In the season of 2022/23, Modern Art Orchestra presents excellent Hungarian composers to the audience of Opus Jazz Club. In their series of six concerts, they invite composers who experiment with orchestral sound and look for new ways of expression. They will also be the soloists of the concerts, presenting their new works. The artistic director, Kornél Fekete-Kovács and all the musicians in the outstanding MAO treat music with an attitude that transcends borders of genres. Musical creativity and free expression of musical thought takes the centre in their playing and compositions. During this season, they work with autonomous creative minds of modern Hungarian music, whose way of thinking falls close to theirs.

The trio has been performing for 15 years. Szakcsi Jr. and Elemér Balázs formed the band as childhood friends, having played together since 1998. As a young talent, they invited Krisztián Pecek Lakatos, who had already burst onto the Hungarian jazz scene a few years earlier, to play bass before their first album Psalms was released in 2008. Their second trio album, released at the end of 2022, was a long time coming. The album contains two original songs and jazz standards, but as Szakcsi Jr. puts it, the theme is just a pretext, the point is the musical conversation, as the trio plays acoustic modern jazz, respecting the traditions of the genre.  

Péter Szendőfi Fusion Jam gradually evolved from 2019, during jam sessions into a permanent band. Both the style and the basic concept itself pay tribute to artists and bands who created the revolutionary fusion jazz genre in the early 60s and 70s. Accordingly, Péter Szendőfi Fusion Jam’s repertoire consists mainly of transcriptions and arrangements of compositions by Billy Cobham, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, The Weather Report, The Brecker Brothers and Return to Forever. The arrangements are imbued with a modern sound, while retaining the original mood and character of the songs, as well as the themes of the earlier recordings. The band’s 2021 album Area51 also includes some original compositions written specifically for this lineup.  

One of Hungary's most popular jazz singers, Nikoletta Szőke's brand new band presents – true to its name – an explosively fresh sound. The members of the band are some of the most influential artists of Hungarian jazz, popular with their own productions and as leaders of their own bands. In this line-up, the audience can hear them playing all together for the first time. The programme, consisting of jazz standards and songs by the members of the band, combined with a performance style full of power and passion, promises a unique sound and experience. The winner of the Montreux Jazz Singing Competition, Nikoletta Szőke is one of the most popular jazz singers in Hungary. In addition to concert halls and festivals, she has performed to great acclaim in New York, Tokyo, Brussels, Copenhagen, London and Berlin, singing with Michel Legrand, Bobby McFerrin, Kurt Elling and Gregory Hutchinson, among others. She has released seven solo albums; her latest, Moonglow, was produced by Grammy Award-winning Helik Hadar.

Modern Art Orchestra’s Legendary Albums series presents the most important and unique albums of jazz literature, performed by MAO. By learning and playing these compositions and arrangements, the musicians are paying tribute to the jazz legends and are undergoing an intense process of musical improvement. The band absorbs the material of the original recordings, sticking to the arrangements, forms and compositional features. As improvisation is the blood of jazz, solos are invented by the players at the moment. Due to the respect shown towards the original conceptions of the legendary composers and the level of craftsmanship known from Modern Art Orchestra, the Legendary Albums series both brings you the essence of jazz tradition and guarantees a fresh musical experience. Legendary Albums – Art Blakey: Ugetsu Art Blakey (1919-1990) may have been self-taught on the drums, but has become one ofthe most respected bandleaders in jazz history, who connected generations from Mary Lou Williams to Kenny Garrett. The legendary Jazz Messengers combo was launched in 1955 and became one of the most influential and most popular bands of the music. To be invited to join by Blakey meant that you’ve made it. Only Miles Davis was looked up so much by his peers, often proud to declare themselves students of his. The line-up at that October 1963 date in Birdland, New York was one of the best, if not the best ever. A recent addition to the band was trumpet player Freddie Hubbard, capable of taking an audacious speed, similarly to virtuoso trombonist Curtis Fuller, who was also pretty new in the band. The senior position of the frontline belonged to sax player and musical director Wayne Shorter, who was getting ready to record the historic series of his solo albums. They played three original  compositions of the saxophonist.The title tune and another contain Japanese references, as the band returned from a Far Eastern tour not much earlier. Ugetsu is a classic Japanese movie directed by Mizoguchi, while the other is a reference to the elegant shopping area of Tokyo, Ginza. On the title track it is worth listening to the unlimited talents of pianist of the band, Cedar Walton as he lays out the vamp in a way that foretells Tyner from the classic of the Coltrane Quartet a couple of years later. The original LP has been re-issued with additional tracks from the concert, proving that the fantastic tension at the concert lasted all the way through.

Saxophonist, composer and arranger Chelsea Carmichael is an understated innovator and educator, quietly adding her own contribution to the iteration of jazz that has evolved on these islands. She’s a warm and hypnotic player, who brings subtle and considered improvisation to everything she does. She’s already been part of a Mercury-nominated band – she played on SEED Ensemble’s 2019 Driftglass – and currently plays with Theon Cross, the Neue Grafik Ensemble and the hyper-popular Outlook Orchestra who play for huge audiences at major venues and festivals. She also writes and arranges for her own Chelsea Carmichael Ensemble. Primo cultural instigator Shabaka Hutchings noted her potential and invited her to record the first release his new brand new Native Rebel label. He wrote a set of songs for her, which she worked up at RAK studios with Eddie Hick (Sons of Kemet), Dave Okumu (The Invisible) and Tom Herbert (The Invisible; Polar Bear) and the resulting recordings comprise her 2021 debut album The River Doesn’t Like Strangers. Whilst she’s Conservatoire-trained as a musician, she’s self-taught when it comes to composing for her own Chelsea Carmichael Ensemble – which sold out Ronnie Scott’s when they performed their tribute to John Coltrane’s ‘Giant Steps’ on the record’s 60th anniversary. “Composition has been a solo, self-taught adventure, literally in my room on my keyboard,” she says. “It!s been trial and error. The writing thing is a really long journey and I!m just at the start. There!s a lot more for me to explore.” These explorations includes a focus on one particularly rich seam. “I’ve been really delving into the lineage of Black British excellence within jazz,” she adds, referencing the more obscure parts of Courtney Pine’s back catalogue and Nu Troop’s 1981 album ‘Migrations’ along with Denys Baptiste, Jason Yarde and Soweto Kinch. “The Conservatoire path is very American-focused. That’s where the music is from, but we have our own history and legacy here and we don’t do too much digging into it. It’s a personal project to dig into the history we have in this country.”  

East and West meet on guitarist Csaba Czirják's latest album, Sun and Moon, which he recorded with his new quintet. While in the pentatonic melodies we can discover Hungarian folk music and Bartók heritage, the harmonies are typically western and typical of jazz. According to Csaba Czirják's own confession, this time he did not want to make a virtuoso jazz recording, but a material whose melodies grab the listener's attention. The recording has in some places a meditative atmosphere, elsewhere it tends to fuse jazz and rock, and its title also indicates the direction of the music, insofar as it targets the universal, beyond the earthly, material qualities. On the third album of the formation, which follows Markoláb (2017) and Emma, released in 2019, all this is further advanced by unusual instruments: the zither, which Csaba turns into a jazz instrument this time. Sun and Moon stands in the centre of this concert, but the band will also play songs from their other two albums. Having completed his studies at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, guitarist Csaba Czirják went on to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Following his return to Hungary he soon became well-known for his versatility in different genres and lineups. He is especially inspired by Hungarian, Bulgarian and Romanian folk music, and his playing can be characterized both by proficiency and intimacy.  

Three souls, two living rooms, layers of universe and a seemingly endless journey through the self. Welcome to a musical journey of birds, gently sailing into the unknown. As the name suggests, the band doesn’t want to limit itself in terms of genre: birds of unknown outlines the freedom in musical creation. Their common goal is to find their expression, to tell their story. They draw inspiration for their creation from jazz, avantgarde, ethno and soul music. There are three so-called birds, the vocalist Patricija Škof, saxophonist Tibor Pernarčič and guitarist Tilen Beigot, all coming from Slovenia and studying in renowned institutions in Europe and the USA. The band was formed at the beginning of 2020 when Tibor joined the initial duo of Patricija and Tilen, which has been active since 2018. The trio gave a debut performance in May 2020 at the radio show called Prva Vrsta, which is a part of the program of the Slovenian National Radio (RTV Slovenia). Their single, released in June 2020, was part of the EP compilation called Stereoisolation, a project of the festival Jazz ma’ mlade during the pandemic. They performed at the numerous festivals such as Jazz Festival Ljubljana, JazzWerkstatt Graz, Jazzinty, Jazz ma’ mlade, Zvončki in  trobentice (Cankarjev dom), Imago, Letni Oder Ruše, Festival LENT, Rokovo Poletje and Artkamp. They were one of the 6 finalists of Klubski Maraton (touring program in Slovenia) of Radio Študent. They were chosen as Slovenian representative artists for the Footprints Europe project in 2022, which will help them develop their career internationally while touring in Austria and other parts of Europe this year. They released their debut album Gently sailing in December 2022.  

Guy Mintus is an Israeli-born piano performer, composer, vocalist, and bandleader. He possesses the finesse of a trained concert pianist, the energy of a rockstar, and the exploring spirit of a jazz musician inspired by a wide range of influences from Turkish Makam to Stride piano to South-Indian rhythms. Be it in solo, trio, or orchestral formats, Guy is able to create a musical playground filled with joy, spontaneity, groove, and humor while embarking on adventures that start with his original music and continue to surprising re-imaginations of music from Beethoven, Chopin, Gershwin or the Great Israeli Songbook to name a few. Officially endorsed by Yamaha Pianos, Guy is the winner of the prestigious Leonard Bernstein Award as well as the audience's choice at the Montreux Jazz Festival's piano competition. Since 2016, Guy Has been leading his own trio featuring Oren Hardy on bass and Yonatan Rosen on drums. The trio's latest record, A Gershwin Playground, was recently released on the prestigious label ENJA Records (Chet Baker, Charles Mingus, McCoy Tyner among others). The album provides a fresh, modern and very personal take on the music of Jewish-American musical giant while receiving international support from both critics and audiences alike. The trio's debut record, “A Home in Between” has been selected as DownBeat Magazine’s Editor’s Pick while his sophomore release, “Connecting the Dots”, has been celebrated in concerts throughout the US, Canada, France, Switzerland, Germany, Israel, Turkey and Kazakhstan including a New York CD release concert that has been recommended by the New York Times.

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 of guitar/bass/drums presents an intense electric sound sculpture, carved by the rock idiom. The trio, with Francesco Pastacaldi 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.

Sephardic music is the music of being on the road. Jews fleeing from the Spanish Inquisition, forced to leave the Iberian Peninsula, packed the memories of their former homeland, their personal stories, the bitter experience of exile and the certainty of survival into these songs, like hidden pockets in a coat. But these pockets also contain many of the treasures that came their way: elements of the melodies of North Africa, Southeast Europe and Asia Minor. And this diverse musical culture also allows the performers to draw on their own musical experiences, as Sefardito does when they play these songs inspired by Spanish, Jewish, Turkish and Moorish music. This evening, the quartet is joined by Márton Soós.

The Szilárd Mezei Quartet was formed in 2017, when Szilárd Mezei Trio, active since 2000, was joined by vibraphonist Ivan Burka from Novi Sad. The band's repertoire consists of Szilárd Mezei's compositions, ranging from free improvisation to rigorously written compositions, and their style encompasses an equally wide range of inspirations from Hungarian folk music roots to contemporary music and modern jazz. All members of the quartet are also soloists, which, along with the balance of instruments – two strings/strings and two percussion instruments – plays a crucial role in shaping the sound of the orchestra.

Károly Binder is a musician of stature, who puts his talents at the service of the synthesis of new trends, different musical cultures, compositional techniques and improvisational systems, not forgetting his own musical roots. He is an autonomous composer whose piano playing and compositions cannot be classified by style or genre. Since the late 1970s, Binder has pursued with unrelenting consistency the path he set for himself, a path on which he has had no Hungarian predecessors. In his musical development, alongside the immense oeuvre of Béla Bartók, one can clearly trace the influence of the folklore of the Carpathian Basin, the Hungarian original homeland, the melodic world of the Volga-Kama region, and even the American repetitive school of Steve Reich. He has released more than 85 albums to date; this time he and his trio will present his latest album, entitled On the Way Home.

The two hemispheres of the evening will be linked by Miquèu Montanaro's boundless musical world. Sissy Zhou, interested in learning more about the music of the South of France, met Miquèu Montanaro, a musician based in the Provence region. Hence the Lavande & Jasmin (Lavender & Jasmine) duo is born. According to French journalist Philippe Fanise, as in the yin and yang of the Chinese Tao, the duo creates life by uniting opposite but complementary energies: the music of silk (the strings) and bamboo (the flutes), the East and the West, the here and the elsewhere, the masculine and the feminine, the past of the tradition and the present of the creation. Rather than creating boundaries between cultures, they try to plant lavender on the wall of China. Life is like a tango: two steps forward, one step back. In the second half of the concert, a powerful world, at once joyful and sad, engulfs the listener as Miquèu and Ádám Móser reveal the tragic, romantic, dark and light sides of life. Once again, opposed yet complementary qualities meet: dance meets walking, love meets fear, one-time emotions meet those of the present, ancient music meets contemporary, classical music meets improvisation. The accordion duo's latest album consists of Miquèu's compositions, in which two souls, drunk on the freedom of improvisation, are intertwined.    

In the season of 2022/23, Modern Art Orchestra presents excellent Hungarian composers to the audience of Opus Jazz Club. In their series of six concerts, they invite composers who experiment with orchestral sound and look for new ways of expression. They will also be the soloists of the concerts, presenting their new works. The artistic director, Kornél Fekete-Kovács and all the musicians in the outstanding MAO treat music with an attitude that transcends borders of genres. Musical creativity and free expression of musical thought takes the centre in their playing and compositions. During this season, they work with autonomous creative minds of modern Hungarian music, whose way of thinking falls close to theirs.

András Párniczky founded his quartet in 2016 with the aim of performing his arrangements of Béla Bartók’s works in an improvisational setting. The bandleader and his colleagues, Péter Bede (wind instruments) and Péter Ajtai (bass), have performed in more than 300 concerts at venues such as the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Brussels Bravo Arts Festival, the Technopolis Jazz Festival in Athens and the Liszt Academy in Budapest. The quartet’s debut album, Bartók Electrified, was released in 2018 on BMC Records. This repertoire was performed in 2016 at MÜPA with guitarist Frank Möbus and tenor saxophonist Daniel Erdmann, and in 2019 the band toured with bassist Carlos Bica and drummer Dejan Terzic. In 2023, the reborn band will build on this collaboration, with Ágoston Szabó-Sipos on drums. The result is a repertoire that reflects the words of János Gonda: “an autonomous European improvisational musical language that integrates elements of modern chamber jazz, contemporary and folk music”. Instead of the usual thematic pieces, the compositions move within a much freer framework, retaining the recognisable sound of the band and also creating an authentic sound free of the clichés of American jazz.  

(Exit) Knarr came together after the pandemic forced Håker Flaten to move back to his native country Norway. A commission by Vossa Jazz festival created an opportunity to gather a group of fantastic Scandinavian musicians he had long wanted to work with. The COVID pandemic made it impossible to carry out Vossa Jazz as planned both in 2020 and in 2021. The music was finally premiered at Vossa Jazz on September 26, 2021 in connection with the release of the album on ODIN Records (artwork by renowned painter Lars Elling). A Knarr is the type of ship that was built in Scandinavia a thousand year ago and was used to sail the world – just as Ingebrigt Håker Flaten traveled the world driven by his musical adventures. (Exit) Knarr is a homage to the different places he visited, each song capturing the spirit of cities like Austin, Trondheim and Amsterdam. (Exit) Knarr is a musical plethora that draws from the bassist’s extensive background across different genres and traditions built up over a long career. The music draws as much inspiration from jazz and avant garde as from world music and psychedelic rock.   (Exit) Knarr by Ingebrigt Håker Flaten

“Composition is just improvisation in slow motion,” said Arnold Schoenberg. “Composition is slowed-down improvisation, and improvisation is sped-up composition,” said Wayne Shorter. This time, saxophonist János Ávéd explores the full spectrum of the 12 tones and the relationship between composition and improvisation with such excellent musicians as Veronika Harcsa, László Fassang, Máté Pozsár, Péter Ajtai and Attila Gyárfás. In 2013, John O'Gallagher fused Webern's music into the idioms of New York contemporary jazz, testing the applicability of Anton Webern's compositional methods to improvisation. This theme is also at the heart of János Ávéd's research. Is it possible to spontaneously create twelve-tone musical structures while maintaining the integrity of the compositional technique? How far does improvised music remain in Webern's style? Should it remain in this style at all? Is there such a thing as twelve-note jazz?

The concert features a selection of songs from the band's first album, Whole Wide World, released in 2022 by Hunnia Records. “I wanted to arrange songs that have made a special impact on me over the years. Folk songs will always have relevance, their message is eternal. People feel their roots through their folk music, their identity through their mother tongue. For me, world music seeks answers to the question: how is it possible and worthwhile to sing folk songs in our modern world? The musical context in which they are embedded tells us a lot about what a folk song brings out in us, how it moves us and how it affects us. That's what makes the interpretation really personal and a fantastic collective inner journey. The musical reflections on the songs (which we composed together) are brought together on the album into a single common essence, a conclusion. The album is very eclectic, as we relied solely on our intuition, moving across a wide spectrum of styles, without boundaries.” The special guest of the evening is Uruguayan musician-rapper Mc Guacho Aljas Iván (Los Orangutanes), who has been living in Hungary since he was ten years old and with whom Bori has been friends for more than 10 years (Boriván duo). Their songs combine Latin music, funk and raggamuff with Hungarian folk music. At the concert, the band will also give a taste of the material from their second album, which will present the world of folk music lullabies in a world music guise, and promises to be an excellent tune-up for Mother's Day as well.  

Modern Art Orchestra’s Legendary Albums series presents the most important and unique albums of jazz literature, performed by MAO. By learning and playing these compositions and arrangements, the musicians are paying tribute to the jazz legends and are undergoing an intense process of musical improvement. The band absorbs the material of the original recordings, sticking to the arrangements, forms and compositional features. As improvisation is the blood of jazz, solos are invented by the players at the moment. Due to the respect shown towards the original conceptions of the legendary composers and the level of craftsmanship known from Modern Art Orchestra, the Legendary Albums series both brings you the essence of jazz tradition and guarantees a fresh musical experience. Legendary Albums – Bob Brookmeyer / Tom Harrell: Shadow Box The date issued in 1979 under the title Shadow Box, featuring one of the greatest trombone players of all times, Bob Brookmeyer can be described as the meeting of generations.  The doyen of the recording, the master of the valve trombone, who used to play with Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz, Jim Hall and Jimmy Guiffre, who became a colossal big band arranger later, was not yet fifty. A young master already in his own right, trumpet player Tom Harrell was 32, and provides dreamlike beautiful soli. The piano seat was occupied by the 46-year-old Benny Aronov, who provided all the arrangements. He had gathered a vast experience as the pianist and musical director of singers, soloists and studio bands, but, maybe due to his modesty, until then he had only published one record as a bandleader. Here the band performed three original compositions of his, too, such as the extremely powerful title track. In the studio he was not only the head of the rhythm section, consisting of Buster Williams and Joe Le Barbera, but he was actually the bandleader on this date. The LP was released this way, however digital reissues have put the name of Brookmeyer up front.The recording proves that there is absolutely no reason to look down upon some of the mainstream jazz records of the seventies, especially when the groovy, laid back rhythms and the unhurried soli provide concealed tension. It also proves that an attentive attitude towards the other band members only increases the final result. No doubt that the famously modest pianist in possession of inexhaustible knowledge, Gábor Cseke will find this role absolutely fitting. The brass players of great fame, representing various generations (Kornél Fekete-Kovács, Attila Korb, László Gőz, Béla Szalóky), each of them playing a number of different brass  instruments, will look at their role as a reward and as chance to be further inspired by their fellow band members.

Abstract has been playing in Hungarian clubs and on stages for over five years, but their experimental spirit and cross-genre music is also known from two albums and a live concert release. Despite their classic line-up, they are far from being a mainstream band. Their distinctive music blends a variety of styles with great flexibility: from post-rock to avant-garde twists, the audience can encounter a wide range of colours, but the attitude and main principles of jazz are almost always prominent. This time, they present Grey Fox Ran Across the Desert, which, with its narrative, story-like themes, gives wings to the listener's imagination without becoming programme music. The intention of the creators is to invite the listener to engage in a colourful, exciting and free associative game.

Apifera is the Tel Aviv-based electronic jazz project of Nitai Hershkovits (Avishai Cohen, Georgia Anne Muldrow), Yuval Havkin, aka Rejoicer (Buttering Trio, Mndsgn), Amir Bresler (Liquid Saloon, Avishai Cohen) and Yonatan Albalak (Big Vicious, Geshem). Accomplished solo artists in their own right, the band creates organic-sounding structures and harmonies, distinctly blending electronic sounds with organic arrangements, all intended to reflect the rich variety and equilibrium of the natural world. Having already played together on many recordings, they released their debut album, Overstand, on Stones Throw in 2021. For Overstand, Apifera embraced an improvisatory and live sound, writing and recording the album in three days. On the other hand, their EP 6 Visits offers a glimpse of the electronic jazz quartet’s musical DNA with interpretations of tracks by Madlib, Duke Ellington, Massive Attack, Sergei Prokofiev, Sunbear, McCoy Tyner, and Squarepusher.  

Throughout today’s Europe, music is in motion, and the sounds emanating from Paris, Barcelona and London are a powerful motif for the continent’s growing cultural diversity. Add to that list Cologne, home to percussionist Ramesh Shotham, and his rhythm tour de force Madras Special. He’s a native of the bustling city of Chennai (formerly Madras), and a lifelong disciple of Carnatic music, the classical tradition of South India, revered for its rhythmic sophistication and its unique family of percussion instruments such as mridangam, tavil, ghatam, dolak and kanjira. Based in Europe since the 80’s, he has been a charismatic ambassador for his tradition, performing with diverse artists like Lebanese oud virtuoso Rabih Abou Khalil and jazz provocateur Steve Coleman, the late great Charlie Mariano, Karnataka College of Percussion, the Carla Bley Big Band or the WDR Big Band. With Madras Special, he creates a living mandala of sound and rhythm, drawing on the vivid personalities of Zoltan Lantos, Sebastian Müller and Reza Askari.  

Santa Diver, making music since 2006, was founded by jazz violinist Luca Kézdy, multi-instrumentalist-composer Dávid Szesztay and drummer Dávid Szegő. The three instruments and personalities represent a unique musical world, found in the intersection of jazz, world music and modern creative. Besides the unusual line-up (violin, bass guitar and drums), their sound is fundamentally defined by the wide emotional spectrum of Luca Kézdy’s playing, the colourful and melodic bass lines and the experimental, sometimes extreme, subtle and at the same time energetic drumming. The trio has performed at all the major festivals and clubs in Hungary, as well as at numerous festivals in Europe and overseas: Chelsea Music Festival, NYC (US), Cairo Jazz Festival (EG), Südtirol Jazzfestival (IT), Sparks & Visions Jazz Festival (DE), Amersfoort World Jazz Festival (NL), Voll Damm Festival Jazz Vic (ES), Gaume Jazz Festival (BE). Following their previous releases – four albums and a compilation LP – their fifth album Morning Air will be released this spring and presented at this concert.  

The new production of harpist Anastasia Razvalyaeva, singer Veronika Harcsa and guitarist and sound designer Márton Fenyvesi translates Schubert's music into contemporary musical language. After their album Debussy NOW!, released in 2020 on BMC Records, which attracted international attention, the three artists adapt the songs of another composer to their own instruments and language. Improvisations, timbres between classical and jazz vocal techniques, and live electronic effects further expand the infinite, sensual and eerily beautiful universe of Schubert's songs, while at the same time enhancing the expressive tools of the human voice, the harp and the guitar. The well-known, perennial songs are transformed into a truly contemporary spatial experience in the trio's performance. The audience will get their first taste of the upcoming recording, Schubert NOW! at this concert.  

Nefertiti is about a passion for working on the form of compositions. This quartet of superb players was formed by pianist Delphine Deau in 2013, and her pieces have a compelling dramaturgy. The pulse and the melodic line only emerge after joyous free interchange, frolicking and shadowplay. Saxophonist Camille Maussion is a melodic player who is involved in soundpainting, and also collaborates in the fields of dance, theatre and storytelling. He extends Deau’s concept and complements her lyrical playing in an ideal way. Drummer Pierre Demange also works in other art forms, notably the film and circus worlds. His mode of working with the wonderfully flexible Brazilian double bassist Pedro Ivo Ferreira often feels like they have together discovered the secret of perpetual motion. chuffDRONE combines five charismatic musicians, with their own individual approach to Jazz. Five mindful team players who get involved in each other’s musical performance with passionate commitment. In their compositions they intelligently as well as intuitively provide controlled outlets for uncontrollable eruptions, they orchestrate silence and transform ecstasy into rhythm. chuffDRONE unites energy with poetry, mischief with perfection. By counting on the power of the collective, the dividing line between composition and improvisation disappears, the different instruments merge into a pulsating sound charged with boundless energy, which creates a powerful attraction that the listeners can hardly resist.    

A virtuoso pianist, Árpád Tzumo graduated from the Monk Institute in the US and has since toured the world in numerous productions. In recent years, he has performed with such great American stars as Wayne Shorter, Terence Blanchard and Kenny Garrett, and has learned the art of jazz piano playing from no less a great pianist than Herbie Hancock. He has also enjoyed success at home as a soloist with the funky band SoLaTi, with folk arrangements and as a leader of his own band. His most recent trio album of Pat Metheny compositions (Tzumo Plays Pat) has earned him the acclaim of the author. This evening, he will be joined on drums by the well-known Áron Tálas, and on bass by the legendary Rudi Torma, to perform Tzumo's latest compositions. In the second part, the band is joined by the distinguished flutist Dávid Kanyó, active on both the classical and jazz scene.