Azimuth Music

Azimuth was formed in San Jose, California in 1985 to preach the Gospel through music. Over the years, its ministry has been refined to include primary players LaVada Torzewski, Paul Gentry and Dan Swan. In the early years, Azimuth concentrated its ministry inside prisons and youth authorities. They also played in many local churches and community events throughout Northern California.

The band recorded its first of three cassettes, Glorified, in late 1987. "It was a learning experience for us; we had excellent song material, yet our instrumentation and production was not yet at a professional level. The important fact was that we were able to minister to a lot of people who needed to hear the Word of God," explains Paul, one of the bands singer/songwriters. Their following two cassettes, Inroad Project and Gateway, were moderately successful and helped define the Azimuth sound.

In the early to mid 1990s, Azimuth focused more on feeding the body, ministering to the Church community and steadily worked on their first CD project, Synergy. The outcome was a 16 song Contemporary Christian release that received national airplay in 1997 with its opening track, "Wouldnt It Be?" Azimuths songwriting strengths were greatly enhanced with "full scale" production, but the biggest change was the addition of LaVada Torzewski in 1991. "Her singing and songwriting talent really added a new dimension to our ministry and has taken us to the next level," remarks Dan Swan, the bands director.

Desiring to give the Lord the excellence He commands us to strive for, Azimuth brought in two top-notch bay area producers, Paul A. Fox and Ed Goldfarb, to produce their 1999 Pop/Light Rock CD Alpha and Omega. The welcome its received has been broad-based as its unbelievable quality has given Azimuth a means to spread His Word past local venues. The album employs a wide variety of styles, yet it has a continuity that keeps the listeners attention. Many of Alphas tracks have received airplay across the United States and abroad. "We have been truly blessed! The three of us complement each other and work so well together throughout the whole creative process," says Paul exuberantly. "But even with the recent accomplishments, the important thing is that we are not the ones who need to be recognized, but all the glory goes to our Lord and Savior," adds Dan.

In 2001 Azimuth finished a 14 song home produced demo album named "Ascension" which was a culmination of many years of "music camps" in San Jose to work on song writing skills. They branched out a bit more into praise/worship music writing with known composers such as Lenny Smith ("Our God Reigns") and Rick Founds (Lord, I Lift Your Name On High) and have crafted songs that reach into the churches across throughout the World as well as the radio. The Ascension CD features many styles, the Azimuth trademark.

Azimuth is currently working on its newest and arguably their best CD yet, "Mystery of Your Love" (which is the title track which was written by Paul and LaVada and has had a 75% success rate in radio submissions). The album will have a pop/praise flair and even has a song written about 9-11, entitled, "Elevators Gone."

Azimuth takes to heart 2 Tim 2:15 -- workmen who are not ashamed. The bands name, Azimuth, is a creative definition of the word, meaning the distance from a fixed reference direction to a position referent, or the degree to which the band is focused on God. "Worship, Praise and His message through music bring us closer to Him, and as long as we remain waiting for the return of His Son, Azimuth will be singing a new song in His honor."