Budapest is a city that conjures an exotic image: Eastern Europe, Brahms’ Hungarian Rhapsodies... Palinka! I made my second visit there this past March and continued to find my way into the city’s fascinating cultural life, especially the music scene.
The first stop was the jewel-like State Opera House (above) where I finally got to see a performance of a Wagner opera, in this case the inspiring Siegfried. Fate and the absurdly high ticket prices at the Met in NYC had kept me in the dark for so many years and it was an astounding and satisfying first take on one of Germany’s greatest composers. Although I had dipped my toes in the watery currents of the Tristan Prelude over the past few years, seeing is believing.
The next day I was invited for a jam and a chat by a Facebook friend named Viktor in the suburbs of Budapest. Viktor’s friendly and open attitude was refreshing and on top of that he is an excellent guitar player. We met through guitarist Tom Guerra last year when I told Tom I was going to Budapest and he suggested that I give Viktor a call. Viktor invited me into his home and let me play a couple of his best axes. One was a ’59 slab board Stratocastor – the first year of the rosewood fretboard – and the sound and feel was just stunning: Fat, juicy and very detailed with tremendous sustain and texture (shown above with Viktor and me). Another was a ’56 Les Paul Goldtop with P90 pickups. The sound was more classic Les Paul than P90s raunch. Think sparkle, density, bite, power, sweetness, sustain, balls and everything else you ever wanted to hear out of this top of the heap model.
I always try to stop into a local jam session when I am traveling. This time I was pleasantly surprised by the nature of the jam at a basement club called Lampas that was right near our downtown Budapest apartment on one of the many narrow streets that are thronged by young people every night. The style of the jam was unique in my experience, with a kind of ‘make it up on the spot’ ethic. This resulted in a solid but hot ‘funk jam’ musical vibe. I was lucky – the jammers show up late and although we arrived fairly late, I was the second jammer to get up on the stage (see video above). I was a bit flummoxed by the house band guitarist Christof’s multi-effects pedal driven rig (I should have just tried all the presets – duh!) and ended up with a very clean sound. The Squier 51 that I keep set up for slide was a far cry from Viktor’s ’59 Strat but I managed to rock a few “No Quarter” style licks and they were starting to play a blues (!) when my time was unfortunately up!
On Wednesday night we went to the beautiful Bela Bartok National Concert Hall (above) and saw a spellbinding performance of Thus Spake Zarathustra by Richard Strauss, which everyone knows from the opening chords which form the main theme of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey. The program was conducted by Ivan Fischer, who gained some recent notoriety by refusing to buckle under to the absurd neo-Fascist travel ban attempted by the executive branch of our sadly down-in-the-mouth U.S. of A. On the way there a woman on the tram told us we were in for a treat and that Fischer is one of the greatest conductors working today. She was right on. There were over one hundred musicians on the stage for the Strauss and it was beautifully played, a muscular orchestral sound with clarity and precision but no lack of swagger plus a loose, risk-taking attitude that included several instrument swaps among the violinists. Beforehand, a passionate and daring performance of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in A by Dejan Lazic was capped by a lovely encore of a short solo Brahms piece. Heaven!
On the last night, we headed to the Budapest Jazz Club, which is a bit north of the city center on the Pest side of the Danube. One enters the club through a medium sized café before ascending to an elevated, circular stage and seating area where the performers lay it down. Most nights begin with a more formal concert that is followed by a jam session. We went late on a Saturday night and caught the jam. It was smoking, but those expecting a ground-breaking new or out jazz performance might be disappointed. Instead it was a late ‘50s Miles/Coltrane inspired quartet and quintet styled performance, rich and luxurious, comfort food for the soul. The sound of the room and the musicians was resonant and tight. We were sorry to leave but there was a plane to catch in the morning. Next time, I’ll set aside more time for this cozy den. What a cool hang! -Christian Botta
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