Szilard Mezei Tubass Quintet | Canons – 2nd Hoisting | No Business Records

Ervin MALINA – double bass (right) | Zoltán CSÁNYI – double bass (left middle) | Ernő HOCK – double bass (left) | Szilárd MEZEI – double bass (right middle) | Kornél PÁPISTA – tuba (center)

All compositions by Szilárd Mezei (SOKOJ). HEP 58/2 is dedicated to Peter Gemza. Recorded 13th February 2011, in Novi Sad, Serbia by Saša Milankov. Mixed by Szilárd Mezei and Saša Milankov. Mastered by Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudios. Design by Oskaras Anosovas. Produced by Danas Mikailionis. Co-producer – Valerij Anosov

Tracklist: Side A: 1. HEP 17 B 2. HEP 16 Side B: 1. HEP 15 F 2. HEP 58/2

Ervin Malina | Photo by Nándor Szilágyi

Ervin Malina | Photo by Nándor Szilágyi

Ervin Malina

double-bass graduated from the Art Academy of Novi Sad (Serbia) in 2007. His ability to transform and identify with different music styles made him a valued member of a variety of ensembles on his musical journey. Great inventiveness and imagination align him with the most sought-after double bassists in Novi Sad, especially for performing improvised music, jazz. He is a regular member of the Vojvodina Symphonists Orchestra, as well as of the former Novi Sad Chamber Orchestra. He cooperates also with Olah Vince and his Earth-Wheel-Sky Band, which recorded the music for several Serbian national TV serials. As a member of the Serboplov ensemble of clarinet player Bogdan Rankovic, he has performed in many concerts and festivals in Serbia, Germany, Hungary… his cooperation with composer Boris Kovac brought him to Norway, Poland, Czech, Bulgaria, Japan…

He also cooperates with the composer Mezei Szilard, in the Mezei Szilard Trio, and other ensemble formations, with whom he has recorded a number of CD albums as well as music for theatre performances. He has participated in the theatre performances of Josef Nadj: ‘ASOBU’, ‘Length of 100 Needles’ for which the music was composed by Mezei Szilard. He occasionally cooperates with Hungarian composer Szabados Gyorgy and his MAKUZ ensemble. As a member of the OSSA Jazz Quartet, he has a CD album and a great number of performances in festivals and clubs. He cooperates with different folklore ensembles (tours in Czech, Slovak, Romania, Hungarian, etc.). He is also guest on a new project of the composer Milan Nenin and Novi Sad band ‘Tripcycle’. (source)

Szilard Mezei

Szilárd Mezei | Photo:by Nándor Szilágyi

Szilárd MEZEI

Born February 12th, 1974 in Senta, Serbia (then Yugoslavia) as a member of the Hungarian minority in the multiethnic region of Vojvodina. Completed his violin studies in Senta and Subotica and studied composition for four years at the University of Arts in Beograd under prof. Zoran Eric. As violinist, violist, double bass player and composer and in various formations (from duo to nonett) held many concerts: Senta, Kanizsa (the “Jazz, Improvisative Music…” Festival 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002), Subotica, Novi Sad (all Serbia, then Yugoslavia), Maribor (Slovenija), Szeged (Hungary, ‘MASZK’ Festival 1994, 1997), Budapest (Hungary, ‘FONÓ’ 1997), Gyor (Hungary, ‘Mediawave’ Festivals 1992, 1994, 1995, 2003, 2006, also ‘Gyorfree Impro Workshops’ 2003, 2004, 2006), Gyergyószentmiklós (Romania), Leverkusen (Germany, ‘Leverkusener Jazz Tage’ 1991), Düsseldorff (Germany, ‘Düsseldorffer Altsadt Herbst’ 1996 – special prize for improvisation), Copenhagen and Aarhus (Denmark, ‘Magic Music Festival’ 1999), Kluj-Napoca (Romania, ‘Charta Minimumia Festival’ 2000), Odorhei Secuiesc (Romania), Beograd (Serbia, ‘Ring Ring Festival’ 2002, 2005), Pécs (Hungary, ‘Gassztro Fest’ 2002, ‘POSZT’ 2006), Kishegyes (‘Dombos Fest’ 2003), Copenhagen, Aero, Aalborg, Aarhus (Denmark, 2003 – tour with the Creative Workshop Ensemble), Debrecen (‘Debrecen Jazz Days’ 2003), Klagenfurt (‘CIK’, Austria, 2004), London (‘Klinker Nunhead’, 2005), ‘Cerkno Jazz Fest’ (Slovenia, 2006, 2007), Avignon 2006, Zagreb, Graz , Warszawa (Music Academy), Budapest (Music Academy), Gyor, Subotica, Novi Sad, Debrecen , Vác 2007, Dunajska Streda (Are You Free? Festival), Beograd (Ring Ring Festival 2008, Lasciar Vibrare festival), Budapest (Újbuda Jazz festival 2008), Ljubljana, Krakow (Krakow Jazz Fall 2008, Graz (Stockwerk).

His orchestra plays contemporary improvised music, mostly performing his own compositions. As a composer, Mezei is interested in exploring the relationship between improvisation and composition (similarly to Witold Lutoslawski’s aleatoric and Anthony Braxton’s creative music methods), incorporating elements of jazz and authentic folk music as well. As a young musician he followed the path of B.Bartók and Gy.Szabados. Mezei is also very actively involved in composing scenic music and plays authentic Hungarian folk music on genuine folk instruments (koboz and oud).

Since 2001, Mezei is closely collaborating with choreographer Josef Nadj, director of the ‘Centre Chorégraphique National d’Orléans’ in Orléans, France. Their mutual project ‘Les Philosophes’ was selected theatre-piece of the year 2001 in France. The play was performed with great success at the ‘Festival of Dance’ in Cannes, France 2001, in Avignon 2002, in Brugge (Belgium – the capital of European Culture for the year 2002), in Orléans in October 2002, in Paris in May 2003, in Reggio Emilia (Italy), in Le Havre, in Nantes (France) 2004, and in London 2005. In 2006 they collaborated on a new project ‘Asobu’ (together with co-composer Akosh S.). This play was premiered at the Festival d’Avignon in 2006, then successfuly toured Europe and Japan. In 2003 Mezei was invited by the Creative Workshop Ensemble of Denmark to tour in that country, performing some of his compositions.

In 2007 He was invited to play with The Fonda / Stevens Group. They held concerts in Magyarkanizsa, Zagreb, Graz, Oberwart, Cerkno, performing compositions by Michael Jefry Stevens, Joe Fonda and Mezei. His ‘String Trio’ was performed at the Festival of Contemporary Music ‘Ondine ’98’ in Rovereto, Italy . The composition ‘Trio for Flute, Piano and Percussion’ won the 3rd prize at the 7th International Review of Composers in Beograd 1998 in the category of student-composers. He got the ‘Sterija Prize’ for the music of the theatre-piece ‘Szelídítések’ (Tamings). In 2004 Mezei won also the prize for music at the 54th ‘Festival of Professional Theatres’ in Vojvodina (for the theatre-piece ‘Via Italia’). In 2009 He won the prize for composition in Theater Festival “Joakim Vujic, Sabac, Serbia for the music in theater-piece “Tempest”. As a performer Mezei participated in many workshops of improvised and intuitive music (with Tim Hodgkinson in Budapest, William Parker in Győr, among others). Played so far with musicians/improvisors like Matthias Schubert, Tamás Geröly, Róbert Benkő, György Szabados, Mihály Dresch, Michael Hornstein, Tim Hodgkinson, Albert Márkos, Peter Ole Jörgensen, Jens Balder, Joe Fonda, Michael Jefry Stevens, Joelle Leandre, Hamid Drake, Herb Robertson, Frank Gratkowski, Charles Gayle. His writings on music were published in many periodicals in Former-Yugoslavia and Hungary. Mezei is a member of the Composers Association of Serbia and the Hungarian ‘Gyorfree’ Jazz, Improvisative, Contemporary and Folk Music Workshop Comitee.

He lead the Szilárd Mezei Trio, Szilárd Mezei Quintet (/ Sextet / Septet / Octet / Ensemble), and plays in many formations (duo, trio, etc.) for improvising music (among others, in duet with György Szabados, and with His orchestra MAKUZ, The Fonda/Stevens Group, Burány Quartet, duet with Albert Márkos).

Kornél Pápista | Photo by Orfeas Skutelis

Kornél Pápista | Photo by Orfeas Skutelis

István Csík | Photo by Nándor Szilágyi

István Csík | Photo by Nándor Szilágyi

Ernő HOCK

Ernő HOCK

 

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One thought on “Szilard Mezei Tubass Quintet | Canons – 2nd Hoisting | No Business Records

  1. I’ll say it straight-off. Szilard Mezei is one of the most interesting jazz composer-instrumentalist-bandleaders active in Europe today. If you don’t know of him much, it’s because his releases do not shout out their existence, exactly. They are mostly small quantity albums on important but hardly mass-marketed avant jazz boutique labels, which I often favor–as of course regular readers know.

    A near-perfect example of the sort of release I speak of is his new one on No Business, a fine label out of Lithuania. This one is an LP pressed in only 300 copies, Szilard Mezei Tubass Quartet’s Canons – Second Hosting (No Business NBLP 56).

    This one may not jump out at you right away. That’s probably in part due to the very unusual instrumentation: Szilard and three others on contrabass and a tuba player!

    The sound is dark and burnished. The improvisation out front, the compositional motives typical Mezei in that they bear his autographic stamp–the way of irregular phrasing, repositioning tonal commonplaces so that they become unusual.

    This may not be one to start with if you want to know about his music. My blogs cover a good number of those so search here and on the Gapplegate Guitar blog and you’ll find others. But there nonetheless is the characteristic daring presence on this one that makes Szilard an artist to listen to closely.

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