Marton Juhasz | Metropolis | February 7, 2025

Multi-award winning Basel-based Hungarian drummer Marton Juhasz’s approach to his instrument has seen him perform all around the world alongside highly celebrated names of modern jazz including Gilad Hekselman, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Jorge Rossy and more. He was voted ‘Drummer of the Year’ two years in a row on JazzMa’s online readers poll, and his 2017 release ‘Pannon Blue’ featuring Lionel Loueke won ‘Best Hungarian Jazz Album’ at the Gramafon Awards.

Through his new release, Juhasz develops on the 70’s fusion sounds of Weather Report and Headhunters to offer a fresh contemporary perspective on the style.

‘Metropolis’ is set to release on February 7th on Unit Records.

Blending traditional African influences with modern sounds from the USA, the Caribbean and Brazil, Metropolis presents a colorful mix of intricate rhythms and lyrical melodies. Self-described as postmodern instrumental groove music, each piece is grounded by Juhasz’ powerful and dynamic touch on the drums, often evolving through a set of complex metric frameworks over the course of a piece.

Built around the live sound of the quintet, each of the record’s eight original compositions comes across as the sound of five musicians feeding off each other’s energy, using the written material as a sandbox for melodic and timbral improvisation and pushing each other further into the deep end. Squelching envelope filters, searing distortion, fluttering arpeggiations from the saxophone, delicate finger picking on guitar, and selective use of transportive reverbs create variations in texture that elevate the ensemble’s sound into a modern space.

In this digitised, postmodern age of instant gratification with the majority of art of culture available to all at the click of a button, Juhasz found his artistic practice leading him to wonder: How can I create art that is relevant and forward-looking in today’s world? Is it still possible to create distinctly original-sounding music? Metropolis is his attempt to answer these questions with a resounding ‘Yes’.

Line up

Track Listing

Plato’s Clave
Ancestral Drift
São Paulo
Helio
Wren Song
Radar
Winged Travelers
Mr. Busyman Goes On Holiday

PR Quotes

Jazz Journal (UK)
“the unifying factor is Juhasz’s florid, sinewy drumming and taut, compelling compositions“

Paris-move (FR)
“offers a brand of jazz fusion or progressive jazz, depending on your perspective, drawing as much from rock as from jazz and evoking the soundscape of the late, great Jaco Pastoriusg”

Jazz.sk (SK)
“full of optimism and soulful will”

Backseat Mafia (UK)
“a vibrant nod to the jazz fusion golden age”

Esensja (PL)
“an extraordinary mix of musicians”

SK Jazz (SK)
“imaginative, varied, virtuosic, compositions that avoid clichés and yet consistently draw on tradition!”

Jazz Weekly (US)
“There’s a hip 70s CTI fusion feel throughout”

DPRP (US)
“I thoroughly enjoyed Metropolis, and it is certainly an album that I will play again”

Jazz thing (DE)
“His fusion sound isn’t pompous, but rather pleasingly stripped-down, and his quintet is especially enjoyable when they can let loose over loose, driving yet compelling Afrobeats”

Jazzflits (NL)
“a musical journey with many facets: poetic and emotional, refined, and rich in rhythm“

Era Jazzu (PL)
“feels like the sound of five musicians drawing energy from each other”

FREQ (UK)
“If you are looking for a far-ranging album that takes progressive jazz as a starting point but then goes in any direction it pleases, you would do well to snap this up”

Blue in Green (UK)
“an incredible project that relishes the joy in creativity and collaboration”

Bluebird Reviews (UK)
“breathtakingly fresh and inspiring”

Progerssor (UK)
“a creation that celebrates and explores the role of the rhythms in music more”

Jazz in Family (IT)
“The album demonstrates a
deep knowledge of jazz and fusion traditions , but does not limit itself to reproposing them, trying to
enrich them with modern and personal elements.”