Kalman Olah

A graduate of the Béla Bartók Conservatory and Franz Liszt Music University (the latter of which he became a faculty member in 2000), Budapest native Kálmán Oláh has long been impressing jazz aficionados worldwide with his own particular style, which blends together elements of Hungarian folk and classical music into more traditional jazz structures. With his Trio Midnight, which he started in 1990, Oláh has released a handful of albums, but as a solo pianist he has also recorded material and won numerous competitions. It 2003, with help from bassist János Egri, drummer Ferenc Nemeth, and singer Irén Lovász, Oláh issued Contrasts + Parallels, while for 2007's Always, his U.S. debut, he chose famed players Jack DeJohnette and Ron McClure to back him, a combination that led to a much more straightforward realization of jazz, including on the title track, which won him the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Composers Competition in 2006. ~ Marisa Brown