Led by director Szilárd Mezei, this album displays a large
23-piece ensemble in an improvisational setting. This two-disc release
encapsulates over two-and-a-half hours of music! The first disc begins with the
56-minute grand opus titled "Hep 20," which takes up the lion’s share of this
recording, along with the nearly 20-minute title track "Karszt." The second
disc features six, much shorter (each piece being less than 17 minutes)
improvisationheavy compositions. The ensemble, although large, frequently gives
the impression that they are a series of smaller groups that have banded
together. For example, "From Foliage of Trees and Shrubs" begins with a with a
small group of musicians performing for roughly eight minutes before the whole
ensemble enters just briefly in declamatory fashion, which gives way to a
percussion solo. This is followed by another entrance of a small group that
works a melodic gesture to the end of the piece. The full ensemble consists of
a percussion quartet, a saxophone quartet, a double-bass quartet, a
flute/piccolo trio, a traditional piano trio, three brass players, a guitar,
and the group’s leader on the viola. However, Mezei is not interested in
traditional ensemble combinations. His writing explores many interesting
sonorities through a series of varying orchestrations. The group pursues a
succession of melodic fragments in each composition that often return and are
developed throughout each performance. Mezei is truly an innovator as evidenced
through his bringing together of this large group of diverse European
musicians. Dustin Mallory Cadence January
2016
Once again we encounter jazz composer-instrumentalist Szilard Mezei with an ambitious recent two-CD
set of his music for the International Improvisers Ensemble, Karszt (Slam 550). This is a large group with
a rather unique instrumentation. Szilard leads the ensemble on viola. The rest of the band consists of some
22 mostly European improviser-players, including a saxophone quartet, trumpet, two trombones, three
flautists covering piccolo, standard flute, alto flute and bass flute, piano, acoustic guitar, violin, cello, four
double basses, marimba, vibes and two drummers!
What could be in other hands a rather cumbersome totality breathes and freely levitates thanks to Mezei's
compositional and orchestrational sensibilities. He handles it all so that both the overall and sectional
colorations come to the forefront in ever varying possibilities. The melodic lines have a long-form variability
that may well be one of the more distinctive approaches out there in the large-band free avant jazz zone.
Those melodic sequences allow for improvisational statements both inside their sounding and between, or
alternately serve as ostinatos underpinning the improvisations or counter-lines.
Eight compositions fill the two disks, some quite lengthy, some shorter, but all of definite interest. Mezei is
a very respectable free-form violist but there are many other improvisors featured here as well and they
certainly come through with appropriate lines, individually and collectively.
First and foremost, though, this is a very worthy example of Mezei the sound innovator, the creator of original
big band music that has the free avant elements but are put to use to realize Mezei's special vision.
Karszt shows Szilard Mezei at his best, progressing forward, creating his own momentum with a stylistic clarity and singularity.
I very much recommend you listen. As you need to begin somewhere in exploring Mezei's way, this is a great place to start!
Grego Applegate 17/7/2015
http://gapplegatemusicreview.blogspot.it/2015/07/szilard-mezei-international-improvisers.html
The sleeve notes even list the order of solos, but you don't need that here and I suspect that for many of us, the musicians
are little known: I believe I have heard something of Bogdan Rankovic and Gergő Kovátsbefore, but do not recall the context.
I have spoken of categorization in other reviews and although I don't want to dwell on that, I would like to say that the piece
Hep 20 on CD 1 really does start out in a modern, classical, chamber format, albeit a large chamber, but by half-way through
modern jazz composition takesover, then seems to yield once again to a classical style.There is also an overriding feeling that
there should be voices in there, especially after listening to Erika Dagnino's Signs. The two albums are not in the least alike,
but the sombre moods of this mammoth production are perhaps looking for astatement. It is indeed a trulymultifaceted composition
and arrangement.
The title track Karszt starts out in an even more sombre mood, very cinematic, very sinister. Then it develops into passages
which are much lighter in weight, plucked and bowed strings echoing sounds of folkmusic from Eastern Europe.
The second CD largely consists of shorter tracks around the 15 minutes mark and these reveal a closer proximity to jazz,
especially Kéreg,
which delivers a vital, jazz-orchestrated swing that illustrates just how much power there is in this ensemble. It also
demonstrates the influence of arrangements by Carla Bley, DukeEllington and Charles Mingus.Throughout the whole of this
imposing work though, the creative authority
of Anthony Braxton's compositional technique has been of the essence. This is a magnificent work, worthy of much of your
time. Reviewed by Ken Cheetham http://jazzviewscdreviews.weebly.com/february-2014.html
KARSZT:Our improvising friends at SLAM Productions are constantly sending new & exciting music our way for review!
This 2-CD set captures over two hours of very interesting music performed in Serbia (January 2012). The opener, "Hep 20",
is the perfect place to start this sonic adventure, especially if improvised is not your regular "flavor" of music; this tune has
a really strong flavor of orchestral, yet achieves the goal of being fully improvised. My personal favorite track has a bit more
leaning towards what you might call "big-band improv"…. "Jugoplastika" is one of the most intriguing improvised pieces
I’ve listened to in the last five years. I give this monster improv set of works a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, with an
"EQ" (energy quotient) rating of 4.98. Rotcod Zzaj http://rotcodzzaj.com/wordpress/?page_id=4706
Following a recent series of small group CDs, Hungarian-Serbian violist Szilárd Mezei revisits large ensemble writing and
arrangement with a two-CD set of compositions for a 23-piece band. Working in an idiom that draws on Jazz-inflected
improvised music, reconstituted folklore and echoes of so-called classical music, Karszt’s main reference points are actually
itself – or Mezei’s other music. More crucially though, when the exultant sounds produced here are examined, it’s clear that
he has created one possible path for advanced 21st century composition.
Although the orchestra includes no less than nine players of chordal instruments plus seven woodwind or brass players,
the most consistent interface depends on contrasts between the elastic percussion tones of marimba and vibraphone verses
the soaring, unison voicing of various members of the flute family. Consistent with his comprehensive musical stance,
although there are identified solos during the CD’s eight mostly extended tracks, not one is lengthy enough to define
itself outside of the composition.
Clocking in at more than 56 minutes, "Hep 20" becomes the de facto definition of Mezei’s art. Encompassing motifs which
morph from straight-laced processional to willowy melancholy to spidery and rhythmically balanced the narrative is, by
necessity, taffy-like in its structure, able to be yanked and stretched every which way without breaking. Throughout
distinctive tutti orchestral sections prolong the thematic rows, underscoring incursions and propel tones to the next juncture.
A climax of sorts is reached one-third of the way through as scrubbed bass lines and percussion pops give way to a
profound Jazz interlude with saxophonists Péter Bede and Gergő Kováts challenging one another, while flute peeps
and trombone slurs color the background. Neo-classical string squeezes with near-baroque repetition, plus thickened
percussion sputters keep the narrative balanced and stable until a much later incursion – this time from Ádám Meggyes’
hocketing trumpet and plunger slurs from trombonist Branislav Aksin and Jens Balder – combine to nearly wrench the
program into prolonged, agitated multiphonics. Brightly voiced ensemble passages soon return thematic integrity,
strengthened by bird-like flute chirps and resonating slaps from Ivan Burka’s marimba and Jelena Raskolvič’s vibraphone.
Musical symmetry is maintained until the finale, as various instrumental groups and duos solo then retreat, most notably
between one piccolo player and Béla Barany’s baritone sax. With eminent logic, the cumulative excitement-maintaining
textures fading out following a sequence which could be from a fife-and-drum duo.
Other selections show off the breath and versatility of the ensemble in interpreting Mezei’s other compositions. Polish-born
Frédéric Chopin would probably have been puzzled by the lack of keyboard flourishes on the violist’s "Chopin emlékére/In
Memory of Chopin". However the piece is able to stand on its own. If Máté Pozsár’s pianisms are relegated to comping or
clanking, the sophistication of the other solos makes up for that. With bassist Joel Grip’s staccato rubs and percussion
clip-clops setting the pace, Gergely Ittzés’ flat-line, almost unaccented flute pulses, Raskolvič’s slow-paced vibes and
Burka’s similarly tempo-challenged marimba, plus soaring sax sequences from Bogdan Rankovič and Kováts, promote
a spirited climax.
More distinctively Pozsár comes into his own on "Kéreg/Bark" where his dynamic outpourings on the keys bring forth
memories of Cecil Taylor’s meetings with expanded bands. Balanced like many of the other tracks here on jittery metal
bar smacks and chirping flute family expressions, multiple echoes enter the composition. Although the tenor saxophone
solioists work themselves into throaty Archie Shepp-like growling at points with answering verbal cries, the compositional
architecture depends just as much on quivery plucks from the string section plus distinctive mariachi-like brass toots.
Mezei once again demonstrates his skills as a composer and arranger during the almost 2½ hours of music here. Besides
this high quality project, one would hope he has more chances to broaden his canvas in similar fashions in the future.
—Ken Waxman http://www.jazzword.com/one-review/?id=128489 19/05/2014
