Grencsó Tickmayer Duo ‎– Chamber Music (1990, LP, Ex-Jugoslavia)

This rare 1990 LP is the fruit of a collaboration between several individuals related to the Vojvodina area in Serbia, then a part of Yugoslavia. Pianist and composer István Kovács-Tickmayer, aka Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer, was born in 1963 of Hungarian origin in Nový Sad, the capital of Vojvodina. Kovacs Tickmayer founded Tickmayer Formatio in 1986 and relocated to France in 1991 to become the official composer of Josef Nadj’s dance performances in Orleans, France, and on tour, along members of the Formatio. The producer of this disc, choreographer Nagy József, aka Josef Nadj, was born in 1957 in Kanjiža, a Magyar-speaking town of Vojvodina. Kovács-Tickmayer met Hungarian saxophonist GrencsóIstván, aka Stevan Grencso, born 1956, during the 1980s, while playing with Hungarian improvisers from Nový Sad and Budapest. At the time, Stevan Grencso played in Hungarian free jazz bands Masina Jazz Group, founded in 1979, and Kollektiva, founded in 1984.

This meeting between Grencso and Kovacs Tickmayer took place during a live performance at Club Petőfi Sándor in Nový Sad (Újvidék in Magyar) on April 27, 1988. The LP was published in France on a short-lived label called Libelulla, of which it is apparently the sole release. The longuest piece here, Chamber Music IVis also the album’s piece de resistance. It starts with a wonderful saxophone+clarinet duet before Kovacs Tickmayer turns to melodica for a wonderfully unusual coupling with the saxophone. The track eschews any reference to free jazz and is indeed close to chamber or contemporary music, if only more timely and meditative.

Side A

A1 Chamber Music I

A2 Chamber Music II

A3 Chamber Music III

Side B 

B1 Chamber Music IV

B2 Chamber Music V

Credits:

István Grencsó: Alto Saxophone, Percussion, Vocals, Piano

 István Kovác Tickmayer: Piano, Harpsichord, Melodica, Bass, Clarinet, Percussionn Kovács 

Engineer: István Koncz

Producer: Josef Nadj

Note: Recorded live 27 April 1988 at Club Petőfi Sándor in Újvidék / Novi Sad