Photo: Chris White

The legendary Quincy Jones said he’s “one of the most talented people on this planet, who takes the music back to where it belongs.”

Andreas Varady has quickly shown the jazz world that he’s a force to be reckoned with. The 16-year-old has really made a name for himself, performing at numerous, prestigious jazz festivals and getting noticed by music legends.

Varady was raised in a small Slovakian town and was born of Hungarian and Gypsy decent. He began mastering the guitar at an early age, being taught how to learn songs by ear. At the age of nine, Varady and his family moved to Ireland and he began busking on the street. An outgoing Varady reached out to Irish drummer and producer, David Lyttle, who met and almost instantly began featuring Varady in his band. The rest, as they say, is history as Varady quickly gained acclaim for his talent. Varady also began touring and became the youngest headliner at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London at just 13 years old.

The video below shows a performance by Varady as well as his father and younger brother at the world famous Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The performance was in front of the festival’s founder, Claude Nobs, and Quincy Jones. Jones signed Varady to his management company and, in 2013, Varady caught the eye of another music legend: David Foster. Varady was later signed to Foster’s record label, Verve Records.

Check out this awesome performance and be sure to pre-order Varady’s first mass distributed album – a self-titled project – on iTunes!