Béla Szakcsi Lakatos



When Béla Szakcsi started playing the piano at the age of nine, he dreamed of becoming a famous composer and interpreter of classical music. But after having graduated from the Béla Bartók Conservatory he became acquainted with jazz and this experience diverted him from further classical musical studies.

In the fifties and sixties the major field of the Hungarian jazz was the entertainment and catering industry which provided the opportunity for the most prominent local musicians like Kovács Andor. Szakcsi made his début in his group, however, by the middle of the sixties he had already formed his own first groups. That's how he appeared on the album entitled Anthology '67. His trio LDL shared first prize with another group at the competition organized by the Hungarian National Radio and in 1970, as a member of Pege Aladár's quartet. Having been awarded the second prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival by the professional jury and the first prize by the journalists the gates of the international jazz scene opened to him.

From Zurich to Warsaw, from Nuremberg to Belgrade, from North America to Asia, he has performed in the highest-ranking festivals. From the numerous albums he has collaborated on with jazz musicians from all over the world the most distinguished are the ones recorded with percussionist George Jinda. As the soloist of Special EFX formed by George Jinda and Chieli Minucci, Szakcsi has appeared as composer/performer on eleven albums. It was thanks to these recordings that he was offered a contract with the American recording company GRP in the middle of the eighties (Sachi, 1988; Mystic Dreams, 1989; Eve of Chance, 1992; Straight Ahead, 1994).
Chick Corea has often expressed appreciation of Szakcsi's excellence as composer and performer - one who has played with such notabilities of the genre as Carmen Jones, Frank Zappa, Art Farmer, Mark Ledford, Dave Weckl, Omar Hakim, Terri Lyne Carrington, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Jay Leonhart, Gerald Veasley, Victor Bailey, Randy Roos, Attila Zoller, Rodney Holmes, David Sanchez or Mike Richmond.

Szakcsi is credit to Hungarian jazz for the spreading of fusional jazz, first with his group Rákfogó, later with Saturnus. From the beginning of the seventies he taught jazz piano for twelve years at the Bartók Béla Conservatory where, following the example of Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock he laid special emphasis on the fusion of classical music and jazz. It was with this object in mind that he resumed his studies of classical composers from Bach to Bartók, Stravinsky, Schönberg and Webern.

In the meanwhile he was also engaged in collecting and adapting Gipsy folklore to the stage. His first Gipsy musical Red Caravan opened in 1975 which was followed by Once upon a time a Gypsy girl then Cartwheel. In 1989 he composed The Beast a rock opera based on the life of Báthory Erzsébet commissioned by the Rock Theatre. For the quincentenary of America's discovery his hundred-minute ballet entitled Cristoforo opened at the Hungarian State Opera
All those who have kept track of the life-work of Liszt-prize winner Szakcsi Lakatos Béla will have noticed that - following the lead of his idol Leonard Bernstein - he is intimate in every musical genre. He has recorded Hungarian folk song adaptations with opera singer Horváth Ádám and folk singer Écsi Gyöngyi (Virágom, Virágom - My flower, My flower, 1988), pieces for four hands with pianist Vukán György (Conversation for two pianos & orchestra, 1998, Das Duell I-II-III - Vukán-Szakcsi in Gottingen, 1998, Conversation Plus, 1999, Fourhand, 2000) and a succession of jazz recordings with eminent artists (Journey in Time with Kõszegi Imre and Jackie Orszáczky, 1998, On the way back home with Bob Mintzer and Peter Bernstein, 2001). For the past ten years he has immersed himself in the compositions of Kurtág György, at present he is making a close study of the works of Ligeti György, Eötvös Péter and Pierre Boulez.

To create a common language out of hitherto separate musical genres is obviously Szakcsi's true vocation and it is in this spirit that the improvisations with Kathy Horváth Lajos, going on for decades, now came to be recorded for the first time (In one breath, 2002 - BMC CD 061).

New Hungarian Gipsy Jazz (Orbán György - double brass, Lakatos Pecek András - drums, Rostás Mónika - vocal, Rostás Csaba - vocal, Szakcsi Lakatos Béla - piano)
No one disputes that jazz comes from America, but some Americans are reluctant to admit that there's such a thing as European jazz. However, all the American musicians make one exception and that is the late great Belgian Gypsy guitar player Django Reinhardt. When they first heard him they recognised his music as jazz, although not quite the same as their own. Django rarely ever played blues yet his music had the texture and feeling of jazz. This new kind of gypsy jazz is inevitably more modern than that of Django and it comes from a different Gypsy tradition. The album No Dara! followed this spirit published in 2004 by BMC.

Awards:
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1987 - Liszt Prize
1994 - Szabó Gábor Prize
2002 - For Budapest Prize
2002 - Merited Artist of the Hungarian Republic
2004 - Hungarian Jazz Award
2005 - Kossuth Prize
Discography
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Szakcsi Lakatos Béla / Lukács Miklós:
Ceck it out, Igor

1. Chase away the devil
2. Game for two
3. Lukas (dedicated to Barnabás Dukay)
4. Check it out, Igor
5. An invocation and a curse
6. Feeling tiddly
7. Autumn memories
8. Gypsy dance á l'espagnole
BMC Records (P) 2005
BMC CD 108
Eloadók:
Szakcsi Lakatos Béla - zongora
(Fazioli grand, model F278)

Lukács Miklós - cimbalom (Bohák)
Produkciós adatok:
Szakcsi Lakatos Béla és Lukács Miklós improvizációi
Felvétel: Phoenix Studio, 2004. október 22-23.
Zenei rendezõ: Tóth Ibolya
Hangmérnök: Bohus János
Borító: GBMY - Huszti István fotóinak felhasználásával
Portréfotó: Huszti István
Art-Smart: GBMY
Producer: Gõz László
Executive producer: Bognár Tamás, Wallner György
Készült a Nemzeti Kulturális Örökség Minisztériuma, a Nemzeti Kulturális Alapprogram és az Artisjus Zenei Alapítvány támogatásával.
Szakcsi és Lukács találkozása


Szakcsi Lakatos Trió: Na dara!
1. Red caravan
2. 8th district
3. Peace of the stars
4. Little gipsy song for you
5. Gipsy groove
6. Bell of my soul - tribute to Péter Eötvös
7. Django
BMC Records (P) 2004
BMC CD 103
Eloadók:
Szakcsi Lakatos Béla - zongora
Orbán György - nagybogo
Lakatos Peczek András - dob
Rostás Mónika - ének
Rostás Csaba - ének


Produkciós adatok:
Szerzok: Szakcsi Lakatos Béla (1, 2, 4, 6); Szakcsi Lakatos Béla - cigány népdal felhasználásával (3);
Orbán György - Rostás Mónika (5); John Lewis (7)
A felvétel az Aquarium Studióban készült, 2003 decemberében;
Felvétel és mix: Gresiczki Tamás
Borító: Yasar Meral - Huszti István fotóinak felhasználásával
Portréfotó: Huszti István
Art-Smart: Yasar Meral
Architect: Bachman Gábor
Producer: Gôz László
Executive producer: Bognár Tamás
Készült az UPC Hungary, a Nemzeti Kulturális Örökség Minisztériuma, a Nemzeti Kulturális Alapprogram és az Artisjus Zenei Alapítvány támogatásával.


Szakcsi Béla / Kathy Horváth Lajos: In One Breath

1. Supplication for everyone -
for György Kurtág
2. . from the jazz side -
for Péter Eötvös
3. Steppin' high -
for Pierre Boulez
4. Playing with piano and violins -
for György Ligeti
BMC Records (P) 2001
BMC CD 061
Eloadók:
Szakcsi Béla - zongora
Kathy Horváth Lajos - hegeduk, brácsa

Produkciós adatok:
Felvétel: Phoenix Stúdió
Zenei rendezo: Tóth Ibolya
Hangmérnök: Bohus János
Vágás: Vincze Veronika
Borítófotó: Szilágyi Lenke
Portréfotók: Huszti István
Design: Yasar Meral
Architect: Bachman Gábor
Producer: Goz László
Készült a Nemzeti Kulturális Örökség Minisztériuma és a Nemzeti Kulturális Alapprogram támogatásával.


Szakcsi Lakatos Béla: On The Way Back Home / Útban hazafelé

1. Csodacsináló
2. Utoljára együtt
3. Keleti csoda blues
4. Elso szerelem
5. Balerina
6. Milyen magas a hold
7. Szerelmes levelek
8. Téged
9. Chopin után
Hungaroton (P) 2000
HCD 71051


Szakcsi Lakatos Béla: Virágom, virágom

1. Tavaszi szél
2. Tavaszi szél
3. Tavaszi szél
4. Arass, rózsám, arass
5. Hojeda, Hojeda
6. Indulj el egy úton
7. Hej, révész, révész
8. Magos kosziklának
9. Repülj, madár, repülj
10. Bodor Katalin balladája
11. Márton Szép Ilona
12. Szerelem, szerelem
13. Virágok vetélkedése
Hungaroton (P) 1998
HCD 37903


Szakcsi: Straight Ahead

1. Exit from Customary
2. Homage to Monk
3. Katalin
4. For Duke DuBois
5. Body and Soul
6. Brilliant Corners
7. Spring is Here
8. Prisms
9. Reminiscences
10. Straight Ahead
11. Solar
12. Conteplation from the Body and Soul
GRP Records (P) 1994
GRD-9737


Szakcsi: Eve of Chance

1. Makiko Smile
2. Passing Through
3. Eve of Chance
4. Honey Spot
5. Carousel
6. Hope for Mother Earth
7. Almost Like Cannon
8. Imagination
9. Desiree
10. Ancient Inspiration
11. Someone Else's Street
12. Viewpoint
GRP Records (P) 1992
GRD-9647

All tracks feature Szakcsi on acoustic grand piano
All music written by Szakcsi

Produced by George Jinda and Howie Lee Morrel
Executive producers: Dave Grusin & Larry Rosen


Szakcsi: Mystic Dreams

1. Act Too
2. Breathless over You
3. Mystic Dreams
4. Fate
5. Love is the Answer
6. Anyway
7. In the Hills, in the Fields
8. Flower Song
9. Memories of my Father
10. Frolic
11. The Morning After You
12. Sweet Ramona
GRP Records (P) 1989
GRD-9577
All songs written by Szakcsi
Szakcsi: Acoustic Piano, Synclavier, Matrix 12 and D-50
George Jinda: Udu Drum and Percussion
Peter Schwartz: Programming for Synclavier, Matrix 12 and D-50
Howie Morrel: Cymbals on "Breathless over You"

Produced by George Jinda and Howie Morrel
Executive producers: Dave Grusin & Larry Rosen


Szakcsi - Sa-chi

1. Peace for Pastorius
2. Dark Beauty
3. Still Dreaming
4. One Morning
5. Ria
6. Song for K
7. Orange and Black
8. Pure Passion
9. Broken English
10. Arabesque
11. Good Times/Old Times
GRP Records (P) 1988
GRD-9556