A new friendship on new grounds – that could sum up the story behind this recording, a project generously supported by the Polish-Hungarian Wacław Felczak Foundation, worded after their slogan: ’An old friendship on new grounds’.

As it often happens in Jazz, the first meeting of Kálmán Oláh and Piotr Wojtasik proved that they have found common ground easily when they ventured into the studio in September 2021. A real specialty of the album is that the listener might be able to guess what the contribution of the Hungarian pianist and that of the Polish trumpet player is.

The courageous lines and bends of Wojtasik on the one hand, his rooty melodies that may in the next moment reveal melancholy, and a rich and colorful harmonic foundation laid down with ease avoiding carefully to sound blatant from the hands of Oláh on the other.

He may feel the heritage of Bartók and Kodály subconsciously, just like the trumpet player feels Chopin and the folk music of his people, but when they step out together, that results in full-blooded, 21st Century Jazz. Classic composers may serve as a starting point (patron saints at the most), but the path they take is strictly their own.”

Kalman Olah & Piotr Wojtasik Quintet
Kalman Olah – Piano
Piotr Wojtasik – Trumpet
Adam Kowalewski – Double Bass
Kalman Olah Jr. – Saxophone
Elemer Balazs – Drums