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Speak No Evil Jazz blog

Capital Public Radio's discussion of an art form born in America and celebrated worldwide.

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Falling In Love Supreme Finalist: George Erdosh

Saturday, February 14, 2015
  

It was late 1940s and early 1950s, the darkest of the Stalinist era, when jazz became not just a part of my life but a life-long passion. This was an impossible passion in politically suppressed Hungary where “corrupt” Western culture was totally banned—just listening to a jazz record may have ended me in jail.

But I was lucky—I grew up in the southern town of Szeged just a few miles from the Yugoslav border. Closing windows, doors and keeping the volume low (while pressing my ears to the grill of the radio) I could pick up four Yugoslav radio stations: Zagreb, Belgrade, Subotica and Novi Sad. They broadcasted jazz often: big bands, small combos, everything they could obtain from the West, and I loved them all indiscriminately: Harry James, Duke Ellington, Gene Krupa, Charlie Byrd and so on.

We owned a small Bösendorfer baby grand which served me on my classical piano training my mother insisted on, but soon I found a jazz piano teacher and learned jazz piano—I became the center of parties. However, I knew I wasn’t talented enough to become professional so I remained a devoted listener.

By George Erdosh

    More about Falling In Love Supreme

  • Falling In Love Supreme

    Our music hosts contemplate the performances, songs and artists which sent them into a life time love affair with jazz as part of our series "Falling In Love Supreme." Listener-submission contest finalist essays are now posted.

    Related Stories

  • Bastian Sander / Flickr

    Falling In Love Supreme Essay Contest Winners Announced

    Wednesday, February 18, 2015
    Over the past month we've collected stories of how our staff and listeners fell in love with jazz. We thoughtfully read all the listener submissions and chose the ones that stood out. It was no small task, there were so many wonderful entries.

 Falling In Love Supreme

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