Reviews that mention Branislav Aksin
March 11, 2017
CET
Oradek Records ODR CD 506
Girotto/De Mattia/Cesseli/Kaučic
Il Sogno Di Una Cosa
Caligola 2213
Kača, Sraka in Lev Quintet
The Labour Suite
No Label No #
Dre Hocevar
Transcendental Within the Sphere of Indivisible Remainder
Clean Feed CF 393 CD
Samo Salamon & Stefano Battaglia
windS
Klopotec Records IZK CD 037
Something In The Air: Slovenia – of all places – Continues its Long Jazz Tradition MORE
August 26, 2015
Szilárd Mezei Túla Tiszán Innen Ensemble
Vajdasági masgyr népdalok/ Narodne pesme vojvodanskih Mdara
WMAS Records WNAScd 252/253
Folk music has over the centuries often nourished more so-called progressive sounds in Jazz as well as so-called Classical Music. Now as a way to honor the memory of folklorist Aniko Bodor (1941-2010), who collected hundreds of Hungarian folk songs from the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, violist Szilárd Mezei, who also hails from that region, has created a notable two-CD set. Consisting of 15 compositions and arrangements based on melodies assembled by Bodor, Vajdasági masgyr népdalok/ Narodne pesme vojvodanskih Mdara confirms the adaptability of so-called folk material for free improvisation. Ironically the question remains as to whether some of the freest passages here are the result of Mezei’s talents, the skills of his soloists, many of whom have participated in the violist’s earlier projects for groups of different sizes, or are the result of sonic elements already present. After all the freedom inherited in the background of these melodies related to the everyday music of folks who inhabited the wide-open Magyar-oriented plains. MORE
May 19, 2014
Szilárd Mezei International Improvisers Ensemble
Karszt
SLAM CD 550
Following a recent series of small group CDs, Hungarian-Serbian violist Szilárd Mezei revisits large ensemble writing and arrangement with a two-CD set of compositions for a 23-piece band. Working in an idiom that draws on Jazz-inflected improvised music, reconstituted folklore and echoes of so-called classical music, Karszt’s main reference points are actually itself – or Mezei’s other music. More crucially though, when the exultant sounds produced here are examined, it’s clear that he has created one possible path for advanced 21st century composition. MORE
March 26, 2012
Innen
Ayler Records AYLCD-122
Trevor-Briscoe/Guazzaloca/Mezei
Underflow
Leo Records CD LR 614
DuH
in Just
Red Toucan RT 9341
Hungarian-Serbia’s gift to the music world, improvising violist/composer Szilárd Mezei is hard to pin down since he regularly plays in contexts ranging from duos to large bands. These discs, recorded between April and December of 2010 for instance, find him involved with reed players of different predilections, procedures and preferences. MORE
July 22, 2011
Bot
NotTwo MW 818-2
Szilárd Mezei Szabad Quartet
Februári Fodári Fodöntés
NoBusiness LP28
Szilárd Mezei Octet
Tönk
SLAM CD 521
Chronologically – at least in terms of released discs – musical polymath and violist Szilárd Mezei seems to be drawing closer to Jazz-influenced music. That’s doesn’t mean that his compositions are less reflective of the mixture of improvised, notated and folkloric sounds he has uniquely made his own over the past couple of decades, or are shifting one way or another. , It’s just that the saxophonist in the quartet session that makes up the most recent (2008) release by this Serbian-born member of that multi-ethnic country’s Hungarian minority not only plays unabashed Free Jazz, but has the space on Februári Fodári Fodöntés to do so. MORE
July 22, 2011
Tönk
SLAM CD 521
Szilárd Mezei Ensemble
Bot
NotTwo MW 818-2
Szilárd Mezei Szabad Quartet
Februári Fodári Fodöntés
NoBusiness LP28
Chronologically – at least in terms of released discs – musical polymath and violist Szilárd Mezei seems to be drawing closer to Jazz-influenced music. That’s doesn’t mean that his compositions are less reflective of the mixture of improvised, notated and folkloric sounds he has uniquely made his own over the past couple of decades, or are shifting one way or another. , It’s just that the saxophonist in the quartet session that makes up the most recent (2008) release by this Serbian-born member of that multi-ethnic country’s Hungarian minority not only plays unabashed Free Jazz, but has the space on Februári Fodári Fodöntés to do so. MORE
June 23, 2010
We Were Watching the Rain
Leo Records CD LR 530
Szilárd Mezei Trio
Bármikor, most/Anytime, now
Not Two MW 794-2
Right now composer and violist Szilárd Mezei is probably Serbia’s most prominent improviser, fronting ensembles ranging from duos to tentets. The irony of these circumstances is that Mezei is a member of the Hungarian minority in the country’s multi-ethnic Vojvodina region. Considering that the violist, who studied composition formally and has collaborated with choreographers, creates sounds which draw on so-called classical, martial, Jazz, folkloric and intuitive sources, limiting him to any ethnicity is as counterproductive as trying to pigeonhole his compositions, MORE