**musicians Xchange**: Bela Szakcsi Lakatos with Yuri Goloubev-Bass, Martin France-Drums and Special Guest Peter King-Sax. at 606 Club

Béla Szakcsi Lakatos is a key figure in Hungarian jazz. A multi-award winning pianist and one of Hungary’s finest and most influential jazz musicians he has, over the last 50 years, performed on virtually every continent with an enviable list of great musicians from around the world. A child prodigy, in the 1950’s he attended the Bela Bartok Conservatory with the intention of becoming a classical musician but soon found himself gravitating towards jazz improvisation. By the mid 1960’s he was leading his own band and by the end of that decade his trio had won numerous plaudits, including second prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival which opened the gates for him to the international jazz scene. Over the next 15 years he was to perform at prestigious festivals from Zurich, Warsaw, Nuremberg and Belgrade to North America and Asia. Through the 1980’s and early 1990’s he contributed as a soloist and composer to 11 albums of George Jinda and Chieli Minucci’s iconic band Special EFX as well as producing 4 albums of his own as a leader in his own right. At the same time as all this Szakcsi was also working extensively in Hungary and as a member of the groups Rákfogó and later Saturnus Szakcsi contributed to the popularisation of jazz fusion in his native country. By the mid 90’s Szakcsi was well established as an international artist of some standing, with Chick Corea going on record to express his appreciation of Szakcsi's excellence as a composer and performer. Not surprisingly his cv includes work with a host of impressive players including the likes of Carmen Jones, Frank Zappa, Art Farmer, Dave Weckl, Omar Hakim, Terri Lyne Carrington, Marvin "Smitty "Smith, Victor Bailey, Attila Zoller and David Sanchez. As well as a performer Szakcsi is also a well-respected educator, teaching at the Jazz Piano Department of the Béla Bartók Conservatory since the early 1970’s. Like many great musicians Szakcsi’s influences are wide-ranging and highly varied and in more recent years this has become more pronounced in his writing and performances. Equally at home in all styles of music, as well as producing powerful, straight ahead jazz albums he has also produced a terrific series of albums based on his own background, re-interpreting Gypsy folk music in a more contemporary setting. And if all that wasn’t enough ‘The Beast’ his rock opera from 1989, covered the life story of Elizabeth Bathory and on the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America the Hungarian State Opera House staged his 100-minute ballet ‘Cristoforo’. He has made recordings of Hungarian folk song arrangements' with opera singer Adam Horvath and folk singer Gyöngyi Écsi and pieces for piano four hands with George Vukán. He Played Mozart's "Coronation" Piano Concerto with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and also includes performances with Gyor Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cluj Philharmonic Orchestra and the Matáv Hungarian Symphony Orchestra. But jazz is still unquestionably Szakcsi’s musical inspiration, his improvisations deeply rooted in his Gypsy background. As he says, “My music is, inevitably, more modern than Django Reinhardt’s and it comes from a different Gypsy tradition. But what is very special about the Gypsy bands is the uncanny time-keeping combined with the freedom of playing rubato. Any jazzman who has ever heard Gypsy music is always amazed by it”. Tonight Szakcsi, a very old friend of the Club, will be performing with the brilliant bass player Yuri Goloubev (Gwilym Simcock) and the fantastic drummer Martin France (Loose Tubes). And to add some additional musical “spice” his special guest will be the iconic alto saxophonist Peter King (Charlie Watts), who is generally considered to be one of the finest jazz alto saxophonists in the world. This is a stunning line-up and one not likely to be repeated for some considerable time so booking is definitely advised....

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Béla Szakcsi Lakatos is a key figure in Hungarian jazz. A multi-award winning pianist and one of Hungary’s finest and most influential jazz musicians he has, over the last 50 years, performed on virtually every continent with an enviable list of great musicians from around the world. A child prodigy, in the 1950’s he attended the Bela Bartok Conservatory with the intention of becoming a classical musician but soon found himself gravitating towards jazz improvisation. By the mid 1960’s he was leading his own band and by the end of that decade his trio had won numerous plaudits, including second prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival which opened the gates for him to the international jazz scene. Over the next 15 years he was to perform at prestigious festivals from Zurich, Warsaw, Nuremberg and Belgrade to North America and Asia. Through the 1980’s and early 1990’s he contributed as a soloist and composer to 11 albums of George Jinda and Chieli Minucci’s iconic band Special EFX as well as producing 4 albums of his own as a leader in his own right. At the same time as all this Szakcsi was also working extensively in Hungary and as a member of the groups Rákfogó and later Saturnus Szakcsi contributed to the popularisation of jazz fusion in his native country. By the mid 90’s Szakcsi was well established as an international artist of some standing, with Chick Corea going on record to express his appreciation of Szakcsi's excellence as a composer and performer. Not surprisingly his cv includes work with a host of impressive players including the likes of Carmen Jones, Frank Zappa, Art Farmer, Dave Weckl, Omar Hakim, Terri Lyne Carrington, Marvin "Smitty "Smith, Victor Bailey, Attila Zoller and David Sanchez. As well as a performer Szakcsi is also a well-respected educator, teaching at the Jazz Piano Department of the Béla Bartók Conservatory since the early 1970’s. Like many great musicians Szakcsi’s influences are wide-ranging and highly varied and in more recent years this has become more pronounced in his writing and performances. Equally at home in all styles of music, as well as producing powerful, straight ahead jazz albums he has also produced a terrific series of albums based on his own background, re-interpreting Gypsy folk music in a more contemporary setting. And if all that wasn’t enough ‘The Beast’ his rock opera from 1989, covered the life story of Elizabeth Bathory and on the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America the Hungarian State Opera House staged his 100-minute ballet ‘Cristoforo’. He has made recordings of Hungarian folk song arrangements' with opera singer Adam Horvath and folk singer Gyöngyi Écsi and pieces for piano four hands with George Vukán. He Played Mozart's "Coronation" Piano Concerto with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and also includes performances with Gyor Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cluj Philharmonic Orchestra and the Matáv Hungarian Symphony Orchestra. But jazz is still unquestionably Szakcsi’s musical inspiration, his improvisations deeply rooted in his Gypsy background. As he says, “My music is, inevitably, more modern than Django Reinhardt’s and it comes from a different Gypsy tradition. But what is very special about the Gypsy bands is the uncanny time-keeping combined with the freedom of playing rubato. Any jazzman who has ever heard Gypsy music is always amazed by it”. Tonight Szakcsi, a very old friend of the Club, will be performing with the brilliant bass player Yuri Goloubev (Gwilym Simcock) and the fantastic drummer Martin France (Loose Tubes). And to add some additional musical “spice” his special guest will be the iconic alto saxophonist Peter King (Charlie Watts), who is generally considered to be one of the finest jazz alto saxophonists in the world. This is a stunning line-up and one not likely to be repeated for some considerable time so booking is definitely advised.

“Lakatos’s originals are full of rich melodies….episodic, unpredictable, and intriguing….haunting and authentic. Recommended.” Allmusic;
“quick-witted improviser... darting piano lines…suggest the inspired velocity Keith Jarrett generated in his most virtuosic…moments” Classics Today

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