Elek Bacsik born 22 May 1926

Elek Bacsik (22 May 1926 – 14 February 1993) was a Hungarian-American jazz guitarist and violinist. He was the cousin of guitarist Django Reinhardt.

Born in Budapest, he inherited his musical talent from his father, a violinist in a gypsy orchestra. At 4 years old started playing the violin. He later studied at the Academy of Music in Budapest 
before moving to Jazz guitar. In 1943, he started to perform mainly as guitarist in folk music bands. As a sideman, he also recorded some 78 rpm records playing guitar, violin, bass and cello with Jozsef Quitter and Geza Szabo. Following his three year service in the Hungarian army, he left Hungary in 1949 and played for a while with his friend György Cziffra, a pianist, in Austria and Switzerland. He discovered bebop and bought all of the Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie records he could find. After that, he spent more than two years in Lebanon, where he appeared both in dance orchestras and classical orchestras.

In 1951, he played in Italy, where he recorded with the pianist and singer Renato Carosone. In 1957, he performed in Spain and Portugal. Finally in 1959, Bacsik started playing jazz in Paris. He accompanied American musicians who were passing through, such as Lou Bennett, Dizzy Gillespie, Quentin Jackson, Art Simmons, and Clark Terry. He also supported French singers like Barbara, Sacha Distel, Claude Nougaro, Juliette Gréco and Jeanne Moreau. Bacsik also recorded a superb, little-known album with Serge Gainsbourg in 1963—Gainsbourg Confidential.  He successfully adapted Dave Brubeck compositions to the guitar ('Blue Rondo a la Turk', 'Take Five'). Regular TV appearances made him a national celebrity. Unfortunately his fame did not cross the Atlantic Ocean.

                              

In 1966 he moved to the United States, where, at first, he played and recorded with gypsy bands and toured with the Bouzouki group led by the Armenian violinist Hrach Yacoubian. Bacsik later settled in Las Vegas, where he recorded TV themes. He also accompanied 
singers like Andy Williams, Tony Bennett and Teresa Brewer. For a
 while, he played violin in an orchestra backing Elvis Presley. Bacsik had hopes of making a name for himself as a jazz musician. But with a name difficult to pronounce or remember and little in the way of mass-market recognition, his dream was increasingly tough to realize. Instead, he disappeared with his violin into the Las Vegas pit orchestras.

In 1974, producer Bob Thiele brought him back on the jazz scene: Bacsik played violin at the Newport Jazz Festival with Dizzy Gillespie. He recorded a promotional record ('I Love You') with an all-star ensemble (Oliver Nelson, alto sax, Hank Jones, piano, Bucky Pizzarelli, guitar, Ray Barretto, percussion, Richard Davis, acoustic bass and Elvin Jones, drums) and in 1975 played the electric violin on 'Bird and Diz - a musical tribute'. Those would be his last jazz recordings which allowed him to perform in casinos and cabarets in Las Vegas, but did not manage to get him out of the anonymity that affected his career. He ended up becoming first violin and concertmaster of singer Wayne Newton. Sadly he never again 
would reach the status he had achieved as a jazz musician in Paris years earlier. He disappeared from the front of the jazz scene for nearly fifteen years.

In 1989, we find Bacsik playing at the first jazz festival in Québec, followed by a longer stint at jazz clubs and restaurants in Québec and Montreal (1990/91). It was whilst in Quebec, Bacsik suffered a stroke, paralyzing him partially. After several months in hospital, for visa reasons, he was repatriated to the United States. He no longer had the ability to play an instrument even though he still hoped to recover. 

Transferred from hospital to hospital, he was also diagnosed with lung cancer due to years of heavy smoking. Very weakened by his disability and chemotherapy, he died 14 February 1993 in Glen Ellyn, DuPage County, Illinois, USA. aged 66. According to his biography by daughter Balval Ekel he was buried in a paupers grave.

Bebop as a musical style lost its luster in the 80s and Bacsik’s contributions were largely forgotten. Bacsik was probably the most important Hungarian-American jazz musician of our time and his oeuvre and legacy deserve more research and attention.

As Marc Fosset, an excellent guitarist, explained in Jazz swing journal (August 1987): he was ahead of his time. He was the first to come up with an intelligent compromise between the gypsy soul and the American style”

(Edited from All About Jazz with a little help from Wikipedia & AllMusic)