Elek Bacsik Information & Elek Bacsik Links at HealthHaven.com

Elek Bacsik (22 May 1926 – 14 February 1993)^[1] was a Hungarian-born American jazz violinist and guitarist.

Bacsik was born in Budapest, the son of Arpad Bacsik and Erzsebet Pocsi. He was of Romani ethnicity and studied violin at the Budapest Conservatory, but found his primary musical inspiration in bebop pioneers Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. He was also the cousin of Django Reinhardt. In his early years he travelled as a musician to Lebanon, Spain, Portugal and Italy. He worked in Paris in the early 1960s and recorded with some well known French musicians such as Jeanne Moreau, Serge Gainsbourg and Claude Nougaro as well as making solo albums. In 1966, he went to work and live in the United States and played at Las Vegas. Bacsik recorded on guitar on Gillespie's Dizzy on the French Riviera (1962) and later appeared on violin with Gillespie at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1974. His bebop violin playing is featured on his two albums as a leader, I Love You (1974) and Bird and Dizzy: A Musical Tribute (1975).

[edit] Partial discography

As sideman

1962 : Dizzy Gillespie, Dizzy on the French Riviera (Philips Records) — on guitar
1963 : Dizzy Gillespie, New Wave (Philips Records) — on guitar
1963 : Serge Gainsbourg, Gainsbourg Confidentiel (Philips Records)
1965 : Barbara, Barbara chant Barbara (Philips Records) — on guitar
1966 : Jeanne Moreau, 12 chansons nouvelles (Jacques Canetti)

As leader

1962 : The electric guitar of the eclectic Elek Bacsik (Fontana) — on guitar
1962 : Bossa nova (EP; Fontana)— on guitar
1963 : Guitar Conceptions (Fontana) — on guitar
1974 : I Love You (Bob Thiele label) — on violin and violectra
1975 : Bird and Dizzy: A Musical Tribute (Flying Dutchman) — on violin and violectra

[edit] Sources

Barnett, Anthony. Almost Like Being In Bop: a Not-So-Brief Account of the Hidden History of the Swing to Recorded Bebop and Progressive Violin in America and Europe. Lewes, East Sussex: AB Fable, 2005.

More information on his recordings on violin on AB Fable Bulletin : violin improvisation studies