Percussionist András Dés was guided by musical curiosity when he decided to record his latest album, einschließlich in the woodlands of the Bakony hills with the members of his quartet, Rangers. Nature became the producer of the record, and serendipity – one of the main driving forces of jazz – took the key role. Dés left his instrument at home and played the objets trouvés of the forest instead: trees, stones, leaves, pine cones, snails’ shells, the ground, and of course he used his own body as an instrument. Playing in the middle of the forest amplified the quartet’s ensemble playing to a particularly high standard, masterfully captured on this album released by BMC Records.
Legend has it that in the 19th century, birds were singing the tunes of Chopin in the forests of Germany because music lovers were so keen on teaching classical melodies to their feathered friends. Even though we don’t expect songbirds to know the classical repertoire anymore, percussionist András Dés surmised that they would play an important role on an album written by nature and chance. Instantaneous risk-taking is vital for a jazz player, so Dés decided not to bring any instruments to the session with his quartet, Rangers. Instead, he played the objets trouvés of the forest: trees, stones, leaves, pine cones, snails’ shells, the ground, as well as using his own body as an instrument. Being exposed to nature also heightened the musicians’ responsiveness to each other’s playing, elevating the ensemble playing of guitarist-producer Márton Fenyvesi, saxophonist János Ávéd, bass player Mátyás Szandai and percussionist András Dés to a particularly high standard, masterfully captured and presented on this album by the recording engineer, Viktor Szabó. Even though Dés says his album was not made with social critique in mind, the listener cannot escape the thought that this music was created in a forest at the eleventh hour as a memento of the final minutes before a great collapse.
Currently living in Vienna,
András Dés started his
studies as a classical percussionist,
subsequently
got involved in various
styles of folk music, and
finally graduated at the
jazz department of the
Liszt Academy of Music
in Budapest. In recent
years, he has developed
a unique style of playing,
using his right hand as a
drummer and the left hand
as a percussionist. He has
toured around the world
as a member of numerous
successful jazz formations
and has played in
acclaimed concert venues
as Carnegie Hall, Covent
Garden, the Amsterdam
Concertgebouw and the
Damascus Opera House. His percussion playing can be heard on more than 90 albums and three of these presenting
him as the band leader. His previous album, The Worst Singer in The World, was released in 2017 on BMC Records.
He also composed a number of film and theatre scores and he also enjoys crossing genre boundaries.
Dés played with some of the most renowned Hungarian folk singers, was member of different groups playing
popular music but he has been working also with Péter Eötvös, a Hungarian composer of contemporary music. As a jazz
musician, Dés regularly performs with artists such as Miklós Lukács, Elemér Balázs, Ferenc Snétberger, Mihály
Borbély, Kornél Fekete-Kovács, Palle Mikkelborg, Frank London, Charlie Mariano, Jack DeJohnette, Gerard Presencer,
Eivind Aarset, Eric Truffaz and Chris Potter. His interest in the arts is not limited to music. We often see him sharing
the stage with contemporary writers, poets, and he has even a solo stage performance called Wolf’s Eye.