Jazz for Bartok lovers

[A Lark Ascending]

I've already enthused over this at the other place but know there's a few Bartok fans over here who might enjoy this, a jazz record stemming from the same sources as Bartok:

Arnie Somogyi - bass

Bela Szakcsi Lakatos - piano

Mihaly Borbely - reeds

Neil Yates - trumpet, bodhran and whistle

Miklos Lukacs - cimbalom

Tony Lakatos - reeds

Beata Salamon - violin

Winston Clifford - drums and percussion

Jeremy Price - trombone

Zsolt Bende - guitar

1 Herdsman (Arnie Somogyi)

2 Celta Rosza (Neil Yates)

3 Return (Zsolt Bende)

4 Bear Dance (Mihály Borbély)

5 Meselia (Mihály Borbély)

6 Whitsun Rose (Pünkösdi Rozsa) (trad arr. Arnie Somogyi)

7 Magic Makers (Béla Szakcsi Lakatos)

8 Two Rooms (Jeremy Price)

9 Cymbal Om (Arnie Somogyi)

10 Extra: Bear Dance - Radio Mix (Mihály Borbély)

UK bass player Arnie Somogyi has Hungarian parents and has been exploring his roots in recent years.

This has finally flowered in this magnificent disc combing UK and Hungarian players. Beautiful compositions with a rich Hungarian flavour then used for some superb soloing.

I saw the launch concert of the album a couple of weeks back - a marvellous event showing just how many different ways you can twist jazz, giving it different flavours yet retaining its essence.

Strongly recommended.

Can be ordered from this excellent UK site for a mere £12 (I know, that's a whopping $20 in the USA but its dead cheap here!) with free worldwide shipping:

http://www.jazzcds.co.uk/store/commerce.cg...t=Improvokation

[ghost of miles]

This sounds very intriguing, Bev. Thanks for the thread!

[couw]

it doesn't seem to enjoy wide distribution. I looked it up with the usual german suspects and came up empty...

any samples mayhap?

[Spontooneous]

Gotta check this one out.

Also, the newly reissued Lee Konitz OJC, "Peacemeal," has Bartok material. That one's on my shopping list too.

[Larry Kart]

"I'm Late, I'm Late" from the Eddie Sauter/Stan Getz "Focus" is Sauter's take on/homage to the second movement of Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celeste.

[mikeweil]

This Bartok homage by Richie Beirach, George Mraz and German violinist Gregor Hübner got very favourable reviews when it was released:

link

[A Lark Ascending]

I havn't seen any samples anywhere - this is released on Forged Records which I think is a shoe string label, possibly Somogyi's own. I suspect the JazzCDs link above may be the only direct source at present - they specialise in handling musician releases. I use them alot for UK music.

That Beirach/Mraz/Hubner is excellent too.

I'd also recommend two recordings by the Dresch Quartet:

"Riding the Wind" (November)

"Hungarian Bebop" (Budapest Music Centre), a recording with Archie Shepp.

I played the Improvokation disc again today on the way to work and back and just get more enthusiastic with each listen. Especially impressive this time was pianist Bela Szakcsi Lakatos who clearly comes from a classical training yet can take the jazz route with ease. I'd very much like to hear more of him.

There's clearly a wealth of jazz talent hidden in Eastern Europe which we're only partially aware of. The standard of these players in concert (and the Brits too) was exceptional.

Hungarian jazz seems to be flavour of the month at present. I notice that at the Bath Festival in a couple of weeks there's a collaboration between Scotlands Celtic Feet and Hungarian musicians!

[Pete C]

Two other recordings that should appeal to Bartok fans are Sylvie Courvoisier's exquisite Abaton, on ECM, with Mark Feldman & Erik Friedlander, and:

Change of Time: Change of Time

(OmniTone 15102)

in Down Beat magazine!

Inspired by Béla Bartók's progressive piano pieces Mikrokosmos, Change of Time creates miniature tone poems like little episodic travelogues. Cloud of notes, filled with Brownian motion, congeal into drops of primordial soup brimming with life.

Musicians

Russ Lossing, piano · John Hebert, bass

Adam Kolker, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet

[A Lark Ascending]

I have Abaton which I've not yet been able to really make much sense of. Must try harder.

The other looks fascinating.

Another one I'd highly recommend is by the excellent Australian pianist Andrea Keller has recorded an album of Bartok tunes on "Mikrokosmos" (ABC jazz).

Kenny Weir will vouch for Keller's excellence. She too is of Hungarian background.