János Gonda

János Gonda (born January 11, 1932) is a Hungarian jazz pianist. He was born in Budapest. He studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, and earned his diploma first at the musicological and then in the piano department. He belonged to the front-line of Hungarian jazz musicians. His varied activities include composition, concert performances, teaching and musicological research.

He formed his first band in 1962, and with them made the first LP in the Hungarian "Modern Jazz" series. Since then he has led several bands which can be heard on the anthology-form records in that same series. In the late 1960s he co-led the Gonda-Krusa Quartet with the Polish vibrophnis Richard Kruza. He also recorded with his Gonda Sextet, which he formed in 1972. One of their famous recordings is titled Shaman Song. The sextet consisted of János Gonda (piano, electrical piano), Gábor Balazs (bass), Tamas Berki (vocal, guitar, percussion), Péter Kántor (soprano and alto saxophone), Istvan Dely (conga, percussion) and Gyula Kovacs (drums, percussion).

As a composer, he mainly writes jazz pieces, but has also branched out into other forms of expression. Worth mentioning are his modern songs, his film scores (e.g. for the 1966 István Szabó film Vater) and other incidental music, his dance compositions and symphonic jazz works. The most significant of the last is his Australian Concerto of 1970. In 1974, he composed a musical entitled Pro Urbe.

Gonda's theoretical works also focus on jazz. Of his books and studies, one should mention the book Jazz, published in 1979. He has been a professor and head of the jazz department at the Bartók Béla Secondary School of Music. Gonda also used to head the jazz department affiliated to the Associated of Hungarian Musicians and was vice-chairman of the International Jazz Federation. From 1965 to 1997, he was leader of the jazz department of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, to be succeeded by Mihály Borbély. Currently, he is still honorary member of Hungarian Jazz Federation. He was the artistic director of the well-known jazz circles Tatabánya International Jazz Camp and the short-lived - 1993-2000 - Tatabánya International Institute of Creative Music Education .

In 1974, he was awarded the Hungarian Erkel Prize.

• 1964 Modern jazz IV-V. - Anthology 64 Hungaroton LPX 7279-80 Közreműködő
• 1967 Modern jazz VI. - Anthology 67 Hungaroton LPX 17372 Közreműködő
• 1968 Modern jazz VII. - Anthology 68 Hungaroton LPX 17392 Közreműködő
• 1969 Modern jazz VIII. - Anthology 69 Hungaroton LPX 17406 Közreműködő
• 1976 Sámánének (Shaman Song) Hungaroton-Pepita
• 1980 Vonzások és választósok Hungaroton-Pepita
• 1980 Solo Piano Hungaroton-Pepita
• 1986 Keyboard Music Hungaroton-Krém
• 1999 Képek, Emlékek (Pictures, Memories) Binder Music Manufactory BMM 9904-26173630 Saját

Film scores

• 1975 A járvány
• 1974 Holnap lesz fácán
• 1972 Utazás Jakabbal
• 1970 Mérsékelt égöv
• 1970 Horizont
• 1970 Szerelmesfilm
• 1970 A gyilkos a házban van
• 1967 A múmia közbeszól
• 1966 Apa - egy hit naplója
• 1965 Szentjános fejevétele
• 1964 Karambol
• 1963 Nappali sötétség

• 1979 Jazz
• 1982 Mi a Jazz? (What is Jazz?)
• 2004 Jazzvilág (World of Jazz) RÓZSAVÖLGYI ÉS TÁRSA publishers, ISBN 963-86238-5-3