still toured with Quincy Jones, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Dizzy Gillespie, Ahmad Djamal, Bill Evans, Paul Desmond, Hank Jones, Art Hampton, Joe Pass. Aura still performs and is at ease as well with jazz as with classical music and folklore.