Szerkesztő:Séthy Viktor

Viktor Séthy (1968-) Hungarian musician, music teacher, writer and fine artist

Early years

Coming from a musician family - his father played the violin, his uncle was a trumpet player. That 3 years he spent in Africa during his early childhood also had a deep effect on his musical taste. He studied 10 years of classical music, then 2 years of jazz on piano. Picked up the guitar and the drums in his early twenties. He was 16, when started giving concerts - mostly neoclassical improvisations, and jazz. At this age he'd been accepted by Berklee Collage of Music, but didn't leave, even that drummer Marvin Smitty Smith offered him to be smuggled out of the eastern block in an amp case. After finishing high school he played around West- and East-Europe. Cause of some political reasons, and not being accepted by local Jazz Collage, he left Europe in 1988.

In the USA

Viktor's uncle - Erno B. Séthy, who was also a pianist, and composer of film scores - invited him to his home to New York, but changed his mind in few weeks. After a short period of homelessness, Viktor moved upstate to a small town named Suffern, joining the band P.G.Q. - containing Paul Golenya on guitar and flute, Bob Magnuson on saxophone, and Charlie Molins on drums. They worked with numerous different bass players, among whom Thomas Martin provided the most lasting performance. Viktor was offered the position of deputy director of the local music school, but due to lack of a green card, he could not take it. However, he had been accepted among the members of Rockland County Jazz & Blues Society. After all his savings were stolen, he moved to the Lower East Side, in a squat he helped restore. C-squad later became a legal cultural center. Viktor had performances at numerous places, like the Blue Note, the Knitting Factory, and also participated in many jazz jam sessions. However, before he could finish the recordings of his first double solo CD, he fell seriously ill. At the urging of his relatives, he finally returned home to Hungary by 1993.

After returnig to Hungary

For various reasons, Viktor focused more on fine arts and writing in the following years. In 1994, he met his current wife, Bogárka, who is also a visual artist. In 1998, they moved to the countryside, where they repaired a dilapidated house with their own hands. During the following years he participated in a trio with Johnny Lambizi and Csaba Papp, in a formation called Secret Proof of Music with Balázs Bujka and Lajos Kata Louis, and in a quartet called Calling Dexter, playing traditional jazz. Also collaborated with Peruvian guitarist Pierre Huarniz, and Philadelphia drummer Grant Calvin Weston. He also hosted his own show on the local Kerepes Rádio. He also appeared on stage with jazz musicians like George Coleman, Julian Priester, Lee Konitz, Gábor Gadó, and many others. Also worked as a studio musician. Wrote 12 novels, newspaper articles, humorous stories, poems and essays, and participated in numerous exhibitions held together with his wife. In addition to all this, he also deals with theoretical physics and philosophy.

Discography:

1989 - Early Morning lingering at the very edge of the Universe

1990 - Movements and consequences

1990 - Overture for a fool's dinner

1991 - The last birds, and blind noise

1995 - Home again

2003 - Additional examples I.-II.

2007 - Séthy Viktor - solos

2007 - Twilight shadows

2008 - September electric

2008 - 9.2

2009 - 2016 - Piano concertos I.-V.

2009 - Standards I.

2009 - Improvisations

2009 - Ultralight

2009 - Dance music

2009 - Bizarre

2010 - Trioida

2010 - Trios, quartets

2010 - Atlantis folk songs

2010 - Spring suite

2011 - Summertime suite

2011 - Standards II.

2011 - Standards on guitar

2012 - Whitsun fantasy

2012 - Christmas fantasy

2012 - September acoustic

2012 - Hakni

2013 - Jazz standards piano trio

2013 - Standards III.

2014 - More bizarre

2014 - Way more out

2014 - Prophet's humor

2017 - Piano music

2018 - Standards 2018

2018 - Blindspot

2019 - Hymn of doubt

2020 - On guitar

2021 - Best of whatever found

Collaborations:

1989 - PGQ Revelations I.-II. (Bob Magnuson, Zsolt Paul Golenya, Charlie Molins)

1989 - PGQ LIVE (Bob Magnuson, Zsolt Paul Golenya, Thomas Martin, Charlie Molins)

1992 - Duos with Marcus I.-II. (Marcus - violin)

1996 - Full Moon (Kovács Ferenc - trumpet, Ádám Kálmán - trumpet, drums, Ádám Zoltán - bass, Fekete Gyula - drums)

2009 - Lima - Kerepes (Pierre Huarniz - guitar)

2012 - Songs and other songs (Johnny Lambizi - guitar, Papp Csaba - drums)

2014 - Elemets of fusion (Grant Calvin Weston - drums)

2015 - SPOM - studio (Bujka Balázs - bass, Kata Lajos Louis - drums)

2015 - SPOM - LIVE (Bujka Balázs - bass, Kata Lajos Louis - drums)

2015 - Kata-Séthy duos (Kata Lajos Louis - drums)

Viktor Séthy's works can be mostly found on Jamendo, Youtube, Bandcamp and Soundcloud.