Mihaly Borbely Quartet - Grenadilla (2019)

“If Bartók played not-so-straight-ahead jazz, it might sound like the Borbély Quartet, combining Serbian, Slovak, Gypsy, Jewish and German folk influences with classical music, shot through with that thing that swings. Roland Kirk would understand.” (RootsWorld)

After the 2014 release of their award-winning album Hungarian Jazz Rhapsody, the next one, Be by Me Tonight was released in 2016 and won the shared first prize in the category ‘Best Hungarian Jazz Album of the Year’ of the Hungarian magazine Gramofon Classical & Jazz. The album reveals the rich, mature sound of the group, the complex beauty of the compositions with roots and influences from Hungarian and Balkan folk, music of Liszt, Bartók, Kodály as well as contemporary jazz, interwoven by the spontaneity and freshness of improvisation. “A notable release from a group that deserves an international spotlight for its obvious talent”, as Jazzwise put it in its album review.

In the beginning of January, the quartet attended BMC’s studio again, to record the material for their next BMC Records release. The new pieces have even more emphasis on traditional reed instruments like tárogató, clarinets, recorder and different kinds of peasants’ pipes. This is referred also in the album's title, as the wood of grenadilla, the passion fruit tree, is the mostly used wood for clarinet and other woodwind instruments. At present the post-production works are going on, Grenadilla will be available from early summer.

Humanité is unlike any album Kirk has ever made - the synergistic result of encounters made and relationships formed onstage and off with some of the finest recording artists from all over the world.

Kirk's collaborators on the album include Japanese jazz pianist Keiko Matsui, the young bass phenomenon Barry Likumahuwa, gifted singer/songwriter Grace Sahertian and global pop star singer/actor Afgan, all hailing from Indonesia; vocalist/guitarist Zahara, one of South Africa's biggest stars; Kasiva Mutwa of Nairobi; and the veteran UK jazz vocalist Liane Carroll, long considered by cognoscenti as one of the finest voices in the genre.

Over a period of three months in 2018, Kirk and his longtime friend and producer, the British jazz trumpeter and session musician James McMillan, recorded tracks in locations ranging from studios in Jakarta, Tokyo, Paris, Nairobi, Johannesburg and Hastings, to hotel rooms, office buildings and even Kirk's living room in Memphis.

According to Kirk, language and cultural barriers faded away once the playing and improvisation began. As he sees it, music serves the same purpose all over the world for both artists and their audiences - a universal form of communication to share emotion and tell stories, but most especially to "enable liberation and freedom of expression."