One of the defining figures of Hungarian music,
Mihály Borbély has created his most personal
and comprehensive album to date, entitled
Looking Back from Half Way. The album, born
out of improvisation, brings together elements
of Gyimes folk music, the spirit of Béla Bartók’s
work as a folk song collector and composer, as
well as a homage to Steve Reich, and a tribute
to Dave Liebman.
Looking Back from Half Way is Mihály Borbély’s
most personal album to date – a sometimes
intimate, sometimes revealing musical confession.
The solo album, created entirely through
improvisation, is also a refined summary that
encompasses not only the musical ideas and
inspirations that have long preoccupied Borbély, but
also the imprints of his life experiences.
This broad perspective is deepened by the multiinstrumentalist
approach he has been pursuing
for years: on the album we can hear soprano,
alto and tenor saxophones, fujara, an overtone
flute called the tilinkó, double flute, flute, kaval,
tárogató, clarinet and bass clarinet. However,
versatility is not only evident in the choice of
instruments: the kaleidoscopic mix of genres that
can best be described as contemporary ethnojazz
– or, as Borbély himself calls it, rural jazz –
brings together elements of Gyimes folk music, the
spirit of Béla Bartók both as a folk song collector
and a composer, a homage to Steve Reich, and a
tribute to Dave Liebman. The album spans a wide
emotional and dynamic range from deep silence to
bursts of shouting, and alongside the well known
danceable, festive moods of folk music, the voice of
personal grief often comes to the fore.
Mihály Borbély is equally at home in folk and world
music, jazz and contemporary music, and is extremely
popular both in his home country and abroad. He is
one of the defining figures of Hungarian musical life
both as a performer and composer, recognized with
the Kossuth Prize in 2014. Looking Back from Half Way
is the seventh fruit of his more than two decades of
collaboration with BMC Records; out of the previous
six albums, Meselia Hill by Mihály Borbély Quartet
was voted Hungarian jazz album of the year in 2004,
and Miracles of the Night became one of the label’s
most popular jazz albums on streaming platforms.
Mihály Borbély is a founding member of the Vujicsics
Ensemble and performs and records with Mihály
Borbély Quartet, the Borbély–Dresch Quartet, the
Balkan Jazz Project, and Quartet B, as well as in a duo
with pianist Károly Binder. In addition to the American-
Hungarian lineup of Eastern Boundary Quartet, he has
worked with such distinguished colleagues as Paul Bley,
Steve Coleman, and Trilok Gurtu.