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GRENCSÓ OPEN COLLECTIVE – Derengés/Dawn – Compositions of György Szabados

(SLAM Records – SLAMCD 565 – 2CDs)

István Grencsó: reeds; Máté Pozsár: piano; Róbert Benkö: bass; Szilveszter Miklós: pen.
Guests: – Szilárd Mezei: viola; Ádám Meggtes: trumpet, pipe; Ábel Fazekas: clarinet, pipe; Gergö Kovás: baritone saxophone, pipe.
Recorded April 2015

Throughout this double album there are resonances of the essence of the music of Bartók and Kodaly, and that too of Coltrane and Shepp, Keith Jarrett and Cecil Taylor.  The music will move you, too, as it sweeps between moments of unobtrusive tautness and passages of outrageous pandemonium, often linked via diffident, melodic flotsam and jetsam, evocative of burgeoning uncertainty.

Hear too striking harmonies and gorgeous arrangements especially of piano sections and all transported with dramatic tenor, suggestive of fervour of entreaty.  There is occasional gloominess too, but all is recovered when the dazzling trumpet and virtuoso viola ease onto the scene and equilibrium is restored, the balance unadulterated and the music free.

Free music?  Free jazz?  This is a great collaboration by SLAM.

Reviewed by Ken Cheetham