On the Spot – Big Band of the Jazz Departament A Zeneakadémia saját szervezésű programja

The Jazz Department of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music has been the number one workshop of Hungarian jazz music for close on half a century. The roll call of both its leading-edge professors and its graduates represents the cream of jazz in Hungary. The Big Band has been an integral part of the functioning of the department ever since it was founded; given its nature, the Big Band line-up is always changing, with permanency perhaps best represented by excellent guitarist-composer Attila László, who has been artistic director since 1987, and at the same time the highly influential associate professor of the department. The big band genre itself, with a past that goes back some 80 years, breaks with the most fundamental traditions of jazz music on at least two points: it builds on a finely scored choral sound instead of the primacy of soloists, and it features pieces composed from beat to beat instead of free improvisation that is at the core of the genre.