Description
The album ‘Slices of Life / Életképek’ was recorded in 2005, following ‘Sheafs are Dancing’. By this time, the band had become a regular performer at major European and American jazz and world music festivals. With compositions by Tamás Barabás, Djabe recorded material whose tracks went down very well at these festivals. ‘Doromb’, ‘Omachule’ and ‘Waterfall’ were generally a huge hit. At the jazz festival in Glogów, Poland, Philip Catherine, the famous Belgian jazz guitarist, watched Djabe’s performance and asked for the sheet music for ‘Doromb’ after the concert. Attila Égerházi contributed fewer compositions to this album than on previous releases, but ‘City of Habi’ became a true live classic; a few years later, it was even performed with Steve Hackett. ‘Rush for Ménes’ had previously been recorded on Ferenc Kovács’s solo album; a further developed version can be heard on ‘Slices of Life’. ‘Message from Iceworld’ serves as a connection link with the 2003 album ‘Sheafs are Dancing’. The title track, ‘Slices of Life’, and ‘’Sigh’ are catchy and evoke the melodic world of pop-jazz, but with Djabe’s distinctive instrumentation, structure and approach.
András Sipos, the band’s percussionist who passed away in 2007, was also at his top form and played a major role in Djabe’s international success. On these recordings, András Sipos sings and plays percussion, whilst Tamás Barabás plays bass guitar and also performs on the doromb.
Attila Égerházi plays guitar, whilst Zoltán Kovács handles the keyboards. Ferenc Kovács can be heard on trumpet, flugelhorn and violin. Szilárd Banai is on drums. From the summer of 2004 until the start of the 2005 album recordings, saxophonist Viktor Tóth was also a member of the band. However, he was refused to attend the recording sessions, so Attila Égerházi called upon London-based saxophonist Ben Castle, who, a few days later, studied the sheet music whilst on a flight and recorded all his parts in a single day. Ben had previously contributed to the albums ‘Update’ (2001) and ‘Sheafs are Dancing’ (2003).
The ‘Slices of Life’ CD was well received by audiences and critics both at home and abroad. Gigs came thick and fast. Around this time, Djabe played for the second time at the Rochester International Jazz Festival in New York State and made their debut at the famous Blues Alley in Washington. The band gave memorable concerts in Finland at the Pori Jazz Festival, in Sweden at the Stockholm Jazz Festival, in Glogów, Poland (as mentioned earlier), in Berlin, Germany, and at the Jazzwoche festival in Burghausen, whilst the Bansko Jazz Festival in Bulgaria was also an important stop. The concerts in Livania (Klaipėda), Bosnia (Sarajevo) and England (London – the first joint concert with Steve Hackett) were particularly memorable. In Italy, audiences in Udine celebrated Djabe, whilst in the Czech Republic, the crowd in Hradec Králové did the same.
Of the concerts on the Hungarian tour, a video and audio recording was made of the sold-out performance held at the Petőfi Hall in Budapest in 2006.
The second disc of this 20th-anniversary release features material from that Budapest concert. At the concert, the band performed the tracks in the same order as on the original CD. The first disc of this double release is the original studio album in its entirety. Tamás Barabás, the band’s sound engineer, judged that the album’s sound quality was perfect, with no need for remixing or remastering.
For the first time in the history of *Slices of Life*, the album will also be released on vinyl in October, as a double 180-gram audiophile edition featuring two bonus tracks recorded in Rochester and Pori.
Track list
CD 1 – Studio
Doromb
Message from Iceworld
Sigh
Omachule
Rush for Ménes
Waterfall
Slices of Life
City of Habi
Children’s Room
Indian Experience
Night in Kolkata
Total Time: 77:10
Musicians on the studio album:
Barabás Tamás Fodera bass, hungarian doromb, percussion, synths
Sipos András percussion, vocal
Égerházi Attila guitar
Kovács Ferenc trumpet, flugelhorn, violin
Banai Szilárd drums
Kovács Zoltán piano
Ben Castle saxophones
Kovács Sára flute (5)
Echo Quartet (11)
Kerényi Dorka violin I.
Bánhegyi Tünde violin II.
Érsek Lilla viola
Andrási Mónika violincello
Bánki Lilla Terézia, Szentágotay Noémi, Szentágotay Lili, Gyulai Réka, Kovács Emese children choir (9)
CD 2 – Live
Doromb
Message from Iceworld
Sigh
Omachule
Rush for Ménes
Waterfall
Slices of Life
City of Habi
Indian Experience
Night in Kolkata
Total Time: 78:44
Musicians on the live album:
Barabás Tamás Fodera bass, hungarian doromb, percussion, synths
Sipos András percussion, vocal
Égerházi Attila guitar
Kovács Ferenc trumpet, flugelhorn, violin
Banai Szilárd drums
Kovács Zoltán piano
