Bohém Ragtime Jazzband
Kecskemét, Hungary
Added 4/2/05

Return To Photo Gallery

The Bohém Ragtime Jazzband was founded in 1985. Its members are young professional classical musicians and amateurs. At the beginning their main profile was ragtime but nowadays they feel at home in every traditional jazz style from New Orleans through Dixieland and spiritual to swing. Their concerts are always versatile and spectacular due to the vocals and 'dances' (well, you otta see it) that they never do without reason.

They are welcome at the best Festivals in Europe, their recordings can be heard on several European and American radio stations. Their concerts have been broadcast by Hungarian, Rumanian, German and Finnish TV channels. The band received first prize in the Hungarian Dixieland Competition in 1994 and 1995 and was awarded the prestigious Hungarian eMeRTon Prize as "Jazz band of the year" in 2003. They frequently play with guest stars such as Joe Muranyi (New York, last clarinetist of the Louis Armstrong All Stars), Zeke Zarchy (Los Angeles, lead trumpet player for the Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra orchestras), George Kelly (New York, former tenor saxophone player of the legendary Savoy Ballroom Orchestra), Michel Godard (French jazz tubist), Paul Asaro (talented young Chicagoan stride piano wizard), Butch Thompson (pianist of the late Doc Cheatham and clarinetist protégé of George Lewis in New Orleans) or Australian Bob Barnard (one of the most important trumpet players of the traditional jazz scene today).

The band has nine CD’s and two LP’s. The leader of the band, Tamás Ittzés has already recorded two albums for a Californian label and both received critical acclaim in important jazz periodicals. He received first prize at the Ragtime Composition Contest by the Scott Joplin Foundation with his Sedalia Rag in 2001. The band gives about 60-80 concerts a year and tours both in Europe and North America. The band's Kecskemét Jazz Foundation organizes Hungary's biggest jazz festival, the International Bohém Ragtime & Jazz Festival every year since 1992. (Back to the top of this page)

Members of the band
Tamás Ittzés (piano, violin, Stroh violin, vocal, leader)
Miklós Lázár (violin, vocal)
József Lebanov (trumpet)
Zoltán Mátrai (clarinet, tenor saxophone)
Attila Korb (trombone, piano, vocal)
György Mátrai (banjo, guitar)
József Török (bass, tuba)
Alfréd Falusi (drums)

Address
Bohém Ragtime Jazzband, Tamás ITTZÉS leader
H-6001 KECSKEMÉT, Pf. 652., Hungary
Mobile phone: +36(20)82-447-82 (new!)
Email: info@bohemragtime.com