Laszlo Gardony

Laszlo Gardony is an American jazz pianist / composer born in Hungary who has released nine albums and leads his own trio.

Biography
Gardony studied at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest, graduating in 1979.

In 1983 he moved to the United States on a full scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He formed a group "Forward Motion" with Tommy Smith, Terje Gewelt and Ian Froman.

He soon formed his first trio with Froman and Miroslav Vitous with whom he recorded "The Secret" for the Antilles label. His second album, "The Legend of Tsumi" (Antilles) featured Dave Holland  and Bob Moses.

In 1987, he won first prize at the Great American Jazz Piano Competition. Since 1987 he has been on the faculty at Berklee where he is Professor of Piano.

Gardony's first recording on the Sunnyside label was a critically acclaimed solo piano disc "Changing Standards". His next album, "Breakout" (Avenue Jazz Records) was released in 1994 and featured Mick Goodrick on guitar as well as George Jinda (talking drum; udu), Satoshi Takeishi (taiko drums) and Stomu Takeishi (e. bass).

Gardony returned to Sunnyside in 2001 with a trio recording, "Behind Open Doors" which featured Jamey Haddad and John Lockwood. Subsequently, Gardony has recorded four albums with bassist John Lockwood and drummer Yoron Israel, his working trio of nine years: "Ever Before Ever After" (Sunnyside) in 2003, "Natural Instinct" (Sunnyside) in 2006, "Dig Deep" (Sunnyside) in 2008 and "Signature Time" (Sunnyside) in 2011  "Signature Time" also features multi-instrmentalist, vocalist, Stan Strickland on a few tracks as well as drummer Yoron Israel on the vibraphone. His 2013 recording is an inspired solo piano album, "Clarity" (Sunnyside)

Among other projects, he has also been involved in violinist Matt Glaser's group, The Wayfaring Strangers, a fusion of bluegrass and jazz. Gardony has performed with the Wayfaring Strangers at numerous venues and festivals including Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops, with the Utah Symphony in Salt Lake City and at Merlefest in North Carolina. Gardony has also performed with David "Fathead" Newman at several festivals, and with Eddie Gomez' Per Sempre Quintet. Both Randy Brecker and Dave Liebman have performed as guest soloists with Gardony's group. Gardony is featured on Yoron Israel & High Standards' 2012 CD: "Visions - The Music of Stevie Wonder" (Ronja Music Company).

Critical reception
Gardony has been praised for his "fluid pianism" in The New York Times and for his uniformly high quality of compositions, harmonic complexity and emotional content which All About Jazz Magazine found to be on par with Bill Evans'. Jazz Review has described him as "a pianist worthy of praise within the highest pantheon of performers". Dave Brubeck called Gardony a "great pianist".