ISTVÁN GRENCSÓ
Genres: Avant-Garde Jazz, Jazz Related Electronica, Hip-Hop • Hungary

Saxophonist and flautist István Grencsó (b. 1956) is an outstanding figure in Hungarian avant-garde jazz. His career started in 1979 with the founding of the Masina Jazz Group, but he became more widely known in the 1980s as György Szabados’s partner. In 1984 he formed Collective, which has been his main vehicle ever since. With this continually changing line-up he has released ten albums, amongst which the most important are Plays Monk (1996), Villa Negra (1997), Black Bread (1999), Seven Songs to the Last Mohicans (2000) and Dream Car (2003). Grencsó’s repertoire is extremely varied, and as a composer he is considered the master of formal changes. “I always like to search for something exciting,” as he puts it. As well as experiments in improvised music he has arranged countless jazz standards, and regardless of current trends and fashions has played pop, rock, and ethno music. He also reinterpreted Hungarian read more...