Listen to my latest solo album '22'!
Hungarian trumpeter and composer Lőrinc Barabás has been a key player and driving force in Budapest’s improvised music scene for nearly two decades. His various formations and improvisational club nights take him to the frontiers of jazz, electronic and neoclassical music. The minimalist, melancholic pieces on his new solo album recall the neoclassical music of Nils Frahm and Ólafur Arnalds.
Lőrinc Barabás is a highly active and prolific performer, with recordings that continue to chart new innovative directions. Since 2007, he has released twelve albums with his different bands and as a solo artist. In recent years, two of his works for symphony orchestra (Metamorphosis, 2019; Game, 2022) have been premiered, opening up new horizons for him in contemporary classical music.
He regularly tours throughout Europe and the United States. In recent years, he has performed with internationally renowned artists such as Erik Truffaz, Nicola Conte, Takuya Kuroda, Niklas Paschburg and Valerie June. He has played at numerous international events, including the Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), iTunes Festival (UK), North Sea Jazz Festival (The Netherlands), Noosa Jazz Festival (Australia), Hong Kong Jazz Festival, Ficamazonia Film Festival (Columbia), and Expo 2020 Dubai.
BARABÁS LŐRINC SOLO
Lőrinc Barabás started his solo career with his 2013 album Sastra, followed by Elevator Dance Music in 2015 and Algorhythms in 2019. His latest album, "22", released at the end of 2023, shows another face of him: compared to his previous solo album, the piano is even more prominent; there are several compositions in which he doesn’t even play the trumpet. Although there is some improvisation, it has little to do with jazz: the minimalist, repetitive pieces are close in spirit to the neoclassical movement of Nils Frahm and Ólafur Arnalds.
According to Lőrinc Barabás, the melancholic, film music-like tracks express the need to slow down and turn inwards in a speeding world. World-renowned Japanese jazz trumpeter Takuya Kuroda wrote of "22": "Beautiful melody throughout the album. Amazing compositions with great theme development. Super soulful playing on both piano and the trumpet."
BARABÁS LŐRINC QUARTET
The quartet was formed in 2015 by Lőrinc Barabás because he missed the team spirit he was used to in his early Eklektric formation, as the line-up at his Random Szerda’s jazz jams was constantly changing.
On their first two albums (Beardance, 2016; Other Than Unusual, 2018), groovy rhythms, upbeat bass runs, keyboards, and trumpet evoke the improvisational fusion jazz world of the 1970s. The compositions are also influenced by world music and classical music.
In 2021, the Barabás Lőrinc Quartet has been completely revamped with a new line-up and sound. The latest album, "Open" is more experimental than the previous ones, with style and sound reminiscent of Miles Davis' and Erik Truffaz's jazz fusion albums. New members have joined the quartet, and although the familiarity of trumpeter-composer Lőrinc Barabás, keyboardist Mátyás Premecz, bassist Péter Ajtai and drummer Ádám Klausz dates back to earlier times, the freshness of their reunion shines through on the record. The new band has also reinterpreted previous songs and made them part of their musical journey, as they have proven in numerous local and international performances.
