{"id":3507,"date":"2026-03-26T13:02:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.benkosandor.com\/?page_id=3507"},"modified":"2026-04-09T19:27:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:27:28","slug":"a-kezdetek","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.benkosandor.com\/en\/a-kezdetek\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beginnings"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Benk\u00f3 Dixieland Band \u2013 The Story<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Benk\u00f3 Dixieland
- a t\u00f6rt\u00e9net -<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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The Beginnings<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The history of the Benk\u00f3 Dixieland Band (BDB) began in 1957, when S\u00e1ndor Benk\u00f3 and his friends came together to play Dixieland music evoking the atmosphere of New Orleans. Initially, they performed at the B\u00e9ka Club in Budapest, where they were soon giving sold-out concerts. In addition to dixie, they also played dance music. Their popularity is reflected in the fact that in 1960, based on audience votes, they won the Grand Prize at the Budapest Youth Jazz Festival. Until the arrival of beat music in Hungary and the emergence of the Ill\u00e9s \u2013 Metr\u00f3 \u2013 Omega trio, they were the number one favorites of the audience.<\/p>

Between 1957 and 1963, more than seventy musicians passed through the band, including future leaders of well-known pop groups who began their careers here. Among those who played in the Benk\u00f3 Dixieland Band were Zsolt Baronits (Syrius), L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Benk\u0151 (Omega), Ferenc Bok\u00e1ny (Metr\u00f3), K\u00e1roly Frenreisz (Metr\u00f3, Locomotiv GT, Skorpi\u00f3), J\u00f3zsef Laux (Omega, Locomotiv GT), Gy\u00f6rgy Oroszl\u00e1n (Bergendy), and Antal Solymos (Express).<\/strong><\/p>

In the early 1960s, beat music was on the rise, and several members of the band wanted to follow this new direction. However, S\u00e1ndor Benk\u00f3, the band\u2019s leader, remained steadfast. He decided to reorganize the group and put an end to the constant changes in personnel. He selected like-minded colleagues from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics who agreed with his vision: after completing their studies, they would work as engineers full-time while pursuing music at a professional level alongside it.\n\nFrom 1963 onwards, the musicians who would define the band\u2019s later identity began to emerge: J\u00e1nos J\u00e1ray (drums), Jen\u0151 Nagy (banjo), Istv\u00e1n Mankovits (double bass), B\u00e9la Zolt\u00e1n (trumpet), and B\u00e9la Bagyari (piano).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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On tour in Si\u00f3fok (1961) \u2013 From left: Winkelmayer, D\u00e1vis, T\u00f3th, Babai, Varga, Benk\u00f3, Szenczy, Urb\u00e1n.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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As the band of the balls at the Gell\u00e9rt Hotel (1962) \u2013 From left: Kopp\u00e1ny, T\u00f3th, Winkelmayer, Varga, and Benk\u00f3.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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On the stage of the J\u00f3zsef Attila Secondary School (1957)<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Benk\u00f3 Dixieland – a t\u00f6rt\u00e9net Benk\u00f3 Dixieland– a t\u00f6rt\u00e9net – A kezdetek A Benk\u00f3 Dixieland Band (BDB) t\u00f6rt\u00e9nete 1957-ben kezd\u0151d\u00f6tt, amikor Benk\u00f3 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/page_front-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3507","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benkosandor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benkosandor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benkosandor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benkosandor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benkosandor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3507"}],"version-history":[{"count":337,"href":"https:\/\/www.benkosandor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5214,"href":"https:\/\/www.benkosandor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3507\/revisions\/5214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benkosandor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}