The Danish Radio Big Band leader: Gerard Presencer soloist: Kálmán Oláh - piano featuring Gábor Bolla - saxophone The Danish Radio Big Band was founded in 1964, at a time when the Copenhagen jazz scene was buzzing with life and the city was regularly visited by big musicians from the USA. The DRBB had since then been led by many striking bandleaders and been playing with a lot of great musicians. Leaders like Thad Jones, Bob Brookmeyer, Ray Pitts, Maria Schneider and Jim McNeely on the conductor side and soloists like Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Stan Getz - and in recent years among others with Randy Brecker, Chris Potter, Mike Stern and John Scofield. When you tell the story about DRBB of course youʼll have to mention all the great musicians, who have been working with the band and in the band since the early sixties. This is, by the way, just the beginning of the story. Aiming for the future, the band focuses on key factors that make the big band a great experience for audiences. Key factors like a high technical standard, a living artistic expression and a mixture of tight choreography and relaxed humour. “Probably the best band in Europe” said of them Ernie Wilkins years ago.
The Danish Radio Big Band met Kálmán Oláh for the first time in February 2013 in an exclusive concert in DR Studio 2. During the fall 2013 Kálmán Oláh appears with The DRBB on tour – starting in Hungary. Jazz pianist Kálmán Oláh has gained international reputation as an artist who masterfully combines the elements of jazz, folk and contemporary classical music. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Grand Prize of the 2006 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composers Competition. Renowned for his distinctive compositional style and his original approach to playing jazz, Kálmán has appeared with scores of well‐known artists including Lee Konitz, Randy Brecker, Steve Grossman, Jack DeJohnette, John Patitucci, Tommy Campbell, Ron McClure, Stefano Di Battista, Philip Catherine, Palle Danielsson, André Ceccarelli, Paolo Fresu, Kenny Wheeler and Ravi Coltrane, to name a few. Kálmán Oláh and The DRBB will go deep into the Hungarian Folklore/Jazz playing mostly Oláhs compositions and arrangements.
Gábor Bolla, born in 1988, started playing the clarinet at the age of ten, and won first prize in the National Music Schools' Competition at twelve. Then he took up the saxophone and, in 2003, he made it to the semi-finals of the World Saxophone Competition at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 2004 he received the Hans Koller Prize as the Talent of the Year in Austria and in 2005 the Bolla Quartet scooped both the Grand Prix and the Prix du Public at the Avignon Jazz Festival in France. In 2006 he won the Hans Koller Prize – New York Stipendium. He already played on many recordings and became a leading jazzmen in Hungary, performed at festivals around the world. He played with Kirk Lightsey, Johnny Griffin, Jimmy Wormworth, Jojo Mayer, Stephane Belmondo, Jim Rotondi, Don Menza, Vienna Art Orchestra, Modern Art Orchestra etc. He recorded Find Your Way, his debut album for ACT Music, in January 2012. His main influences are Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. Gabor Bolla joins the big band as 2nd tenor during the concert with famous pianist Kalman Olah and his compositions.
Ticket price 2000 HUF. Tickets available on site and through the JEGY.HU network!