Szilárd Mezei Octet

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.

A young Budapest-based graduate of the Liszt Ferenc Music Academy, tenor saxophonist Péter Bede has also recorded with veteran Hungarian trumpeter/violinist Ferenc Kovács, drummer Zsolt Sárvári Kovács and his own band. Plus on the Mezei LP’s three tracks Bede’s extended glossolalia and split tones put him firmly in the orbit of exploratory saxophonist like Albert Ayler. Meanwhile the violist, bassist Erno Hock and drummer Hunor G. Szabó use Bede’s stylistic musings as a unique construct that is added to the tradition-styled melody fragments and extended New music tropes that characterize Mezei’s compositions.

Mezei’s usual reed soloist – Bogdan Ranković, who moves effortlessly among alto and tenor saxophones, clarinet and bass clarinet – is featured on Tönk and Bot, recorded in 2007 and 2004 respectively. But, as notable as his solos might be with melancholy, folkloric inflections, coupled with slurred extended techniques, in contrast to Bede his sonic models are from microtonal and New music. To his credit as a group member though, Ranković adds linear and harmonic weight to the two-man reed section on the earlier CDs, where the woodwind players share the front line with the violist and cellist and one trombonist on Tönk; or with Mezei, a different cellist plus trumpet, trombone and tuba on Bot’s two CDs.

Illustrations of Ranković’s talents, as well as Mezei’s compositional and arrangement skills are evident in contrasting versions of a few tunes. On Tönk, for instance, the octet’s version of “Bot” is staccato and discursive, with double-stopping string continuum, clicking drum flams, solipsistic piano comping and hunting horn-like brays from trombonist Bravislav Aksin. With the theme reoccurring throughout, usually sounded by the full band, each appearance is framed differently; whether it is by cheeping flute and staccato string interjections; guttural gutbucket trombone and percussive shuffle bowing from the strings; or pumped and pizzicato strings and drum rebounds. The most affecting intermezzo arises from the composer’s taut playing itself, with counterpoint provided by romantic string glisses and Gergely Ittzés’ bass-flute vibrations. At length, a stop-time ending completes the initial exposition with walking bass line and cymbal clanks.

In contrast Bot’s title tune is much more expansive, harmonized and orchestral – with the fuller sound spread among additional brass. Although Mezei’s arrangement is cleaner than the one he created for Tönk, timbres still match. Radmila Stanišić’s vibrating cello lines are paired with Aksin’s tailgate trombone and the guttural tuba farts of Kornél Pápista, for instance, while Emöke Zákány’s chirping oboe chatters contrapuntally. Midway through, a big-band- styled vamp gives way to biting trumpet blasts and woody bass clarinet echoes from Ranković before a tutti nocturne is exposed. Low pressure and moderato, the variant is stretched as far as possible until rippling tuba tones introduce another lucid orchestral part. It, in turn, is completed by double-stopping viola lines, followed by sequential call-and-response from trumpet and trombone, and irregularly vibrated brass snorts.

In the same way “Nõi box/Female Boxing” on Tönk is extended by slow crescendos from the top range of the octet’s instruments, circled by squeezed sul ponticello lines from the strings and mid-range, horn slurs and bites which intermittently protrude from the bouncy Balkan-styled melody. The Bot version elaborates the theme so that tremolo textures from one trumpeter and irregular vibratos from one clarinetist stand out as the other horns maintain a processional line. By the mid-point clipped drum figures and a walking bass line accompany a trumpeter whose sharply paced solo full of bent notes could slide unnoticed into any Bop arrangement. Later angled double stops from the cello and viola presage a circus-like drum roll which sets up the final theme variant. Unlike the composition’s final section on the other CD, this variant is rich with polyharmonies and polytones with the theme passed among bass string plucks, sputtering trombone blasts and a cacophonous tutti with unmistakable oboe cries high in the mix.

Although Tönk too has some overwrought sections which seem more attuned to 19th century orchestrations, in the main the disc is more of an improvisational showcase than Bot. This is made clearest when comparing “Ûlõ bika/Sitting Bull”, from the first CD with “Napszekér/Chariot of Sun” from the two-CD-set recorded three years earlier. Arranged in more formalized sequences, the result is nearly a scherzo and could be a film soundtrack. The portamento layering of the instruments include the trumpets playing Dixieland-like triplets, discursive reed bites and the spiccato cello sprawl. But even as the time is broken up with ratchet-like friction and slide whistle shrills, the neatly stacked harmonies maintain equilibrium. Finally Balkan-like clarinet trills presage a final sequence that releases the tension engendered by the massed mid-range instruments and is completed by pressurized string motions and brassy pumps.

In contrast, the other version of the tune is as unfettered as its American Indian namesake. While the octet arrangement on this 2007 session calls for unison orchestral passages, that are meditative and low-pitched, the focus is on individual accomplishment. Ittzés’ flute chirps, Ervin Malina slaps his bass strings and Ranković slurs tenor saxophone tones. Mezei himself triple stops his viola’s strings like a combination of Stuff Smith and Billy Bang, preceding Aksin’s guttural trombone break and leading to a penultimate aletrotic and abrasive hoe down between fiddle and drums plus splintered sax tones and piano chording. Echoing pops from all the strings constitute the ending

Coincidentally or not “Ûlõ bika/Sitting Bull” presages the emphasis on Jazz improv with the otherwise all-Hungarian quartet recorded the next year. The arrangements maintain a full sound by close voicing of the saxophone and viola, Hock thumping bass strings and Szabó whapping the bass drum and rattling drum tops. Mezei’s downward string curves and splintering stops are complemented by the rhythm section, while Bede’s reed bites rend the air. Eventually as the tenor man’s geysers of split tones and guttural spews abate, as in a conventional Jazz line, the fiddler makes reference to the initial theme, which is reprised in a smoother fashion.

If these CDs are accurate guides, 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

Track Listing: Tönk: 1. Ûlõ bika/Sitting Bull 2. Nõi box/Female Boxing 3. Hep 5 4. Tõnk - Hó/Stump - Snow 5. Bot

Personnel: Tönk: Bravislav Aksin (trombone); Gergely Ittzés (flute, alto flute, piccolo and bass flute); Bogdan Ranković (alto and tenor saxophones and bass clarinet); Szilárd Mezei (viola); Milan Aleksić (piano); Albert Márkos (cello); Ervin Malina (bass) and István Csík (percussion)

Track Listing: Bot: CD 1: 1. Bot/Stick (2002)+2. Föld - levegö/ Earth and Air (1998)+3. Tamara- ki?/Tamara Who?+(2002) 4. Yerma (2001)+5. Tibeti gyors/Tibetan Allegro (2000)* 6. Lépésben/In Step (2000)* CD2: 1. Női box/ Female Boxing (2004)+2. Csip csip (2003)* 3. Huzatos huzat/Breezy Draught (2004) 4. Napszekér/Chariot of Sun (2004)* 5. Medium (2002)+

Personnel: Bot: Damir Bačikin and Slobodan Dragaš* or Lordan Skenderović+ (trumpet); Bravislav Aksin (trombone); Kornél Pápista (tuba); Bogdan Ranković (alto saxophone clarinet and bass clarinet); Emöke Zákány (oboe); Szilárd Mezei (viola); Radmila Stanišić (cello); Ervin Malina (bass) and István Csík (drums and percussion)

Track Listing: Februári: Side A: 1. Akkorra/By Then Side B 1. Pakak/Sedges 2. Februari Fadöntés/Felling in February

Personnel: Februári: Péter Bede (tenor saxophone and clarinet); Szilárd Mezei (viola); Erno Hock (bass) and Hunor G.Szabó (drums)

July 22, 2011

Szilárd Mezei Ensemble

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.

A young Budapest-based graduate of the Liszt Ferenc Music Academy, tenor saxophonist Péter Bede has also recorded with veteran Hungarian trumpeter/violinist Ferenc Kovács, drummer Zsolt Sárvári Kovács and his own band. Plus on the Mezei LP’s three tracks Bede’s extended glossolalia and split tones put him firmly in the orbit of exploratory saxophonist like Albert Ayler. Meanwhile the violist, bassist Erno Hock and drummer Hunor G. Szabó use Bede’s stylistic musings as a unique construct that is added to the tradition-styled melody fragments and extended New music tropes that characterize Mezei’s compositions.

Mezei’s usual reed soloist – Bogdan Ranković, who moves effortlessly among alto and tenor saxophones, clarinet and bass clarinet – is featured on Tönk and Bot, recorded in 2007 and 2004 respectively. But, as notable as his solos might be with melancholy, folkloric inflections, coupled with slurred extended techniques, in contrast to Bede his sonic models are from microtonal and New music. To his credit as a group member though, Ranković adds linear and harmonic weight to the two-man reed section on the earlier CDs, where the woodwind players share the front line with the violist and cellist and one trombonist on Tönk; or with Mezei, a different cellist plus trumpet, trombone and tuba on Bot’s two CDs.

Illustrations of Ranković’s talents, as well as Mezei’s compositional and arrangement skills are evident in contrasting versions of a few tunes. On Tönk, for instance, the octet’s version of “Bot” is staccato and discursive, with double-stopping string continuum, clicking drum flams, solipsistic piano comping and hunting horn-like brays from trombonist Bravislav Aksin. With the theme reoccurring throughout, usually sounded by the full band, each appearance is framed differently; whether it is by cheeping flute and staccato string interjections; guttural gutbucket trombone and percussive shuffle bowing from the strings; or pumped and pizzicato strings and drum rebounds. The most affecting intermezzo arises from the composer’s taut playing itself, with counterpoint provided by romantic string glisses and Gergely Ittzés’ bass-flute vibrations. At length, a stop-time ending completes the initial exposition with walking bass line and cymbal clanks.

In contrast Bot’s title tune is much more expansive, harmonized and orchestral – with the fuller sound spread among additional brass. Although Mezei’s arrangement is cleaner than the one he created for Tönk, timbres still match. Radmila Stanišić’s vibrating cello lines are paired with Aksin’s tailgate trombone and the guttural tuba farts of Kornél Pápista, for instance, while Emöke Zákány’s chirping oboe chatters contrapuntally. Midway through, a big-band- styled vamp gives way to biting trumpet blasts and woody bass clarinet echoes from Ranković before a tutti nocturne is exposed. Low pressure and moderato, the variant is stretched as far as possible until rippling tuba tones introduce another lucid orchestral part. It, in turn, is completed by double-stopping viola lines, followed by sequential call-and-response from trumpet and trombone, and irregularly vibrated brass snorts.

In the same way “Nõi box/Female Boxing” on Tönk is extended by slow crescendos from the top range of the octet’s instruments, circled by squeezed sul ponticello lines from the strings and mid-range, horn slurs and bites which intermittently protrude from the bouncy Balkan-styled melody. The Bot version elaborates the theme so that tremolo textures from one trumpeter and irregular vibratos from one clarinetist stand out as the other horns maintain a processional line. By the mid-point clipped drum figures and a walking bass line accompany a trumpeter whose sharply paced solo full of bent notes could slide unnoticed into any Bop arrangement. Later angled double stops from the cello and viola presage a circus-like drum roll which sets up the final theme variant. Unlike the composition’s final section on the other CD, this variant is rich with polyharmonies and polytones with the theme passed among bass string plucks, sputtering trombone blasts and a cacophonous tutti with unmistakable oboe cries high in the mix.

Although Tönk too has some overwrought sections which seem more attuned to 19th century orchestrations, in the main the disc is more of an improvisational showcase than Bot. This is made clearest when comparing “Ûlõ bika/Sitting Bull”, from the first CD with “Napszekér/Chariot of Sun” from the two-CD-set recorded three years earlier. Arranged in more formalized sequences, the result is nearly a scherzo and could be a film soundtrack. The portamento layering of the instruments include the trumpets playing Dixieland-like triplets, discursive reed bites and the spiccato cello sprawl. But even as the time is broken up with ratchet-like friction and slide whistle shrills, the neatly stacked harmonies maintain equilibrium. Finally Balkan-like clarinet trills presage a final sequence that releases the tension engendered by the massed mid-range instruments and is completed by pressurized string motions and brassy pumps.

In contrast, the other version of the tune is as unfettered as its American Indian namesake. While the octet arrangement on this 2007 session calls for unison orchestral passages, that are meditative and low-pitched, the focus is on individual accomplishment. Ittzés’ flute chirps, Ervin Malina slaps his bass strings and Ranković slurs tenor saxophone tones. Mezei himself triple stops his viola’s strings like a combination of Stuff Smith and Billy Bang, preceding Aksin’s guttural trombone break and leading to a penultimate aletrotic and abrasive hoe down between fiddle and drums plus splintered sax tones and piano chording. Echoing pops from all the strings constitute the ending

Coincidentally or not “Ûlõ bika/Sitting Bull” presages the emphasis on Jazz improv with the otherwise all-Hungarian quartet recorded the next year. The arrangements maintain a full sound by close voicing of the saxophone and viola, Hock thumping bass strings and Szabó whapping the bass drum and rattling drum tops. Mezei’s downward string curves and splintering stops are complemented by the rhythm section, while Bede’s reed bites rend the air. Eventually as the tenor man’s geysers of split tones and guttural spews abate, as in a conventional Jazz line, the fiddler makes reference to the initial theme, which is reprised in a smoother fashion.

If these CDs are accurate guides, 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

Track Listing: Tönk: 1. Ûlõ bika/Sitting Bull 2. Nõi box/Female Boxing 3. Hep 5 4. Tõnk - Hó/Stump - Snow 5. Bot

Personnel: Tönk: Bravislav Aksin (trombone); Gergely Ittzés (flute, alto flute, piccolo and bass flute); Bogdan Ranković (alto and tenor saxophones and bass clarinet); Szilárd Mezei (viola); Milan Aleksić (piano); Albert Márkos (cello); Ervin Malina (bass) and István Csík (percussion)

Track Listing: Bot: CD 1: 1. Bot/Stick (2002)+2. Föld - levegö/ Earth and Air (1998)+3. Tamara- ki?/Tamara Who?+(2002) 4. Yerma (2001)+5. Tibeti gyors/Tibetan Allegro (2000)* 6. Lépésben/In Step (2000)* CD2: 1. Női box/ Female Boxing (2004)+2. Csip csip (2003)* 3. Huzatos huzat/Breezy Draught (2004) 4. Napszekér/Chariot of Sun (2004)* 5. Medium (2002)+

Personnel: Bot: Damir Bačikin and Slobodan Dragaš* or Lordan Skenderović+ (trumpet); Bravislav Aksin (trombone); Kornél Pápista (tuba); Bogdan Ranković (alto saxophone clarinet and bass clarinet); Emöke Zákány (oboe); Szilárd Mezei (viola); Radmila Stanišić (cello); Ervin Malina (bass) and István Csík (drums and percussion)

Track Listing: Februári: Side A: 1. Akkorra/By Then Side B 1. Pakak/Sedges 2. Februari Fadöntés/Felling in February

Personnel: Februári: Péter Bede (tenor saxophone and clarinet); Szilárd Mezei (viola); Erno Hock (bass) and Hunor G.Szabó (drums)

July 22, 2011

Szilárd Mezei Wind Quartet

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,

Mezei, who has played with improvisers ranging from American saxophonist Charles Gayle and drummer Hamid Drake to Hungarian pianist György Szabados and French bassist Joëlle Léandre, has equal affinity for strings and horns, as these contrasting CDs demonstrate. Recorded two years apart, both the quartet and trio are made up of improvisers who work together in Mezei’s larger groups.

Anytime, now demonstrates in nine parts what profound liberties can be taken with a standard Jazz trio sound if the viola is the front-line instrument. On the disc Mezei’s creations are perfectly complemented by unassumingly inventive bassist Ervin Malina and the understated and sympathetic percussionist István Csík. Eschewing a rhythm section, the seven tracks on We Were Watching the Rain instead surrounds the leader’s viola with a brass choir consisting of three other musically congenial players: alto saxophonist and bass clarinetist Bogdan Rankovic, trombonist Branislav Aksin and tubaist Kornél Pápista.

As the second string player on the first CD, Malina moves seamlessly from one expected role to another. Sometimes he harmonizes in broken octaves or in lockstep with Mezei for more lyrical sounds; other times he provides a bass intro of profound subterranean textures; or else he walks, slaps or thumps his strings to escalate the tunes’ rhythmic foundations. His playing may often be in unison with the fiddler’s, but nevertheless a frequently invoked strategy involves presto pumping plucks from the bassist as the violist garnishes the musical feast with elongated and slithering sawing.

Mezei’s pizzicato style can involve mandolin-like picking; while Csík’s string set can vibrate with the staccato textures of deliberated stops and pumps. Meanwhile the drummer’s playing is as sympathetically legato as the others’. His percussive drags, pops and rebound, as well as his cymbal smacks may be contained within standard drum breaks, but they never demolish the compositional edifice constructed nor call undue attention to themselves.

“Hep 3” is one of the most memorable interactions here. Completed by a section where all three trade fours as if they’re playing a Bop head, the exposition depends on bull fiddle and viola stating the moderato theme steps apart, followed by a variant where the fiddler and bassist pass thematic variants between them with similar plinking rubato note clusters. Csík’s shuffles and paradiddles keep the backing bouncy as do his cymbal clusters. Meanwhile Mezei’s most spectacular demonstration of scratching double and stopping suggests the ugly-beauty of a viola excursion by American fiddler Leroy Jenkins.

Instructively, “Hep 8” and “Hep 6”, that both appear on We Were, relate more to the European atonal tradition than any composition performed in a strictly North American context. The first balances on Pápista’s textural pedal-point slurs and Aksin’s braying gutbucket blasts, as Mezei’s agitato and spiccato lines are propelled unchecked and Rankovic’s contralto glissandi are narrowed to diaphragm-induced squeaks and accelerating sharp trills. Eventually as brass burps, which could have escaped from a nearby beer garden, harmonize with Rankovic’s work, the tune concludes with sweet clarinet lyricism.

Meanwhile “Hep 6” polyphonically parcels the theme out among all four players, with the resulting tutti soon dissolving into pizzicato plucks, capillary trills and some whinnies and growls from Rankovic. After Rankovic’s subsequent reed bites and tongue stops are complemented by Pápista’s muted echo, a coda of hocketing, chordal lines ties the loose sonic ends into a neat package.

While other compositions are as alternatively melancholy and mellow or brassy and bubbly as you would imagine this often contrapuntal line-up would create, Mezei’s sophisticated arrangements also express his romantic side with a composition bilingually entitled, “Szerettelek, nem tagadom/I loved you, I don’t deny it”.

Here the contrapuntal dissonance between splintering fiddle jumps and pumping brass blasts is finally resolved by mewling chirps from Rankovic’s alto saxophone. This reed exposition turns into a duet involving a tuba ostinato and is succeeded by Aksin’s pumping grace notes and the fiddler’s presto string licks. Before the initial theme is definitively recapped and completed, Pápista has taken an octave-leaping solo; Rankovic has exposed split tones that range from shrill mouse squeaks to moderato dog yelps; and Mezei decorates the others’ output with squeezed chromatic runs

Evidentially neither the size of the ensemble nor the year of issue deters Mezei from creating high-calibre CDs. What’s needed now is more North American exposure for his many bands and compositions

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Anytime 1. Induló/March 2. [symbol] (dedicated to Tibor Várszegi) 3. Lynx 4. Most nem/Now no 5. Hep 3 6. Háromfa/Three Trees 7. Te beszélsz én elalszok 8. Bámikor, most/Anytime now 9. [elongated symbol]

Personnel: Anytime: Szilárd Mezei (viola); Ervin Malina (bass) and István Csík (drums and percussion)

Track Listing: We: 1. Miloš 2. Vasrózsa/Iron rose 3. Hep 8 4. Szerettelek, nem tagadom/I loved you, I don’t deny it 5. Néztük az esot/We Were Watching the Rain 6. Hep 6 7. Miloš Live

Personnel: We: Branislav Aksin (trombone); Kornél Pápista (tuba); Bogdan Rankovic (alto saxophone and bass clarinet) and Szilárd Mezei (viola)

June 23, 2010