Laszlo Gardony Trio

December 9, 2022 @ 7:00PM — 9:00PM Eastern Time (US & Canada) Add to Calendar

The Buttonwood Tree: 605 Main St Middletown, CT 06457 Get Directions

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Admission to Laszlo Gardony Jazz Trio

Admission is $20.

NOTE: There are no physical tickets for concerts and events at The Buttonwood Tree.

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The trio will feature Yoron Israel (drums), and Avery Sharpe (bass)

Born in Hungary, Gardony showed an early aptitude on the piano. He wasn’t much older when he started improvising, devising little tunes inspired by the blues, pop and classical music he heard around the house. Immersed in the European classical tradition while growing up, he was drawn to progressive rock as a teenager, and spent countless hours improvising blues-based music at the piano. He investigated gospel and studied jazz, a passion that soon overshadowed his classical pursuits. “We had jazz and African music classes at the Conservatory,” Gardony recalls. “There were some very knowledgeable people and a lot of records. When it came to jazz it was a tiny community, but very inspiring.”

After graduating from the Bela Bartok Conservatory and the Science University of Budapest (majoring in Mathematics and Physics,) he became one of Europe’s most sought after accompanists, and released his first albums as a leader. Possessing a powerful sense of swing, a strong feel for the blues and a firm command of post-bop vocabulary, he gained invaluable insight by sharing festival stages with acts like Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Abdullah Ibrahim. After several years on the road, Gardony decided he needed to deepen his knowledge of jazz.

A full scholarship to Berklee brought him to America in 1983, and a faculty position at the school upon graduation kept him stateside. He made his US recording debut with the acclaimed 1988 album The Secret (Antilles) featuring Czech bass great Miroslav Vitous and drummer Ian Froman, but it was his 1st place win the following year at the Great American Jazz Piano Competition that catapulted him into the national spotlight.

He seized the moment with 1989’s brilliant release “The Legend of Tsumi” (Antilles), a trio session with bassist Dave Holland and drummer Bob Moses focusing on Gardony’s finely wrought original compositions. The album earned rave reviews. Scott Yanow wrote in the All Music Guide, “the most impressive aspect of this performance is how the pianist totally integrates his playing with that of his sidemen, so they speak in one unified voice.”

His primary vehicle for the past decade has been his state-of-the-art trio with bassist John Lockwood and drummer Yoron Israel, an ensemble first documented on the 2003 Sunnyside release “Ever Before Ever After”. One of the finest working bands in jazz, the group performs and records regularly, exploring Gardony’s extensive book of original pieces as well as the occasional standard and jazz classics by the likes of Horace Silver and Billy Strayhorn. Gardony augmented the trio’s 2011 release, “Signature Time” (Sunnyside), with Stan Strickland on saxophone. His critically acclaimed 2013 solo piano album, “Clarity” followed, and in 2015 he released another critically acclaimed recording, a live sextet album, “Life In Real Time” (Sunnyside). It features Bill Pierce and Don Braden on saxophone, Stan Strickland (saxophone, bass clarinet), Yoron Israel (drums), John Lockwood (bass), and Gardony as pianist, composer and arranger. A critically acclaimed solo piano album, “Serious Play” followed in 2017

His latest, solo piano release, “La Marseillaise” was added to his impressive body of work in 2019. The following are quotes from some of the reviews the CD received:

“ Gardony relishes variety and thrives on a skillful navigation of dynamics.The improvised Four Notes Given [the audience suggested which four notes, Gardony took it from there] and On the Spot are bright and majestic examples of on-the-fly creativity at its most developed.” -Jeff Tamarkin / JazzTimes Magazine

“ The energy in his work, and his loving attention to detail ought to be attracting notice. It’s to be hoped that this fresh solo date will win him new admirers and waken up older ones.” -Brian Morton, Jazz Journal, UK

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Laszlo Gardony is a New England Foundation for the Arts Touring Roster artist. NEFA provides up to 50% of musician fees when his trio is presented by a non-profit organization in five New England states (not in MA) . For more information please visit Laszlo Gardony’s page at NEFA’s CreativeGround.org.

Connect with Laszlo at the following links:

Website | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram