Ed Partyka is a bass trombonist/tubist, composer/arranger and conductor. Originally from Chicago Illinois, he received a BA degree from Northern Illinois University before moving to Germany in 1990. He completed a Masters Degree in jazz trombone performance at the Conservatory of Music in Cologne, where he was also a member of the G.E.M.A. Jazz Composers Workshop, led by Bob Brookmeyer.
He was recipient of the the 2000 "A.S.C.A.P. / I.A.J.E. Commission Honouring the Centenary of Louis Armstrong". He was 1st prize winner of the 1998 "NDR Musikpreis" (Hamburg), 1st prize winner of the Jazz Composers Alliance 1998 Julius Hemphill Composition Awards (Boston) and finalist in the 1996 HR Emerging Composers Competition (Frankfurt).
Ed plays bass trombone and tuba in the Bob Brookmeyer New Art Orchestra (since 1997) and was bass trombonist in the Vienna Art Orchestra from 2000 - 2008. He has toured and recorded with the WDR Big Band, NDR Big Band, Gansch & Roses, Mnozil Brass and the Roman Schwaller Nonet.
He leads the Ed Partyka Jazz Orchestra as well as co-leading the Flip Philipp/Ed Partyka Dectet. Ed is currently musical director of the Jazz Orchester Regensburg and was musical director of the Sunday Night Orchestra from 2000 - 2006 and the Concert Jazz Orchestra Vienna from 1999 - 2006.
Mr. Partyka has appeared as a guest conductor with the HR Big Band, NDR Big Band, RIAS Big Band, RTV Big Band Slovenia, Summit Jazz Orchestra, Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, Big Band Convention, West Australian Youth Jazz Orchestra, Generations Festival Big Band, Sandvika Storband, Zürich Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw, Oslo Workshop Big Band, Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra, Milan Svoboda's Prague Big Band, Klüvers Big Band and the German National Youth Jazz Orchestra ("BuJazzO").
Also active in the area of jazz education, Ed Partyka has held teaching positions at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany and the Conservatory of Music in Vienna. He is currently Jazz Department Chairman and Professor for Jazz Composition & Theory at the "Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst" in Graz, Austria. Mr. Partyka was Artist in Residence at the West Australian Academy of the Performing Arts in 2006 and has given workshops and masterclasses throughout Europe. In addition, he is "Visiting Professor of Jazz Composition" at the Academy of Music in Katowice Poland until June 2010.