“Kornél has done what all writer-improvisers dream of... to have an entire orchestra as accompanists. What could be better than having all the colors and sounds that a philharmonic orchestra can produce interspersed with brilliant improvising? Achieving a balance between the written and improvised sections is a gigantic challenge that Kornél handles superbly. Also, the small group members are absolutely burning on their instruments. This is a deep listening experience on many levels.”

Dave Liebman


“Kornél Fekete-Kovács is a wonderful musician. He has a strong voice of his own on the trumpet, and has found a way to combine an improvisatory jazz sensibility with an orchestral setting that works very well. The quintet plays with fire and purpose amidst the interesting colors created by Kornél’s orchestrations. To my ears this is the music of the future, where different worlds collide and create something quite fresh and adventurous. It is the logical place for orchestral music and jazz music for that matter to go. Bravo to Kornél and his quintet, and to the fine orchestra for creating this incredible program of music.”

Bob Mintzer


Integro

As composer and performer, I’ve been extremely inspired by the sound of the symphonic orchestra from the first moment on. At first my knowledge was primarily based on jazz music, and this, of course, has directed my attention as composer towards the jazz big band. I have learned a lot from the giants of the big band literature — Sammy Nestico, Bob Brookmayer, Thad Jones, Stan Kenton or Gil Evans.

In the search for our roots, I’ve always been interested in the relation of contemporary classical music and jazz. Even in my compositions written for jazz orchestras are those elements that clearly originate from classical music, more and more apparent. This process beginning from the early 2000S has directed my interest relentlessly to symphonic orchestral sound.

Thanks to László Kovács, I’ve started being engaged more seriously in the symphonic orchestra — he was the one who handed me the first scores. In the course of studying works by Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Gustav Mahler, dmitri Shostakovich and of course by Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály and Ernő Dohnányi. I was destined to recognize the possibility of transition between the genres.

I guess that my open-mindedness is a proved fact through my works, and the approach of composing in terms of integration gave me new possibilities. Finding an appropriate title for the album seemed to be a real trial. I asked for help from many people, when I finally found the Latin word Integro, which sounds quite good to the European ear. This expression involves everything that I wanted to achieve with this album.

At the same time, Jim Merod, who was pondering the same problem, came up with a different solution. Approaching from the listener’s point of view, he suggested the title Grandeur. Both terms have different origins but also different messages about this music.

Kornél Fekete-Kovács


Jazz and classical music — or classical music and jazz? I would prefer to write these words on top of each other, because there is no order of words here. There is music. There is a contemporary musical work. It comprises the genres of the 20^th century and indicates the 21^st century. As director of the Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra, deeply respecting the classics and anointed prophets of classical music, I consider the art of Kornél Fekete-Kovács as one possible way for the future of classical music. He builds up something new with humble knowledge and respect for the framework of classical music and with creativity in jazz music. It is — according to the motto of the Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra — quality and innovation.

Zsolt Horváth
director
Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra


Grandeur

With his triumphant six-part suite, Grandeur, composer trumpeter Kornél Fekete-Kovács presents convincing credentials that he is a musical provocant of the first rank. One thinks of Witold Lutoslawski, Yiannis Christou, John Corrigliano, and the glorious Maria Schneider as noble artistic companions whose ethereal earthiness defies the sodden tug of reductive, non-lyrical banality that defines our transitional cultural era.

I found myself in Budapest, Hungary, in late June, 2010 and, upon hearing that Kornél was not away on a jaunt to Germany, China or one of his many travels abroad, I asked a mutual friend of ours Péter Fodor if we could meet. Our introduction was made in Róbert Balázs’ Pannonia recording studio where Kornél was ready to begin final mastering of this remarkable body of music… a suite long in the making and recorded over many sessions. anyone who listens with alert and heartfelt attention will hear why Grandeur could not be a quickly gestating inspiration. This is a very deep musical event. Its individual sections each tell a story but the whole as it comes together into a swirling, assertive but also elusive narrative suggests both the perennial adventure of nostos, or homecoming, as we follow that journey of heroic return in The Odyssey and, also, a more indefinable journey through cosmic space and time.

Nonetheless, one certainty is obvious here: the composer’s merging of classical forms and motifs, on one hand, with the ensemble jazz improvisation, on the other, “grounds” everything in play here.

For the first time I can name, Grandeur draws from those two all too often separate musical realms as if they have always been organically entangled. Several outcomes deserve attention.

First, this suite is a celebration of physical being, the good luck of bodily incarnation and, especially, the miracle of birth. It is a highly secular celebration that comprehends the elusive magic of consciousness and life’s fragile power.

Second, it presents the composer’s astute, sometimes stumped awareness of coincidence, accident, and the prevalence of the unknown. Grandeur acknowledges darkness, grieving and the necessity of reconciliation with emotional and spiritual health.

Third, the imaginative height brought to prominence with the suite’s title, Grandeur, was not a lapse of tact and modesty on Kornél’s part, for the word was chosen at my urging. as you’ll hear, this fantastically intertwined set of lyrical and intuitive elaborations carry an alluring creative and cognitive elevation.

Subsequent work showed us that sonics achieved at Róbert Balázs’ studio in Budapest accurately captured the wide dynamic intimacy. Emotional and sonic intimacy is precisely what’s at stake in this suite, an unfolding six-unit narrative of personal and artistic exploration, in that endeavour Grandeur pursues undiscovered, perhaps unreachable limits of feeling and expression. And one more thing should be apparent: Kornél Fekete-Kovács’ skill as a composer is thoroughly augmented by his majestic command of the trumpet alongside his gorgeously warm-toned flugelhorn.

For me, Kornél’s art, like his person, is a joyful source of brilliant astonishment in a world devoted to the avoidance and repression of perplexities, paradox, irony, and the illuminating enigma of awareness.

Jim Merod
BluePort Jazz / La Costa, CA

August, 2010


Thanks to:
My family for their encouragement, persistence and their faith in me!
The Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra and Zsolt Horváth for supporting me in this non-everyday venture.
László Kovács for the excellent job and for setting me on the road to the Orchestra.
Balázs Róbert and the Pannonia Studio for housing me.
Balázs Bujtor, Péter Erdélyi and Csaba Faltay — without whom this record could not have come to be.
Attila Jankó, Béla Horváth, Mihály Bajusznács and Veronika Gráf for their unselfish help, and to Kinga Kolarics for the harp part.
Zoltán Károly, Viktor Szabó, Ádám Matz, Domonkos Tímár and Tivadar Ottó, Paul Powers, István Matók, Attila Kiss and the DIGITALPRO for their support.
Bendegúz Varga for the loan of cymbals.
Péter Fodor for Jim! The staff of Blueport, Jim Merod and Steve McCormack.
Many thanks to the Society of Hungarian Jazz Artists for 8:45 AM/PM and to Gábor Hollerung for Handel with care.

Kornél Fekete-Kovács



Fekete-Kovács Quintet:

Kornél Fekete-Kovács - trumpet, flugelhorn (Audio-Technika microphones)
Gábor Bolla - tenor and soprano saxophones
Róbert Szakcsi Lakatos - piano
Márton Soós - double bass
András Mohay - drums

feketekovacs.com
info@feketekovacs.com


Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra:

László Kovács - conductor

Violin 1:
Balázs Bujtor — leader
Anikó B. Tihanyi
Gergely Balázs
Ágnes Lemel
Lászlóné Martin
Csilla Máté-Rácz
Gyöngyi S. Kiss
Judit Törökné Nana
Barna Taschner
Timea Tóth
Ágnes Vass
Tünde Pothorszky

Violin 2:
Ágnes Morvay
Henni Cseriné Alpár
Anna Deák
Katalin Frölichné Tepszics
Ágnes G. Varga
Anna Héra
Ildikó Horváth
Éva Ördöghné Hajdú
Andrea Sz. Szabó
Ferenc Zadravecz

Viola:
Jaroszláv Murin
Dorottya Schubert
Judit Lantosné Kocsis
Gabriella Misányi
Ilona Pálma
Krisztina Rajky
Anita Rónainé Guzorán
Márta Várnagyi

Violoncello:
Ildikó Erdélyiné Janzsó
Lívia Révész
Fruzsina Fátyol
Orsolya H. Erdős
Nóra Herczeg
Viktória Szakács

Double bass:
Sámuel Jónás
Kornél Győri
Zita H. Ódor R.
László Piacsek

Flute:
Judit Tímár
Veronika Gráf

Oboe:
Gizella V. Udvardy
Anikó Varga

Clarinet:
Mihály Laduver
Elek Török

Bassoon:
Zsuzsa Bischof
Balázs Haszon

Horn:
László Kreka
Árpád Gulyás
Árpád Pétersz
Lajos Szilágyi

Trumpet:
László Kovács
István Gyurkó
Tibor Mátyás

Trombone:
László Plecskó
Szabolcs Kiss
János Csernik


Tuba:
György Bakró-Nagy

Harp:
Ida Lakatos (1, 4, 5, 6)
Kinga Kolarics (2, 3, 6)

Percussion:
Emese Gáspár
Tamás Góth
Ferenc Szabó


Project manager:
Zoltán Károly

Artistic secretary:
Judit Németh

Director:
Zsolt Horváth

pfz.hu