Mike Gotthard/Gergo Borlai Group
Modern Jazz Fusion | HU
AVAILABILITY FOR EUROPE
2026/27 | Dates upon request (EU Resident band)
Line-up
Mike Gotthard | guitar
Gergő Borlai, Mohini Dey, Jesús Molina, Scott Kinsey, Al Di Meola, Gary Willis, Hadrien Feraud, Anton Davidyants, Kornél Fekete-Kovács, Dániel Szebényi
Martin Gudics | bass
Gergő Borlai, Frank Gambale, Boca Gambale, Tom Schuman, HAUSER, Péter Ferencz, Attila Závodi, Olivér Magán, Marcell Gudics
Erik Tempfli | keyboards
Bori Hegedűs, Petra Gubik, Dániel Görögh, Frankie Látó, Gergő Szakács, Dániel Szebényi, Dávid Kovács, Peta Lukács, Sándor Zsemlye
Gergő Borlai | drums
Scott Kinsey, Gary Willis, Jimmy Haslip, Hadrien Feraud, Nathan East, Bob Mintzer, Al Di Meola, Matthew Garrison, Scott Henderson
Style
A modern fusion quartet led by guitar, where Mike Gotthard’s blues-rock phrasing meets a broader, more fluid jazz grammar. The rhythm section of Gergő Borlai and Martin Gudics drives the project toward an elastic, sharply defined groove able to absorb odd meters without losing immediacy. Erik Tempfli completes the DNA with open harmonic thinking and a contemporary timbral palette: the result is music that is sensual in attack, brutal in energy, and always melodic in design.
Profile
Mike Gotthard/Gergo Borlai Group is the most compact and readable form of Mike Gotthard’s authorial language: a project built on original compositions that move through jazz, blues, rock, and funk without treating genres as fenced territories, but rather as reservoirs of accents, timbres, and dynamics. Around Gotthard’s guitar, the band works through contrasts: tension and singability, rhythmic precision and spontaneity, electric impact and harmonic breadth. Borlai brings international-level metric drive, Gudics holds the center with a mobile, reactive bass voice, while Tempfli opens depth and color through keyboards that can be both structural and narrative. The dominant traits are energetic articulation, a modern fusion harmonic vocabulary, tight interplay, and a clear live-performance vocation: not a simple all-star vehicle, but an ensemble with its own identity, recognizable for its balance of technique, groove, and writing.
Details
Mike Gotthard
A Hungarian guitarist and composer, he forms the expressive center of the project with phrasing that blends blues lyricism, rock attack, and jazz-fusion development. Official and critical sources describe him as an author more interested in musical narrative than in technical display, with a language built on melody, groove, and reciprocal listening. Within the band, he is the main vector of aesthetic direction: themes, dynamic shifts, and formal design remain readable even when the ensemble opens into improvisation.
“Misi is a real bomb of energy whose musicality can speak equally to rock lovers and jazz devotees.” (György Szentgallay, review of “Intellectual Brutality”, 2016-11-11)
Martin Gudics
A bassist able to move across fusion, songwriter-driven pop, smooth jazz, and high-intensity technical contexts, he brings rhythmic elasticity and structural awareness to the group. His role goes beyond support: he builds links between guitar and drums, keeps metric transitions fluid, and strengthens the groove element without weighing down the texture. Within the band’s DNA, he represents the pole of balance: precise, but always in service of collective musical unity.
“By now we can say with pride that Martin Gudics belongs to the elite of bass players not only in his country, but worldwide.” (JazzMa.hu, presentation of “BVDA”, 2024-04-17)
Erik Tempfli
A pianist, keyboardist, and Artisjus Award-winning composer, he brings broad harmonic thinking and a timbral awareness that avoids both mere filling and decorative virtuosity. His parts help define the group’s breathing space: pads, organ colors, electric piano textures, and modern comping become tools of architecture rather than simple color. He is the member who most clearly expands the quartet’s tonal horizon and reinforces its melodic-contemporary side.
“The natural lightness of his touch is in perfect harmony with his personality; his playing and musical humour evoke the very greatest.” (JazzMa.hu editorial, 2020-12-12)
Gergő Borlai
An internationally established drummer and composer, Borlai acts as an identity accelerator for the project: rhythmic precision, dynamic control, advanced fusion vocabulary, and the ability to make even the most complex metric turns feel organic. His presence transforms the ensemble from an author-led group into a band with strong performance traction. In the group’s DNA he carries weight both as rhythmic engine and as a marker of prestige: his signature is recognizable in the energy, the clarity of pulse, and the dramatic handling of climaxes.
“Gergo has become one of the most exciting up-and-coming drummers today and continues to be recognized with each jaw-dropping solo.” (Drumeo, 2022-08-19)
Biography
Mike Gotthard is a Hungarian guitarist and composer whose work bridges blues phrasing, modern fusion, and a strong live-performance instinct. Gergő Borlai, with an international career spanning hundreds of recordings and top-tier collaborations, brings world-class rhythmic identity and prestige to the ensemble. Together with Martin Gudics and Erik Tempfli, the group delivers a modern jazz fusion format built on compositional clarity, high-impact groove, and advanced interplay.
Discography
Mike Gotthard
Intellectual Brutality — album — 2016
9 Wheels — single — 2021
Flotation — single — 2024
The Electric Shock Live Session — EP — 2025
The Group Live Session — single — 2026
Sensual Brutality — album — 2026
LesMi — single — 2026
Martin Gudics
Ups & Down — album with Peet Project — 2020
Sweet Lemon — album with Peet Project — 2022
Global Warning — Oliver Zisko album featuring Martin Gudics — 2022
Hard to Say Goodbye — single with Dániel Szebényi and Gudics Twins — 2023
Sensual Brutality — album with Mike Gotthard/Gergő Borlai — 2026
LesMi — single with Mike Gotthard/Gergő Borlai — 2026
Erik Tempfli
Altató — song performed at A Dal with Bori Hegedűs — 2021
Anya — single with Bori Hegedűs — 2022
Unalmas felnőtt — single with Bori Hegedűs and Johanna Lengyel — 2022
ReStar — album with Kodály Spicy Jazz — 2025
Sensual Brutality live set with Mike Gotthard Group — repertory documented from 2024 to 2026
Gergő Borlai
17 — album — 1998
Sausage — album — 2004
M.M.M. — album — 2010
ARC Trio — album — 2018
The Missing Song — album — 2020
Burger Joint on Oxnard Street — single — 2023
Monster Pop — single — 2023
A New Normal — single — 2025
Sensual Brutality — album with Mike Gotthard — 2026
LesMi — single with Mike Gotthard — 2026
Quotes
“Misi is a real bomb of energy whose musicality can speak equally to rock lovers and jazz devotees.”
György Szentgallay | JazzMa.hu | 2016-11-11
“The natural lightness of his touch is in perfect harmony with his personality; his playing and musical humour evoke the very greatest.”
JazzMa.hu editorial | 2020-12-12
“By now we can say with pride that Martin Gudics belongs to the elite of bass players not only in his country, but worldwide.”
JazzMa.hu editorial | 2024-04-17
“Gergo has become one of the most exciting up-and-coming drummers today and continues to be recognized with each jaw-dropping solo.”
Drumeo | 2022-08-19
Reviews
Gotthárd Mihály: Intellectual Brutality / JazzMa.hu / György Szentgallay / 2016-11-11
Katartikus elektrosokk Solymáron / JazzMa.hu / Géza Barcsik / 2020-09-15
‘I meet new inspirations almost every day’ / Secret Eclectic / 2021-03-16
Lamantin Jazz Fesztivál szerda / JazzMa.hu / László Czika / 2025-07-04
