In A Mellow Tone
Wednesday September 6th, 2017 with Bernard Stepien
Jazz from Europe: Brass Danse orchestra and Lajos Dudas

After a three month vacation in Europe, I accumulated some more and especially unusual Jazz material from Europe. The first half of the show will present a French brass group, Brass Danse Orchestra, latest CD La Danse du Souffle that I have seen at an yet unusual Jazz festival, the Surgères Brass Festival. Of course, this involves the usual trumpet, trombone and Tuba but also a Basque accordionist, Didier Ithursarry. This texture loaded combination is not so unusual in Basque country where both Bandas (Brass and reed bands) are present at any bull fight and accordion is a big thing. The repertoire also stays away from the American Song Book and instead produces any Jazz-world music combination you can imagine with Tangos, music from Edith Piaf and the unavoidable Balkanic brass. The second half of the show is in sharp contrast with the first one, since Hungerian clarinetist Lajos Dudas who has been playing double agent role between Jazz and Classical music and specifically maintaining the ambiguity between the two musical genres plays quasi only Jazz standards but with this European touch.