Artist database

Balázs Major was born in Mezőtúr, Hungary in 1955. He started drumming in a completely self-taught manner. In the 70s he was a determining member of the band called Watt’73. Between 1977 and 1979 he was a private student of Gyula Kovács who directed his attention towards jazz and improvisation. In 1980 as a drummer he formed the Szabo-Major duo with the contribuition of guitarist Sándor Szabó. In the beginning of the 80s he was studying Indian classical music and also learning to play the tabla. In the following few years the Szabó-Major duo performed in almost every club in the country. In 1986 their first album was released by LEO RECORDS, a British company. They frequently invited foreign artists and hence, they could participate in several concert tours, and managed to produce many records. One such cooperation’s result was the album recorded together with Belgian guitarist Gilbert Isbin, released by HWYL RECORDS. The most significant period of his career was his 10-year-long contribution to the SzaMaBa Trio. They worked with numerous guest musicians and managed to release 3 albums. One of their live concerts was recorded during the Tata Jazz Camp, Hungary – and was published by Pannon Jazz in 2005.

Balázs Major did solo drum concerts as far back as the mid-80s. During these performances he used the musical instrument not only for expressing rythm, but also for its most ancient purpose: messaging and thought transfer. His first solo album was released in 1996, called ’Infinity between Borders’ with the contribution of Krisztián Major and Sándor Szabó which was a collection of absolutely clean and authentic pieces of drum music. In 1998 his album called ’Fate of Scamps’ was published with the contribution of Mihály Dresch, Grencsó István and Sándor Kármán. He still works regularly together with Sándor Szabó even without their band called SzaMaBa: they created multiple albums with the usage of the musical instrument built by the Swiss company, PANArt, and designed by Balázs Major.

In July 2007 his solo concert had been recorded on DVD that was released later in March 2008. However he appeared again on Sándor Szabó’s album called ’Modern Hungarian Makam’ in 2010. In recent years, there have been a numbers of albums, especially abroad, where we can hear his special instruments and his unique play. In 2018 their album Kismaros recorded in duo with Kevin Kastning was nominated for Grammy Award. In 2019, Ethereal II was nominated for a Grammy Award in trio with Kevin Kastning and Sándor Szabó.