Kovász

Hungarian quartet Kovász faces a conundrum. Consisting of local accomplished players, the group is determined to meld some traditional Magyar sounds to variants of Jazz and improvised music. The catch is that while most of the experiments work, there are tracks where a combination of Gergő Kováts’ electronic affiliated tenor saxophone flutters and Máté Pozsár swelling synthesizer thrusts move the recording needle a little too close to Smooth Jazz.

Luckily these are minor missteps with most tunes taking full advantage of the sonic seasoning of Kováts, who also plays bass clarinet and fuvolya; Pozsár, who is a pianist; bassist Ábel Dénes; and Attila Gyárfás. Gyárfás, most often, and Dénes, sometimes, also perform on the gardon, a traditional cello-shaped instruments whose strings and springs are plucked and beaten with a stick. Alone or coupled with Kováts using the fuvolya or traditional flute, distinct timbres are emphasized.

Most notably the band reaches the fusion it aims for on “In Dense Fog/Sűrű ködben”, a traditional tune which features pinched fuvolya trills and synthesizer washes in an unmistakenly mixed 17^th and 21^st Century blend. More prominently the gardon’s idiosyncratic textures are featured on the extended “Slow Tram/Lassú villamos”. With the instrument’s string reverb and spring echoes as leitmotif, the narrative ascends from andante to allegro as the freylekhs-like air adds additional emotions via saxophone sheets of sounds, doubled by electronics.

Similar fluctuation between funk and folkloric distinguish other tracks, with a categorical definition of what could achieve outlined on the adjoining “Great C/Nagy Cés” and “Moldavian Funk/Moldvai funk”. Resembling a sped up nursery rhyme, the former alternates between flighty eastern European dance music and a modern groove fusing bass clarinet and double bass timbres. Almost an extension of “Great C”, the other track uses circular piano comping, peeping flute harmonies and relentless gardon slaps to realize Magyar funk with jubilant dance syncopation.

Tracks like these show how effectively the quartet can blend influences into original sounds. Now if the members could negate any shifts to softer sounds a peerless musical definition would and should be clearly established.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Let’s Dance/Legyen tánc! 2. Cuckoo Bird/Kakukkmadár (invertita) 3. Slow Tram/Lassú villamos 4. In Dense Fog/Sűrű ködben 5. Oláh Funk/Oláhos funk 6. Great C/Nagy Cés 7. Moldavian Funk/Moldvai funk 8. Three Movements from Vajdaszentivány/Három tétel Vajdaszentiványról 9 Oldtempo/Öreg tempó

Personnel: Gergő Kováts (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, fuvolya, electronics); Máté Pozsár (piano, synthesizer); Ábel Dénes (bass, gardon); Attila Gyárfás  (drums, prepared gardon, electronics)