SLAMCD521 Szilárd Mezei Ensemble – Tönk

Live recording of violist and composer Szilárd Mezei’s free jazz ensemble and his first release on SLAM Productions.

Mezei was born in Senta, Vojvodina, at that time a Region of Yugoslavia and now in Serbia, as a member of the Hungarian minority in that multiethnic region. His music strongly reflects the contemporary culture of his homeland; in Mezei’s case the Hungarian fire is quite dominant.

Mezei is a master of the art of combining composed and improvised musics, leading on viola his ensembles of various sizes. His Octet here presents five of his compositions recorded in Budapest, music depicting the real vitality of modern European jazz.

Szilárd Mezei: viola
Gergely Ittzés: flute, alto flute, piccolo, bass flute
Bogdan Rankoviæ: alto and tenor saxes, bass clarinet
Bravislav Aksin: trombone
Albert Márkos: cello
Milan Aleksic: piano
Ervin Malina: double bass
István Csík: percussion

“This is a live performance firmly set in the area of free improvisation but exhibiting a degree of structure a round five of the leader’s compositions. Anyone interested in the contemporary European scene who has open ears will probably want to try, especially in view of the undoubted gifts the protagonists bring to the recording. They’ll find it’s true to the principles of the independently minded label founded and tirelessly sustained by baritone saxophonist George Haslam.” – Peter Gamble, Jazz Journal

“The Hungarian-Serbia composer continues to excel at combing elements of compositions and improvisations, with the same high standards applied to whichever sounds he feels like emphasizing. Considering Mezei’s most recent session is almost three years old, one wonders what advances he’s involved with right now.” – Ken Waxman, JazzWord

“Tonk – Ho/Stump – Snow” begins with a majestic orchestral swell. A stately melody with complex internal dissonance takes over, soon giving way to intense collective improvisation over skittering drums and a feeling of suspended time. That’s in just the first two minutes of this 13-minute piece, and words utterly fail to convey how wonderful his impressively rich and nuanced charts actually sound. In his investigations of control versus disorder and the nuances of sound, Mezei has effectively created his own sound world. While it’s true that he has pretty much the same tools as everyone else, he uses them in original ways imbued with a keen sense of curiosity and adventure. Mezei has built up an impressive discography over the past few years with bands of varying sizes, and this splendid release reinforces the point that something wonderful is brewing in Serbia.” – Stuart Kremsky, Cadence

“Mezei has steadily amassed several remarkable and unjustly unsung albums, gradually expanding a creative individuality whose crucial constituents reside in the influence of his native region’s folk – he’s a Serbian of Hungarian descent – aptly fused with the freshest ramifications of contemporary jazz and chamber music. This live set from 2007, recorded in Budapest, takes a comprehensive snapshot of these issues, a path that bifurcates between the respect of a written score and a next-to-mayhem discharge of communicative energy. The whole is permeated by artistic integrity and unwillingness to bend to average Western standards, both in the very material and its presentation; the only English words correspond to the translation of the titles, while a poem by B. Pap Endre printed on the inside leaflet is left in the original idiom.” – Massimo Ricci, The Squids Ear

All compositions by Szilárd Mezei.
Recorded 3rd October 2007 at Music Academy ‘Liszt Ferenc’, Budapest, Hungary by Sabolcs Sûveges-Gyõrfree.

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