Balázs Bágyi

The Gabor Szabo, Gramofon and Artisjus awarded musician was born and raised in the south of Hungary. He graduated with honor from the Jazz Department of the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy in Budapest, where he is based today.
Traveling world wide he has played in more than 30 countries during the last 20 years. Out of Europe he had concerts in the USA, Mexico, Jordan, Turkey and China. Beside collaborating with many musicians from his native country he played with iconic American jazz greats such as former Bill Evans Trio bassist Chuck Israels and saxophonist Dave Liebman. He has been working with and co-leading a Hungarian-American band called Eastern Boundary Quartet since 2007, with New York bassist Joe Fonda and pianist Michael Jefry Stevens beside his fellow Hungarian band mate Mihaly Borbely on woodwinds. Balázs has played with other New Yorkers like Arthur Kell and Chuck Jennings, Los Angeles rooted vibraphonist Eldad Tarmu and did several exchange projects with guitarist Eric Essix from Alabama in the past. Because of having relatives there, he often stays in California, having gigs with local musicians like Reka Parker, Justin Grinell and Antar Martin. Among the European artists he worked with English flautist Geoff Warren, Italian bass player Marcello Sebastiani and Czech saxophonist Lubos Soukup just to name a few. He is a member of the Visegrad Jazz Exchange program where he collaborates with top players of the Central-Eastern European jazz scene, like Slovakian saxophonist Radovan Tariska, Polish guitarist Rafal Sarnecki and Czech bassist Tomas Baros. Balázs has a big reputation in China where he is a respected artist and educator. He invited Shanghai based trumpet player Li Xiaochuan to play with the Balázs Bágyi New Quartet at the Palace of Arts in Budapest in 2017 and then they released an album together called China Jazz Suite in 2018

His previous quartet under his name, that had existed from 2004 – 2011, was an important band on the Hungarian ethno-jazz a world music scene. The music of his new quartet, which was formed in 2013, contains less of the folk background but sounds like today’s pure acoustic contemporary jazz, based on post bop elements with classical and gipsy music flavours. His partners are the best players from Budapest, saxophonist Soso Lakatos, who studied and got his diploma in Amsterdam, the classically trained Junior Prima awarded pianist Dezso Olah, and Peter Olah, one of the greatest bass players in Central Europe. During the past decade the band played at many European jazz festivals (Bratislava Jazz Days, Jazz Juniors Krakow, Bansko Jazz Festival, Nisville, Mosaic Jazz Fest Sibiu, Sarajevo Winter, Petrovac Jazz Festival, Skopje Summer Festival, JazzKaar in Estonia…), and performed at a few really famous jazz clubs as Jazz Dock in Prague, B-Flat in Berlin, Jazzland in Wien, the Green Hours in Bucharest, Hogo Fogo in Banska Bystrica Slovakia, the Jassmine in Warsaw…just to name a few. Beside the European scene they regularly play in China, where they performed at several famous festivals and clubs like the Beijing Nine Gates Jazz Festival, Changchun Jazz Festival, Meeting Jazz Festival and club in X’ian, Taihu Jazz Festival, JZ Club Shanghai and they were the first Hungarian band ever played at the Blue Note Shanghai. The band was invited to the Amman Jazz Festival in Jordan in 2018 and they performed at the Eurojazz Festival in Mexico City in 2024. In 2016 their album Homage to Shakespeare featuring vocalist Kriszta Pocsai won Gramofon Award, given by an international jury, then they became “ the band of the year” on the JazzMa.hu online magazine’s readers poll. The quartet plays the original music of the bandleader who has won the category “the composer of the year” on the same poll in 2016. 

Beside being a bandleader he works as a sideman too, as the regular drummer of the Karoly Gaspar Trio, the Gabor Szalay Organ Trio and the Dr.Jazz Duo. When he is at home he often can be heard to play at the Budapest Jazz Club and the Opus Jazz Club with the above mentioned formations and he works at the Kolibri Theater as well. 

Apart from having a successful international career as a professional musician Balázs is an active music educator and clinician, a mentor at the National Cultural Fund of Hungary, member of the board of the Dezső Ablakos Lakatos state scholarship supporting young jazz artists. He worked in the Junior Prima Award commitee in 2023 and he has won a scholarship at the Hungarian Art Academy (2022-2025). Balázs Bágyi was the president of the Hungarian Jazz Federation from 2013 till 2023.