The members of the jury at the spring Fringe festival almost went into shock when they heard the Canadian trombone wonder, Tom Walsh and his quartet. Leaping over the Fringe main prize, they were immediately invited to this year’s Autumn Festival. Tom’s group is made up from the cream of the Hungarian jazz scene: Mátyás Szandai [double bass], Elemér Balázs [drums], and now for the Autumn Festival they will be joined by one of Tom’s old comrades-in-arms, Richard Underhill, he has the most beautiful Canadian alto saxophone tone. Tom began his musical career as first trombonist in a Canadian orchestra. Since then he has contributed to over 40 recordings, taken part in countless theatre performances, is open to both contemporary music and alternative genres, and has 7 solo CDs. Both he and Underhill have earned many prestigious overseas jazz prizes.

It would appear that nowadays New York provides a good meeting place for talented young Hungarian jazz musicians. The phenomenal pianist Árpád Oláh Tzumó and the singer Felicia Flora K. - Felly worked together for several months in the capital of jazz and it was during this time that they recorded the album that can be heard live for the first time at the Autumn Festival. Tzumó is from a famous family of musicians and won many talent and jazz competitions, he graduated from the Berklee College of Music in Boston and was then admitted to the renowned Thelonious Monk Institute directed by Herbie Hancock, where he played together with such greats as Wayne Shorter, Terence Blanshard and Kenny Garret. He wrote the numbers on the latest disc made by Felly, the young diva living in New York, music that has its inspiration somewhere around classical jazz. Accordingly, the atmosphere of the concert will evoke the heroic age of jazz.

Last summer the Magic Feet group made up of Scottish jazz and folk musicians and Hungarian Gypsy musicians won a grand prix at the Edinburgh Festival. Since then the group has been joined by new – Brazilian and Bulgarian – members and has changed its name [to Miraculous Jam All Stars], but it has not lost any of its initial energy. In their latest production these musicians from different music cultures quote from Bartók or refer to Bartók, to create a unique musical world where Romanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Gypsy melodies find a perfect home in jazz imbued with the legacy of Bartók. The musicians include the legendary cimbalom player Kálmán Balogh, the Bulgarian accordion virtuoso Martin Lubenov now living in Vienna, and Brian Kellock, perhaps the most acclaimed pianist on the Scottish jazz scene. And the group’s vocal soloist is no other than Bea Palya of the enchanting voice and personality who is gradually becoming a world star.

Two stars of ACT Records renowned as the flagship of progressive contemporary jazz will be guests of this year’s Budapest Autumn Festival. ACT is not just a record label but also a creative workshop so it is not surprising that its different artists regularly work together. Victoria Tolstoy and Wolfgang Haffner for example, the two artists coming to Budapest, have many points of contact in their professional life: Miss Tolstoy’s albums were produced by the Nils Landgren in whose group Wolfgang Haffner last appeared in Budapest and Haffner also regularly plays on the albums of the great writer’s descendant. As for the Double Concert: the Wolfgang Haffner Band is one of the most outstanding formations of German Nu-jazz flirting with modern grooves and a touch of electronic music. And if Haffner’s name doesn’t ring a bell, perhaps it is enough to say that for years he was the drummer for the legendary Chaka Khan. The other main artist of the evening, Victoria Tolstoy and her group is more traditional in style: her latest recording featured traditional Scandinavian melodies as well as jazz classics.