Leslie Mandoki On The New Mandoki Soulmates Album “Utopia For Realists,” New York, Future Career Plans & More

The Mandoki Soulmates — led by world-renowned musician, producer, songwriter and Hungarian refugee Leslie Mandoki — played its first-ever concert in the United States in January 2018 at New York City’s legendary concert venue The Beacon Theatre, which I covered for The Hype. An inspirational star-studded performance benefiting MusiCares, the highly-anticipated Wings Of Freedom post-Grammy concert was full of surprises. Beyond a mix of Mandoki-penned originals, the band performed some rock classics, including Manfred Mann’s “Blinded By The Light,” Cutting Crew’s “I Just Died In Your Arms,” and Toto’s “Rosanna,” all featuring lead vocals from people associated with those recordings. In addition to Leslie Mandoki, other greats on-stage for the performance were Toto’s Bobby Kimball, Supertramp’s John Helliwell, Manfred Mann’s Chris Thompson, and Cutting Crew’s Nick Van Eede, Bill Evans, Randy Brecker, Till Brönner, Cory Henry, and Julia Mandoki.

In addition to serving as a percussionist, vocalist and bandleader, Leslie Mandoki was the evening’s emcee. Sharing stories about growing up behind The Iron Curtain, Mandoki not only comes across as talented and enthusiastic, but also gracious. He spotlighted each of the evening’s performers — many of them rock and jazz greats — during the 2-hour performance, also pointing out how he has been playing alongside many of the Soulmates for over 2 decades; other greats associated with the Soulmates over the years have been Chaka Khan, Toto’s Steve Lukather and Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson.

Photos from The Mandoki Soulmates’ January 2018 performance at New York’s Beacon Theatre:

: Photo: Melissa Paltrowitz

: Photo: Melissa Paltrowitz

: Photo: Melissa Paltrowitz

: Photo: Melissa Paltrowitz

: Photo: Melissa Paltrowitz

: Photo: Melissa Paltrowitz

More recently, Leslie Mandoki released a music video for the song “The Torch” from the group’s studio album, Utopia For Realists: Hungarian Pictures. Mandoki, who celebrated Thanksgiving this year in New York along with Soulmate member Al di Meola, also made some headlines last week through a recently-released press release in which he congratulated several of the musicians featured on Utopia For Realists — the earlier-mentioned Cory Henry and Randy Brecker — for their recent GRAMMY nominations. Per Mandoki: “Yesterday was also time to congratulate our soulmates Cory and Randy on their very well-deserved recent Grammy nominations. When we celebrate family gatherings together with our children today or even at the end of the year, we should realize that they are the future. I am a father of three children, and we should ask ourselves in what condition we hand over our world to the children, the Young Rebels? We can only overcome the divisions in our society together with the Old Rebels and the Young Rebels. So let’s wish them strength, courage and the hunger to strive for the right solutions, and let’s help them while there’s still time to turn the wind and pass the torch.”

On December 2, 2021, I had the pleasure of speaking with Leslie Mandoki again, as embedded below. Beyond Utopia For Realists, we spoke about his history with New York and his future plans as a musician. More on Mandoki and his music can be found by clicking here, here and here.

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Tags: Cory Henry, Hungary, Leslie Mandoki, ManDoki Soulmates, New York, Randy Brecker, The Iron Curtain, Toto

About the Author

Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."