The idea of Common Ground was born when trumpeter Byron Wallen, widely recognised as a seminal figure in British jazz with a deep interest in African music, joined forces with the band of the brilliant Berklee-trained Hungarian drummer, Márton Juhász, another avid explorer of African rhythms. They played just one gig at an inter-club festival in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, but that was sufficient for them to recognise their musical kinship. They went on to correspond, embellishing the idea of future cooperation and drawing into the planning other equally gifted musicians, both from London and Budapest. From Márton’s band the award-winning multi-instrumentalist keyboard player, Áron Tálas and István Tóth Jr, one of the bright young hopes of the bass-guitar were a given. But so was one of Byron’s fellow-musicians, the astonishing guitarist, Rob Luft. The first one to join the project from the ’outside’ was the virtuoso jazz steel pan player, Mark Cherrie bringing the flavours of the Caribbean with him, closely followed by the immensely versatile, all-round African drummer of British Nigerian parentage, Richard Olatunde Baker, founder of the group Eardrum. These seven great musicians found Common Ground among themselves to explore African, Caribbean, British and Hungarian motives, not to mention mainstream jazz. Should be a musical riot.

byronwallen.co.uk 
martonjuhasz.com 
markcherriequartet.com 
robluft.co.uk 
arontalas.com 
richardolatundebaker.com