We Are Not Worthy
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday February 27, 1998
RICHARD JINMAN surveys Sydney musicians about the Uber Muso who can sing with a cross Texan-Budapest accent, Jackie Orszaczky (that's oars-az-keee to you sunshine).
Tim Finn calls him the "coolest man in Sydney". A gravel-voiced Hungarian with a jaw-dropping syncopated bass style, Jackie Orszaczky is the musician's musician. Enigmatic behind his trademark thick-rimmed glasses, Orszaczky has been a prime mover on the Sydney scene since the mid-'70s. As an in-demand arranger, he's worked with acts ranging from Marcia Hines to You Am I and Savage Garden.
Born in Budapest in 1948, he studied classical piano and violin before forging a rock career in his early twenties. After Visiting Australia with his jazz-rock group Syrius in 1970, he settled here a few years later.
Since then, Orszaczky projects have ranged from the experimental sounds of The Astonished Boyfriends and Bland Frenzy to the groovin' jazz-soul of Jump Back Jack. More recently, his time has been split between the groove/R'n'B band The Grandmasters, Odd, a "funkin' organ trio" featuring Jackie on piccolo bass, and the esoteric Orszaczky Budget Orchestra, featuring Tina Harrod, and which has just released its first album Deep Down Out.
Metro asked a selection of well-known musicians for their impressions of the man.
DAMIEN LOVELOCK
The Celibate Rifles frontman was still at high school when he first met Orszaczky and Syrius in 1970.
"I remember they were into King Crimson, which was heavy shit," he says. "Jackie could play these guitar riffs on bass better than most people could play them on guitar. He's only got better since then."
Two decades later, Orszaczky signed on to play bass for Lovelock's side-band Wig World.
"We were covering a song by Free because I wanted all these punksters to see an eight-minute bass solo and be mesmerised rather than terrified. Besides, he's the only guy I know who can sing with a cross-Texan Budapest accent."
SCOTT SAUNDERS
DIG's keyboard player has known Orszaczky since 1991 when he filled in for DIG's bass player.
"As far as I'm concerned he's one of the godfathers of funk and soul in this town. There are several bass players around that might be technically better, but that's not the point. He has this extraordinary depth of feel and the ability to sing and play incredibly syncopated bass lines at the same time."
TIM FINN
Orszaczky first collaborated with Finn on the score to the television miniseries Kangaroo Palace. Recently, Orszaczky has written string and brass arrangements for "four or five" songs on Finn's as yet untitled solo album. "He's just one of those people that other musicians talk about with a great amount of respect and awe. He's a musician's musician.
"There was a mourning scene [in Kangaroo Palace] and Jackie arranged a brass band accompaniment. It was one of the best things I've ever heard in my life: he dazzled me."
DEBORAH CONWAY
Orszaczky was the bass player on Conway's most recent national tour. She first saw him play at a club in Kings Cross.
"They were playing John Denver's Take Me Home Country Road and they turned it into the most awesome piece of rhythm that just snaked and weaved around a groove until the whole club was bouncing off the walls. It was an extraordinary introduction to Jackie and I'd always wanted to play with him since.
"He can be kind of erratic in a way. When his heart and soul are all in there he can be extraordinary and do things that sent a chill down my spine. When his mind is elsewhere, he's a mystery man."
Orszaczky Budget Orchestra plays at Harbourside Brasserie Saturday and Odd play at the Harbourside Brasserie on Thursday.
© 1998 Sydney Morning Herald
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