2nd March 2010 – Czech Jazz Society has announced the results of its Best Album of the Year poll. The jury, compromised of over sixty musicians, jazz club owners, record company producers, publicists and managers chose CD „Little Things“, recorded by base player Jaromir Honzak's quintet feat. saxophonist Chris Cheek (USA), guitarist David Doruzka, pianist Michal Tokaj (PL) and drummer Lukasz Zyta (PL).

The poll also saw surprising results for two debuts: base player Tomas Liska's CD „Invisible World“, feat. Italian bandoneon player Daniele di Bonaventura, filled the second position while Infinite Quintet's „Speak Slowly“ ended third. All three records were issued on the independent Animal Music label.

 Jaromír Honzak's reaction in Czech can be read here

 Complete results of the poll in Czech are available as a PDF file

 The poll can also be read in Czech as a plain text

„We've done all we could to ensure the jury wasn't compromised seldom of representatives of the Prague jazz scene,“ said Martin Sulc, head of Czech Jazz Society.

Last year's jazz was hence reflected firstly by musicians from all generations: from the oldest, counting pianists Emil Viklicky or Karel Ruzicka Sr., to musicians from Jaromir Honzak's gene­ration, singers Jana Koubkova or Yvonne Sanchez and all the way to the youngest representatives of Czech's jazz scene, such as guitarist David Doruzka or Hammond B3 player Ondrej Pivec.

The poll also saw votes of representatives of all the major jazz labels, Petr Ostrouchov from Animal Music, Michal Hejna from Arta Records or Pavel Vlcek, head of Cube-Metier, as well as producers of the most important jazz festivals in the country: Marek Vrabec for the Strings of Autumn festival, Martin Brunner, head of Hradec Kralove's Jazz Goes To Town and others.

The poll also reflected opinions of jazz club representatives as well as journalists, including the likes of legendary Dr. Lubomir Doruzka. A few foreigners living in Prague also took part in the poll: saxophonist Cyrille Oswald from the Netherlands and journalist Tony Emmerson from the UK.

 Press release in Czech available as a DOC file

 Reflections on the Czech jazz scene can be found in Czech here

„We've decided to include a bigger amount of respondents mostly because Czech Jazz Society hasn't done an all-year poll in a few years now – and other Czech jazz magazines haven't been doing polls lately either,“ said Sulc. Czech Jazz Society also ran an indepedent Readers Poll on their website, with base player Jaroslav Simicek's album „Cesta domu“ scoring the first prize.

Reflections on the Czech jazz scene in general can be read in Czech here.

source: CJS

Contest of young bands Junior Jazz will be taking place in Jazz Dock club in Prague on October 24th!

Junior Jazz is a competition for young jazz groups and soloists up to 30 years of age. Czech Jazz Society chooses from received records. In the past, chairmans of the Junior Jazz competition jury were e.g. Hal Galper, Karel Růžička, Antonín Gondolán, Najponk, František Kop, Osian Robers…

See section Junior Jazz.

photo source: web Mocca Malacco

- Their European minitour includes a concert in Rudolfinum

The Nordic Chamber of Commerce and the Embassy of Sweden in Prague present a jazz concert to mark the Swedish EU Presidency which begins on 1 July as Sweden takes over from the Czech Republic.

The concert will be introduced by Her Excellency Catherine von Heidenstam, Ambassador of Sweden, and Mr Stefan Lager, President of the Nordic Chamber of Commerce. 

“We are honoured to participate in the preparations of an event connected to Sweden’s assumption of the EU Presidency,” says Stefan Lager, President of the Nordic Chamber of Commerce. “We believe that this jazz concert in Rudolfinum, performed by Bobo Stenson, one of Sweden’s leading jazz musicians, together with the well known Czech-Swedish jazz musician Rudy Linka is a very good example of Swedish-Czech cultural cooperation.”

The concert will take place on 29 June 2009 in Rudolfinum’s Dvořák Hall. At the occasion, the two renowned jazzmen will team up for the first time – Rudy Linka (guitar) and Bobo Stenson (piano). They will perform their own music as well as traditional jazz and songs inspired by folk music of both countries.

Rudy Linka has been voted as one of the ten best guitarists in the world by readers of the prestigious Down Beat Magazine. He has 14 CDs out on labels such as Enja, Timeless, Universal and Sony BMG and has performed with such jazz greats as Paul Motian, Larry Grenadier and John Scofield among many others.  

Some years ago readers of the prestigious Down Beat Magazine voted him one of the world’s best guitar players. Since 2005 Rudy Linka has been arranging the Bohemia Jazz Fest (for which he is also President), taking place in July in the main squares of several Czech cities, including Prague.

Bobo Stenson effectively defined the term “modern piano” in the late 1960s. As one of the founders of the “ECM sound” he has performed with legends such as Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, Gary Burton and many others. Stenson’s last CD, “Cantando” (at ECM) is recorded with his trio Anders Jormin (base) and Jon Fält (drums).

The first concert of this tour will be performed in Stockholm on 28 June, followed by Prague and then in Brussels on 2 July 2009.  

The Prague performance is arranged with support by its main partner SWEDEN TELECOM as well as partners ERICSSON and in cooperation with FOUR SEASONS Hotel Prague, Czech Centers and Prague Information Center (PIS). 

The jazz concert in Rudolfinum is not only for members of the Nordic Chamber of Commerce and their guests, but for all jazz friends. Tickets will be available in Rudolfinum’s box offices or in the office of the Nordic Chamber of Commerce.

 „Rimini“, excerpted from Linka's „Lucky Southern“

 „Song of Ruth“, excerpted from Stenson's „Cantando“ 

source: foto Bohemia Jazz Fest & ČJS, music © Rudy Linka & ECM

Matej Benko celebrates his 30th birthday by releasing his second album. His first album Universality with Branko Križek on drums and Jan Greifoner on bass was released three years ago. (The trio used to play together in Eva Emingerová band as well). Matej Benko also performed as a sideman on Vít Švec’s album called Keporkak.

Benko currently leads his own quintet with Radek Zapadlo on sax, Miroslav Hloucal on trumpet, Tomáš Liška on bass and Pavel Bady Zbořil on drums. This line-up first played together as a backing band for Mirian Bayle, who now sings as a guest on Time Against Us.

Opening composition Enrico's Story­telling from Benko’s new album.

If You Never Come To me (feat. Miriam Bayle) from Time Against Us

Benko’s composition Little Explorer