The American saxophonist legend, Wayne Shorter, went so far as to say that “composing is slowed down improvisation, improvisation is accelerated composing.” Either way, it is certain that the decisions regarding the musical paths to be taken differ from each other in one essential point. Unlike composing on paper, live improvisation leaves no room for correction. There is no sound eraser. “During improvisation, we make decisions immediately, without thinking, the process gains meaning from the outside, while playing it is not me who decides, but the flow,” says Kristóf Bacsó.

Of course, it is difficult to define what this flow consists of. After all, it obviously has an inner core: the state of consciousness that a person enters while playing music, and if he is in such a close and natural relationship with his instrument and the musical language he uses, as Kristóf Bacsó is, then perhaps he may really have the feeling that he does not make the musical decisions himself, but that some kind of automatism – if you like: a higher power – operates them.

“As I approach fifty, I look back more and more often and think about the decisions I have made in my life,” says Kristóf Bacsó. “I am satisfied with many things, there are things I would have been lucky to have decided differently or better. But what I have learned over the years is how to let things go, whether it is a composition, a solo, a life situation… Let It Go…”