Edward A. “Ed” Partyka, also known as Ed Partyka, was born on August 23, 1967, in the United States of America, and was an American jazz musician, bass trombonist, tuba player, composer, and arranger. He studied music at Northern Illinois University beginning in 1985 before continuing his studies with Jiggs Whigham at the Cologne University of Music from 1990. Between 1993 and 1995, he further developed his skills in jazz composition through workshops with Bob Brookmeyer. In 1996, he was a finalist in the hr Composers' Competition. He received the NDR Music Prize for big band jazz conductors and the Julius Hemphill Composition Award in 1998, the same year he released his debut album, Tunnel Vision: Music for Jazz Orchestra, with Ansgar Striepens and received composition commissions marking the centenary of Louis Armstrong's birth. He subsequently performed with the Bob Brookmeyer New Art Orchestra and the Vienna Art Orchestra, collaborated with artists including Carla Bley, Thomas Gansch, and Günter Noris, and conducted or arranged for ensembles such as the hr Big Band, NDR Big Band, RIAS Big Band Berlin, and the Zurich Jazz Orchestra. He also released recordings including Madly Loving You (2001), Continental Call (2002), Something Wrong With You? (2005), Limbic System Files (2008), Hair of the Dog (2010), and Mind Cinema (2017). In 2003, he taught at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz before joining the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz in 2006. He later held teaching appointments at the Academy of Music in Katowice and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. In 2024, he became co-director of the Hessian State Youth Jazz Orchestra alongside Holger Fröhlich.
