10th year of the international jazz festival
JAZZFESTBRNO presents the cream of the
crop of the local progressive jazz scene
Prague / Brno, February 23rd – The organizers have put together a record number of Czech
jazz bands to perform at JAZZFESTBRNO's 10th Anniversary Program. Brno will play to host
the elite of local jazz musicians led by the most outstanding figures from the postrevolutionary jazz scene in the Czech Republic from April 13 th till 21st. “We are celebrating
the 10th Anniversary of the JAZZFEST this year and of course, at such a celebration, we
cannot afford to omit local musicians. In fact, we are very pleased that the entirety of the
local jazz elite has accepted our invitation - such seasoned stars as Robert Balzar or
Jaromír Honzák as well as new projects by David Dorůžka or Tomáš Liška,” says festival
dramaturge Vilém Spilka.
World class jazz guitarist David Dorůžka will perform in Brno twice, as host of Swedish
band The Stoner and also as a member of the international ensemble of Tomáš Liška's Trio
featuring Italian bandoneónist Daniel Bonaventura. The selection is topped up with
vocalists Elena Sonenshine, Zuzana Lapčíková and Dorota Barová, the latter with the
Vertigo Quintet, and exceptional local instrumentalists from such bands as Limbo or Face
of the Bass. The jam session kick off bands consist of students from the newly opened Jazz
Studies Department at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno.
JAZZFESTBRNO has retained its traditional and proven format of double concerts
accompanied by nightly jam sessions on certain days. Naturally, jazz headliners from
abroad will perform alongside the Czech jazz elite, in particular, the highly acclaimed
Quartet of seasoned bassist with Czech roots Michael Formanek along with the excellent
Craig Taborn on piano, Russian saxophone player Dmitry Baevsky accompanied by the
guitar legend Joe Cohn, African-American singer Carla Cook, trio of the guitarist Will
Bernard, Mike Stern Band with the guru of fusion drums Dave Weckl, and the trio of
talented American drummer Dan Weiss. The artist for April 21 is yet to be announced.
Musical phenomenon Bobby McFerrin is going to take care of the grand opening – a
festival preview two weeks in advance. As a matter of fact, he is going to perform in Brno
twice – March 29th and 30th at the Vodova Hall.
More information about the program and tickets is available at www.jazzfestbrno.cz.
Information about the festival preview event – Information on the Bobby McFerrin
concerts is available at www.bobbymcferrin.cz.
Face of the Bass and Limbo are performing in HaDivadlo on April 15th. An open minded
approach to music, deliberate crossings of genre barriers and a creative spirit are typical for
both of the ensembles. April 18th is the day of female vocalists, The Zuzana Lapčíková Quintet
takes turn after Elena Sonenshine. A new tradition of concerts in sacred surroundings
continues, Tomáš Liška and Vertigo Quintet with Dorota Barová are going to perform in an
environment of acoustically and visually attractive ambiance, the Husův sbor church. Tomáš
Liška let the listeners explore a little bit more of his inner world with his Invisible World
recording and JAZZFESTBRNO is offering one of the last opportunities to catch him live
together with the reminder of the Invisible World project's collaborators (Italian bandoneón
player Daniele Di Bonaventura and nonesuch acoustic guitar player David Dorůžka) before
they fly away to other interesting projects. Robert Balzar, performing at Fléda club on April
20th, has led his trio for quite a few years already and he has certainly managed to lift the
sound of his ensemble to a high European standard. His long-term cooperation with singer
Dan Bárta has finally resulted in an album with the quirky title Theyories, nevertheless, this
time around, JazzFest visitors will be able to enjoy the compact and mature expression of
the trio itself.
The festival offer is certainly not limited only to superstars coming from abroad, but jazz fans
may also enjoy traditional club concerts with representatives of the Czech jazz scene as well
as progressive European jazz performers. Festival visitors will finally have a chance to hear
The Stoner from Sweden, a performance postponed due to last year’s complications with the
volcanic ash last year. The Paradox trio is representing France and Štefan Bartuš quintet is
coming from Slovakia. This year’s hot news is a multiple day workshop with the Dan Weiss
Trio at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. The festival program will
not neglect traditional jam sessions at the clubs: Semilasso, Fléda and [mju:z].
The 10th anniversary festival program proves that JAZZFESTBRNO is in great shape. “With
this year’s JAZZFESTBRNO we are setting the bar just a bit higher and hoping that in the
forthcoming second decade of the festival we will succeed in the continuous process of
building-up the quality and appeal to audiences,” comments festival promoter Vlastimil Trllo
from 24-7Promotions,.
_________
Even though the dominant and lively expression of Elena Sonenshine draws most of the
attention on stage, the remaining band members are remarkable as well. When the
harmonic instruments are handled by masters such as Vladimír Strnad and Miroslav Linka, a
splendid musical experience is a certainty. A strong rhythmical base is provided by the
Dvorský-Križek tandem, double-bass player Petr Dvorský adds zesty and inventive solos, a
steady pulse and, sonorous tone while drummer Branko Križek unites everything into a tight
groove and together, they support Elena with necessary rhythmical security and freedom.
The Face of the Bass band was established in 2006 and although all of the members are well
known on the jazz scene, the band did not wish to be limited by focusing on just one style; as
a matter of fact they are open to an inspiration without any prejudice towards all sorts of
genres.
Face of the Bass is an antenna receiving and transmitting the waves coming from inner and
outer spaces of the universe. The band makes no secrets about enjoying themselves while
playing electronics, drum&bass or freejazz, they admire both Eric Dolphy and ABBA – the
beauty that music offers depends neither on genre nor style...
“The music that we play has its origin in the moment of our performance on stage, it is based
on many years of music experience and the creative qualities of my band mates” says Pavel
Hrubý, the leader of Limbo. “You cannot pigeon-hole it as it is so diverse in its character.“
The band members soak up their inspiration from various genres, situations, and
backgrounds and transform them to their own original amalgam afterwards. Quite a feat in
today´s world…
Ranking among post-revolutionary jazz stars is surely the Robert Balzar Trio, a long term
project of the well experienced double bass player. Since their first appearance in 1996 they
have managed to record four albums. Travelling, published in 1998, earned Czech Radio’s
prize “Czech record of the year“, the following one, Alone (2002), won the “Album of the
year“ and “Band of the year“ awards granted by The Karel Velebný Society. Overnight was
nominated for the Anděl award in 2005. Creative cooperation with the jazz guitar legend
John Abercrombie resulted in a recording of the album, Tales featuring John Abercrombie in
2008. The trio certainly knows how to benefit from the “working band” status. Many years
of cooperation has provided the members with more freedom as well as a mutual empathy
and the ability to communicate easily through their music.
The highly sought after Czech double bass player Tomáš Liška has recently recorded his first
solo album Invisible World. He has managed to secure some world class players to
accompany him on this album and later on tours: Italian bandoneón player Daniele Di
Bonaventra and nonesuch acoustic guitar player David Dorůžka. "All of the compositions
were arranged already with the idea of a specific sound with a bandoneón and an acoustic
guitar," explains Tomáš Liška. "Thanks to our trio´s unique setting, the compositions oscillate
between jazz and a classical approach with a hint of improvised music." It all comes together
as an exceptionally original sound; one could hardly find a similar concept and interpretation
among Czech jazzmen. The album was released in the fall of 2009 by The Animal Music
publishing house, which nowadays serves as the contemporary jazz elite's publisher in the
Czech Republic.
The Vertigo Quintet was founded at the end of 2002 as a project of musicians, who wished
to play original music their own way. The repertoire of this superb and accomplished
ensemble consists mostly of original scores written by all band members. With this
philosophy the group is likely to meet an illustrious future even at a time, when many might
assume that everything has already been written or played. This is, however, not the case
and thanks to the existence of bands like Vertigo Quintet, we can still appreciate musicians
with strong opinions about music and open minds capable of naturally blending musical
cultures and influences. Vertigo Quintet’s musical open mindedness is well represented by
fresh collaborations with the vocalist and cellist Dorota Barová, better known locally as a
member of the world music duo Tara Fuki. Her earthy and natural voice (never spoiled by
formal education) blends seamlessly with the music of Vertigo Quintet in an outstanding and
unmatched alliance.
Zuzana Lapčíková is well known as a virtuoso cimbalom player, original singer, and
composer. Her family background brought her to Moravian folk song and music from where
she gradually started performing and recording with Moravian cimbalom bands and
orchestras.
With her openness to varied musical stimuli, Zuzana Lapčíková continues with immense
transgression of the borders of the folklore genre. In 2005 she was approached by the
National Theater in Brno to create a music-dance ballet piece. The show “Ballads“ was
named the ballet performance of the year by renowned critics, she was nominated to Alfréd
Radok award in 2006 and she was awarded the prestigious Original Performance Award at
the Contemporary Dance Competition in 2008. Another milestone in her musical career took
place in 2007 when she founded the “Zuzana Lapčíková Kvintet“.
JAZZFESTBRNO 2011, 29.3 – 21.4, 10th Anniversary Series
March 29
Vodova Hall, 7:00 pm
Bobby McFerrin (USA)
March 30
Vodova Hall, 7:00 pm
Bobby McFerrin (USA)
April 13
Fléda, 8:00 pm
Paradox (FRA)
Michael Formanek Quartet featuring Craig Taborn, Gerald Cleaver and Tim Berne (USA)
April 14
Brno City Theater, 7.30 pm
Dmitry Baevsky Quartet featuring Joe Cohn (RUS/USA/CZ/SK)
Carla Cook Quartet featuring Darryl Ivey, Kenny Davis and Willard Dyson (USA)
Mju:z
Jam session
April 15
HaDivadlo, 8:00 pm
Face of the Bass (CZ)
Limbo Electro Acoustic (CZ)
April 16
Semilasso, 8:00 pm
Štefan “Pišta“ Bartuš JazzBrothers featuring Andy Middleton (SK/USA)
The Stoner featuring David Dorůžka (SWE/CZ)
Jam Session
April 17
Semilasso, 8:00 pm
Will Bernard Trio (USA)
Mike Stern Band featuring Dave Weckl, Tom Kennedy and Bob Malach (USA)
Jam Session
April 18
Fléda, 8:00 pm
Zuzana Lapčíková Quintet (CZ/SK)
Elena Sonenshine (CZ)
April 19
Husův sbor, 8:00 pm
Tomáš Liška Trio featuring Daniele Di Bonaventura and David Dorůžka (ITA/CZ)
Vertigo Quintet and Dorota Barová (CZ/SK)
April 20
Fléda, 8:00 pm
Robert Balzar Trio (CZ)
Dan Weiss Trio (USA)
Jam Session
April 21
Semilasso 8:00 pm
Vincenc Kummer Celebrates 70
JAZZFESTBRNO 2011 Celebrates 10
Box office: Tickets are available from the Ticketstream network or at the Brno City Theater box office;
www.ticketstream.cz, www.mdb.cz.
More information:
Produced by JAZZFESTBRNO, o.s. in cooperation with 24-7Promotions, s.r.o
Vilém Spilka
Vlastimil Trllo
Dramaturgy, PR
Production, marketing
T: +420 608 727 394
T: +420 777 208 266
E: [email protected]
E: [email protected]
www.jazzfestbrno.cz
www.24-7promotions.cz
Smart Communication, s. r. o. – marketing, media, promotion
(PR partner agency)
Barbora Dušková & Silvie Marková
T/F: +420 272 657 121
E: [email protected]
www.s-m-art.com