Dresch Quartet - Fuhun (2011)

We already know that as a Liszt Prize-winning artist of merit, Mihály Dresch is a musician with a unique saxophone style, a composer with an incomparable vision, and a highly energetic band leader who is both demanding and giving in equal measure. He is also an ardent collector of folk music driven by the desire to explore his musical roots. What may be news to some is that he also dabbles in instrument making. On one of his many trips to Transylvania, Dresch became captivated, among other things, by the sound of the
deep-toned flute (furulya), which he hoped to incorporate into his own music. The flute, however, only lends itself to a single tone, leaving no possibility for modulation, while Dresch’s music – deeply rooted in both jazz and folk music – makes full use of the opportunities presented by all 12 pitches of the chromatic scale. He thus made himself a flute where the straightforward holes normally found on flutes are replaced with keys similar to those associated with the saxophone, naming the instrument the fuhun. The CD bears the title of this instrument, with music composed specifically for it. The quartet includes drummer István Baló, a member since 1984, cimbalom player Miklós Lukács, who joined in 2005, and bassist Ernő Hock, the most recent member who joined in 2011.