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Ferenc Snétberger, born in 1957 in Salgotarjan, Hungary, lives in Berlin, Germany since 1988. Inspired by his father, a musician who played harp, trumpet and guitar, Ferenc started formal studies of classical guitar at age 13. Later he seriously took up the jazz guitar and studied at the jazz conservatory in Budapest. Melting jazz improvisation into his classical technique and gypsy roots, he was to become one of Europe's most original and virtuosic guitar players.
Snétberger has to his credit 18 years as a professional musician and several recordings with Trio Stendhal, as a soloist and - on his ENJA debut "Signature" - with his own trio and quartet. He has performed in Hungary, Yugoslavia, Finland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, India and other countries. He also took part in many radio and TV productions and as a soloist with big bands (e.g. with Ernie Wilkins). On stage he met with such as Didier Lockwood, Anthony Jackson, James Moody and David Friedman.
As an unaccompanied soloist, Ferenc Snétberger displays his artistry in a very personal, multi-cultural style that defies categories. He easily assimilates influences from Brazilian, Spanish, classical, gypsy and jazz traditions. Snétberger himself considers his 1996 concert at the Budapest academy "the finest performance I ever did."
01. Budapest Mood
02. Springtime In Winter
03. Song To The East
04. Brazil
05. The Dophin
06. Little Bossa
07. Variation
08. Tangoa Free
09. Bossa For Egberto
10. Manha De Carnaval
11. Budapest Encore
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
Crossing the borders between jazz, classical, world music, bossa nova and more, "Joyosa" presents a new amalgamation of today's sounds - utterly elegant, full of joy and vibrating with vitality.
The critics wrote:
"A strike of luck. No shrill notes but full of suspense. This is chamber jazz of the highest level!"
"A deepness and complexity that could not be more suspenseful. A dream of music, an album of quiet superlatives."
"Chamber jazz with soul."
"This music reaches the listeners' hearts without a detour."
"Give us more of these refined sounds!"
01. Gio
02. Basswave
03. Madhawi
04. Gomme
05. Joyosa
06. Mona
07. Freund
08. Our Father
09. Jasmin
10. The Waltz
Ferenc Snétberger - guitar
Markus Stockhausen - trumpet, fl-horn
Arild Andersen - double-bass
Patrice Héral percussion
Link
Born in 1957 to a poor gypsy family in Hungary, Ferenc Snétberger was inspired by his father's music since his childhood years. "My father was the best guitar player around. He had a style that was very much his own." French tourists who listened to him playing in bars occasionally compared his music to Django Reinhardt's. When Ferenc was 13 years old, his father allowed him to attend a music school where he learned to play the classical guitar. He soon fell in love with the music of J.S. Bach and won several awards at classical competitions.
At the same time, Ferenc played at weddings and in night bars and was familiar with jazz, bossa nova, gypsy style and other popular musics. So in addition to his classical training, he decided to study the jazz guitar at the Budapest Conservatory. "You couldn't develop your own style at the conservatory," Ferenc says. "So when I heard Egberto Gismonti at a festival one day, it was a tremendous experience. This was just the direction I wanted to go myself." Besides Gismonti, it was the music of jazz guitarists Wes Montgomery and Jim Hall that inspired Snétberger not to aim at a classical career. Instead, classical technique and esthetics became an integral part of his individual stylistic mix that includes jazz improvisation, Brazilian rhythms and gypsy roots on the highest level of virtuosity and soulfulness.
On his album, "Obsession," Snétberger presents a beautiful jazz/bossa-oriented trio music that comes out of the tradition of Brazilian guitarist Laurindo Almeida and American samba pioneer Charlie Byrd while touching new dimensions of artistic shaping. Says German weekly Die Welt: "Ferenc Snétberger proves to be a cosmopolitan musician, a mediator of multi-cultural values. High art of guitar playing!"
01. Wanton Spirit
02. E-Bossa
03. Szivárvány (for Attila Zoller)
04. FS Five
05. Gypsy
06. Hanging Out
07. Obsession
08. I Remember
09. Song To The East
10. Páva
Ferenc Snétberger - acoustic and electric guitars
János Egri - bass
Elemér Balázs - drums
Guest:
Irén Lovász - vocal on "Páva"
Link
Few people have as much right to claim they are world musicians as Ferenc Snétberger has. Hailing from a Sinti/Roma family in Hungary, Snétberger played Gypsy guitar at an early age, learned classical guitar as a teenager, studied jazz guitar later at the Ferenc Liszt Academy, Budapest and adapted Brazilian and Spanish techniques to his playing. Carrying in his bag the passion of tango, Indian music and the admiration for Egberto Gismonti, Jim Hall and Johann Sebastian Bach, Snétberger knew from the start that he would never want to play without improvising but keep his exquisite classical touch whatever he would do. "I am a jazz guitarist but also a classical guitarist", he says. "Folklore - that's my childhood and youth, my roots. The touch is more classical, the sound is jazz. I don't have a recipe for this mixture, I put it together unconsciously." Since living in Berlin, Snétberger has become one of the few truly distinctive voices on contemporary guitar, a border-crossing virtuoso of a rare kind. An obvious choice to step in for the late Charlie Byrd in the 'Great Guitars' band and a welcome celebrity at the Budapest Music Academy, he also frequently appears in ethnic-oriented musical contexts.
Presenting him as a mature composer in different settings, "For My People" is unlike any of Snétberger's earlier recordings. The solo pieces are elegant bows towards Spain and Latin America featuring Snétberger's improvisational fantasy combined within clear playing concepts for the classical guitar. The sensational duo suite with trumpet virtuoso Markus Stockhausen, a son of the famous composer, surprised the creators themselves upon listening back. After the first rehearsal, the two of them put aside the written parts and improvised like one man. However, the most significant and elaborate piece on the album is Snétberger's Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra in three movements. Dedicated to the memory of his people, the Roma and Sinti, the concert is inspired by the soulful melodies of Gypsy tradition. A vital statement against human suffering, "In Memory of my People" was written on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps. Snétberger improvised his own part within the frameworks of the score and presents his instrument as a mighty concert voice.
1. Mazurka
2. Hajnal
3. Gond Nélkül
4. Alkony
5. Hallgató (Adagio - Allegro)
6. Emlékek (Adagio)
7. Tánc (Allegro furioso)
8. Fantázia
9. Vals Criollo / Vals Gitano
Ferenc Snétberger - acoustic guitar
Markus Stockhausen - trumpet (# 2 & 4), flügelhorn (# 3)
The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra
Liszt Ferenc Kamarazenekar, Budapest: (# 5-7)
Concert Master: János Rolla; Violins I: János Rolla, György Lovas, Zoltán Tfirst, Péter Hamar, Lili Áldor; Violins II: Kálmán Kostyál, Zsuzsa Weisz, Péter Gazda, György Kiss, Éva Isépy; Violas: Mihály Várnagy, Attila Lezsák, András Pista; Cellos: Mária Frank, Otto Kertész, Anna Sándor; Double Bass: Alajos H. Zováthi
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
"Three masters of their art have joined to form the new Ferenc Snétberger Trio. With natural ease they bring together choice compositions, technical skills, improvisational drive and musical fantasy of the highest order.
Hungarian-born Ferenc Snétberger is among today's outstanding players on his instrument, one "who can display intensity and passion even at a quiet volume" (Cadence). Going for a synthesis of flamenco, classical, jazz and samba, he melts all these influences into a very personal style full of surprise, warmth, wonder and emotion. One of the leading jazz bassists of today, Norwegian Arild Andersen is famous for his full-bodied tone and his elegant playing. He has recorded dozens of great albums with the likes of Jan Garbarek, Bill Frisell, Stan Getz, Pat Metheny and Don Cherry. Italian-born Paolo Vinaccia has been living in Norway for 25 years and is a household name on the most creative Scandinavian improvisers' scene. His imaginative and colorful playing could be heard with Nils Petter Molvaer, Bugge Wesseltoft, Terje Rypdal, Palle Mikkelborg and others.
The trio's debut album "Nomad" hypnotizes the listener with breadth and clearness.
When Snétberger, Andersen and Vinaccia start to play, it is like pure magic. Charming melodies, thrilling grooves, fiery improvisations, sudden turns and fragile moments evoke sceneries right out of dreamland. Founded in 2004, this unusual trio has quickly grown into a highly celebrated live act. Critics have called them "a triangle of pan-European inspirations, an amalgam of mysticism and joy of life, dream paths and clear laughs, trance and dance". The trio's music -- ranging from modern jazz drive and world beats to decent electronic sounds and vibrant lyricism -- catches the audiences by its sheer emotional power."
01. Empathy
02. Childhood
03. Yellow
04. Nomad
05. Song To The East
06. The Fifth Frame
07. Outhouse
08. Waterkiss
09. Move
10. Air
Ferenc Snétberger: acoustic guitar
Arild Andersen: double bass, electronics
Paolo Vinaccia: drums, percussion, electronics
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
