Choose Cheese is a young jazz group “with aesthetic consistency avoiding any compromises”, as Kornél Zipernyovszky put it in Magyar Narancs. There are many sources in the music of the quartet – mainstream, avant-garde and free jazz, blues, Hungarian folk music, contemporary and classical music – and it is important to them to summon iconic figures of international and Hungarian music. At the same time, their purpose is to create from existing or non-existing style elements more in their music than the just the sum total of them. During their performances, in their own compositions, improvisations, or self-decomposing free improvisations, they emphasize compositional and improvisation techniques, different from those of the mainstream. Their most common means is melodic, linear and collective improvisation, and the steady rolling of each other’s ideas. The group is an open formation, so they often invite guests to their performances, like for their Opus debut last August the talented young pianist, Tamás Papp. For this year's concert, they are daring something even bigger: in the first part of the concert the quartet plays from their existing reperoire, while for the second part a very powerful piano and wind instruments section will be added to perform the most recent piece of the Pozsár-pupil leader, Márton Menyhért, composed specially for this occasion. As Márton puts it, “a piece with a quite different instrumentation and composition technique than used in jazz will be heard, played by a larger apparatus. The material may sound like jazz from afar, but reveals itself as something completely different while listening closely.”  This concert is supported by NKA Hangfoglaló Program.

We live in a time when the boundaries between our analog and digital lives are becoming more blurred than ever. The members of the band explore these fused concepts in a dialogue of interchanging sounds, sometimes arising from an indistinguishable code. With this convergence of musicians – constantly orbiting each other – comes the expression of inner ruminations on our current collective consciousness. These colliding perspectives bring about different realities and sensory experiences, leaving us with the need to further process and explore. Each musician has his own musical background, which is reflected in the wide spectrum of musical genres that appear on album. It shifts from deep ambient and floating textures to very grounded groove moments. At this point in its evolution, the band strongly believes in making music in the moment, which is why everything was recorded live, with all musicians playing in the same big room, over the course of one day. A group of experienced musicians and good friends created a new musical constellation which is a cross-over of dub, beat music, drum and bass and ambiental exploration. Music as alive and changing creativity, where every band-member has equal role in musical dialogue. The Path of 01 by Ecliptic

Péter Ajtai’s long-cherished dream came true with the formation of a group adapting music by Charles Mingus. Concerning Mingus it’s indisputable that we are dealing with an artist who is absolutely beyond any genre or classification, so it is understandable why does he enjoy the same respect in entirely different segments of the jazz scene. The members of the Mingus, Mingus, Mingus ensemble are well-known figures of the avant-garde music scene in Hungary, who don't play the music of Mingus note by note, but grasping its essence, try to shape it to their own face.

Somewhere between late 60’s rock and sound art, Abacaxi has a heart full of candy and a skin made of spikes. Formed by Julien Desprez, this brand  new incarnation of the classic rock line up guitar/bass/drums presents an intense electric sound sculpture, carved by the rock idiom. The trio, with Max Andrzejewski on drums/synth and Jean François Riffaud on bass, creates an highly energetic new music full of noisy brightness and sharp edges - completed by a choreography of flashlights. Through a mix of actions on the instrument and a play of foot on efect pedals, taking inspiration from the technique of Tap Dance, it completely opened the possibilities, sound and physical environment of the instrument. collectifcoax.com/artist/abacaxi

Béla Szakcsi Lakatos says that comfort is the greatest enemy of musicians, so he moves out of his comfort zone once again: this time he invited István Grencsó, the "heavyweight" improviser of the Hungarian free music scene to join him, for whom the safe musical environment begins where it’s ended for the most musicians. His initial fears that Szakcsi would want to play standards with him were soon dispelled when the veteran piano player told him that he was studying Ligeti's Etudes and wanted to create unrestricted music with the harmonization solutions of Ligeti. As a matter of fact, Béla Szakcsi Lakatos has been following István Grencsó's work for a long time, all the way back to when he was a student of György Szabados, whose piano playing was also highly regarded by Szakcsi. The excitement of the concert is enhanced by the fact that the two of them are joined by a rhythm section featuring bassist György Orbán and drummer Máté Éles who never played together before. The "Improvisation Workshop" of Szakcsi & Grencsó is a music studio where brand new things are born – not only for the audience but also for the musicians. The meeting of the two giants will surely result musical zeniths like the tectonic plate collisions.