Szabados Quartet: The Wedding

Hungaroton  SLPX 17473

Side 1 – The Wedding; Duo for Piano and Violin. Side 2 – Miracle; The Interrogation of Irma Szabó. Personnel: György Szabados, piano, zither; Lajos Horváth, violin, bass; Sándor Vajda, bass; Imre Kőszegi, drums.

This is the first free jazz record to have been released in Hungary. The music of the Szabados Quartet unambiguously relies on the traditions of Hungarian folk music, but is also related to the experiences of Black American jazz.

György Szabados has been playing free jazz since 1962. He has instinctively built his musical idiom within the tradition of the rubato-type Hungarian folk song and oriental metres so familiar in Bartok's music. The new context allows for greater improvisational possibilities. A fortunate coincidence for Szabados was that his efforts synchronized perfectly with the current developments in international jazz. In 1972 his Quintet was awarded Free Grand Prix of the International Jazz Competition in San Sebastian, Spain, His new quartet, heard on this record, further develops the idiom Szabados set out to explore a decade ago.  

(Jazz Forum, 1976/3)