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Mengamo Trio: Chat Bizarre
by Geannine Reid
With their debut album The One (Floatmusic, 2018), Mengamo Trio firmly established their foothold in the modern jazz landscape. With their offering Chat Bizarre, they are pushing beyond the known frontiers. Chat Bizarre marks a turn into the realm of pure originals--a bold step affirming the trio's maturing artistic identity. Mengamo Trio is guitarist Philipp Brämswig, Hammond organist Sebastian Scobel, and drummer Thomas Sauerborn. The trio's expanded palette and daring use of effects are the first things to ...
read moreLajos Dudas: The Lake and the Music
by Mark Sullivan
The Hungarian-born, German-resident clarinetist Lajos Dudas has a lengthy discography, and his long career was celebrated by the Vimeo video Ein Künstlerportrait. He has played classical music, and jazz from bebop to free. But, for what he says is his final album, he has chosen to play fresh interpretations of jazz standards and songs from the Great American Songbook. He is joined by his longtime accompanist, guitarist Philipp Van Endert on all of the tracks (along with drummer Kurt Billker ...
read moreLajos Dudas: The Lake and the Music
by C. Michael Bailey
At 80-years old, clarinetist Lajos Dudas is dropping off the keys to the recording studio while making his way out—Dudas claims this is his last recording and, if true, he ends things on a high note at the intersection of The Great American Songbook and free jazz. Dudas' previous recording, Return to the Future (Jazzsick Records, 2018) was a jogging approach to this present, and last, The Lake and the Music, where Dudas uses 10 tried-and-true standards as his jumping ...
read moreLajos Dudas: Return to the Future
by Mark Sullivan
Hungarian/German clarinetist Lajos Dudas has had his long career celebrated by the Vimeo video Ein Künstlerportrait, along with the accompanying Munich Concert video. This album follows with a career retrospective from 1979 to 2013, focusing primarily on his original music, in a variety of settings. Dudas calls it “the ultimate summary," a “selection of notable and timeless live and studio recordings with different musicians at different places." Half of the recordings are live, and the ensembles are primarily ...
read moreLajos Dudas: Return to the Future
by C. Michael Bailey
German-Hungarian clarinetist Lajos Dudas shows little inclination in slowing things down as he turns 78 years young next birthday. He has stopped for the moment to program an informative retrospective of his lengthy career in Return to the Future, a collection of ten live performances bookended by two quartet performances in Cologne in 1979 and 2013. The music presented is all of Dudas' free variety, an intersection between Tony Scott and Jimmy Giuffre as if undated to the end of ...
read moreLajos Dudas: Some Great Songs Vol. 2
by Budd Kopman
The predecessor to clarinetist Lajos Dudas' Some Great Songs Vol. 2 appeared some twenty years ago, with his previous release being Radio Days from 2015. Dudas gives no hint of letting up; his playing and arrangements are full of life and also depth. Dudas is one of those players who fills every note with meaning allowing his joy of playing to infuse the listener. The supporting players from the first disc return: guitarist Philipp van Endert and percussionists ...
read moreLajos Dudas: Some Great Songs Vol. 2
by Mark Sullivan
It's been a long time since the great German-Hungarian clarinetist Lajos Dudas released the first volume of Some Great Songs (Double Moon Records, 1998). Here he is again with an especially diverse collection of material, ranging from bossa nova to modern jazz to standards. These are intimate arrangements centered around Dudas' clarinet and Philipp van Endert's guitar; they are joined by Kurt Billker or Jochen Büttner on percussion on five of the eight tracks. Geraldo Pereira's “Falsa Baiana" ...
read moreLajos Dudas: Brückenshlag
by C. Michael Bailey
Clarinetist Lajos Dudas is a vector talent, having both a fixed direction and potent momentum associated with it. His music is descendant of Jimmy Giuffre's early '60s recordings with bassist Steve Swallow and pianist Paul Bley. Dudas' music is an evolution into a freer, yet more structured performance form. Both his vertical and horizontal improvisations possess a certain synergy with one another, neither being dominant. These attributes can be detected on Dudas' recent recordings, Jazz and the City (JazzSick Records, ...
read moreLajos Dudas: Radio Days: The Music of Lajos Dudas
by Budd Kopman
It is always a nice surprise when someone pops up who is new to you, but who, it turns out, has been playing for decades, has an extensive discography, and who has been reviewed quite a few times here at All About Jazz. That someone is clarinetist Lajos Dudas, and with Radio Days, celebrates his seventy-fifth birthday and a fifty-five year career with tracks recorded over a twenty year period, starting in 1984. The immediate impression ...
read moreLajos Dudas: Radio Days: The Music of Lajos Dudas
by Mark Sullivan
German-Hungarian jazz clarinetist/composer Lajos Dudas has been performing on the radio for a long time. This “Birthday Edition 75" collects performances dating from 1984 to the early 2000s: about twenty years. All but one track was also composed by him, so it's a good picture of his adventurous composing and playing over a good part of his career. The earliest tracks (from WDR Cologne) are arguably the most dated: they're clearly in fusion mode, complete with period keyboard sounds. Still ...
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