Delvon Lamarr – B-3 organ, Jimmy James – guitar, Michael Duffy – drums

A perfect blend of soul, jazz, rhythm & blues and rock & roll directed by the organist Delvon Lamarro.

The Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio was founded in the Spring of 2015 by Amy Novo, the wife and today also the manager of the organist Delvon Lamarr. Doesn’t it sound like a fairy tale? She told her husband that she would take responsibility for his musical career so that all he needed to do in the future was to find teammates, write and play music. Many aspiring musicians, especially jazz musicians, dream of such a story.

The trio originally started with another guitarist and drummer. During the first year of their existence, the band was joined by the renowned and unique Jimmy James. The chemistry among the members of the trio was instantaneous and undeniable. With Delvona´s soulful organ sound, Jimmy´s raw guitar sound and a great drum groove, they mixed the perfect blend of soul, jazz, rhythm & blues and rock & roll. They started their career with a weekly “gig” in Seattle, then released their first album and set out on a tour of the United States and finally on a European tour.
The current drummer is an excellent groover Michael Duffy, so the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio is even further shifting its original sound. The traditional organ trio takes on a new dimension.

Dirigent: Vladimír Valovič, zpěv: Dan Bárta, line-up orchestru: TBD

Americký časopis DownBeat ho zařadil mezi deset nejlepších big bandů světa. Na jeho koncertech hostovaly největší hvězdy jazzu i popu. Letos Rozhlasový Big Band Gustava Broma slaví 80 let a na koncert ke svému jubileu si pozval zpěváka Dana Bártu.

Hudba pro big bandy patřila odjakživa k nejprogresivnějším směrům jazzové tvorby. Skladby v sobě spojují důmyslnou kompoziční práci detailně zapsanou do partitur se spontaneitou jazzových improvizací. V českých zemích a na Slovensku mají tato tělesa skvělou tradici a Big Band Gustava Broma patřil k těm nejvíce uznávaným doma i v cizině. Na jeho koncertech hostovali mimo jiné Maynard Ferguson, Dizzy Gillespie, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Ray Conniff či Ray Charles.

Dan Bárta, jedenáctinásobný držitel Ceny Anděl v kategoriích Zpěvák roku a Zpěvák čtvrtstoletí, se zapsal v devadesátých letech do širokého povědomí s kapelou Alice a účinkováním v muzikálu Jesus Christ Superstar. Stal se také neodmyslitelnou součástí kapely J.A.R. V roce 2000 překvapil fanoušky s vlastní skupinou Illustratosphere. Jazzovým fanouškům jistě utkvěla jeho spolupráce s triem Roberta Balzara, kterou jsme si mohli v roce 2017 užít i na festivalu JazzFestBrno, navíc okořeněnou o zvuk brněnské filharmonie. Nezaměnitelný hlas Dana Bárty okouzluje už dlouhá léta příznivce jazzu, soulu, rocku i popu. Těžko tak mohl Rozhlasový Big Band Gustava Broma ulovit v českých vodách vhodnějšího hosta svého slavnostního koncertu.

Line-up – TBD

Nubya Garcia, a saxophonist and composer, is a distinctive new face of jazz. Her original sound and compelling work earned her a number of awards already at the beginning of her career. The young London woman excels in her ability to reach a wider audience without any musical calculations.

Nubya Garcia has increased the number of distinctive female jazz saxophonists, who include outstanding players such as Melissa Aldana, Tia Fuller, Grace Kelly, and Lakecia Benjamin. “The backbone of what I listen to is dance music and the sound system culture. The point is that people forget that jazz has always been dance music,” she says in an interview with The Red Bulletin. Her debut EP, Nubya’s 5ive, was released in 2017 and was honoured as “outstanding” by The Vinyl Factory. The title track of the following album When We Are (2018) was even labelled one of the “best songs of 2018” by public service broadcaster NPR. In the same year, Garcia also performed in most of the songs on a compilation project We Out Here, which presents and elevates the contemporary progressive and exciting London jazz scene. In 2018, she won an award from Jazz FM and Sky Arts for “Breakthrough of the Year”. Last year she received the “Jazz Band of the Year” award from FM UK. “We begin to blend in every possible way the different kinds of music that we listen to and love. Our power is in the distinctive sound, the type of places where we play, and even in the mix of listeners we get at our concerts. It’s a natural evolution and I like it,” says Garcia.

Nikol Bóková – piano, Martin Kocián – double bass, Michał Wierzgoń – drums

Nikol Bóková is primarily through her training and in her focus a classically trained pianist, but by her own admission, she has become addicted to the sound of the classical jazz trio. The Czech jazz discography has been enriched, thanks to Nikola’s fascination and thanks to Animal Music, with the CD Inner Place. It has deservedly achieved high acclaim.

“My lectures take place when I go for a pint with jazzmen and listen to their conversation about music, and then I join in the debates,” she recently confessed in an interview for the Czech Radio jazz programme. The interviewer Milan Tesař added briskly: “What is interesting about Nikola’s album is the fact that she approaches her own “jazz” work from a different angle than is common with trained jazz musicians.”

Nikol Bóková regularly collaborates with leading Czech orchestral ensembles; as a nine-year-old, she first performed as a soloist with the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra in Ostrava, with which she still collaborates. Her first self-penned album draws on jazz, classical music and minimalism, and partly also on popular music. Her compositions are simple miniatures, formally precisely polished, with clear traces of the harmonic and melodic refinement of classical piano literature, as well as a way of playing defined by classical interpretation. Perfect technique and control of dynamics are unique in the world of jazz piano. She has invited talented players of the young jazz generation: the double bass player Martin Kocián and the drummer Michał Wierzgoń, who bring a new dimension to her compositions with their experience and jazz background.

Camille Bertault – vocals, Fady Farah – piano, Pierre Demange – drums, Mathias Allamane – double bass

A singer for whom singing is as simple as breathing. An artist overflowing with imagination and creativity. A woman who, at a time when everything was available on the internet, was still able to create a sensation with her videos. Camille Bertault, however, is by no means a temporary online phenomenon. After all, see for yourself.

Her father is an amateur jazz pianist with whom she often sang. She began playing piano at age 8 and later gained experience at the music conservatory. She listened to singers such as Jeff Buckley, Björk or Serge Gainsbourg as well as Brazilian vocalists. At the age of twenty, she changed direction. She switched to drama and writing and playing sketches for children. “I started singing in cabaret, where I was something between a storyteller and an actor. But it was jazz that had me under its spell,” she recalls. She headed for the Paris Conservatory, which provided her with a solid grounding in harmony, composition and jazz singing.

The next phase of her musical career developed naturally. She recorded herself singing part of Coltrane’s standard Giant Steps. She put the video on YouTube which soon amassed hundreds of thousands of viewings. She then wrote and performed French lyrics to numerous other jazz standards and newer songs. She definitely has no intention of creating music in which the voice serves only as an instrument. She loves lyrics that catch your attention. Camille Bertault’s latest album, Pas de géant, testifies to her appetite for vocal cascades, silky sensitivity, leaning towards acrobatics and overt exuberance. John Coltrane wasn´t able to be around for her arrival, but he´s certainly looking down, smiling.

Cenk Erdoğan – fretless guitar, Efe Turumtay – violin, Tomáš Liška – double bass, Andás Dés – percussions

This international all-star quartet brings together musicians with diverse cultural backgrounds into a single, inimitable project. Imaginative compositions draw on individual music worlds, broaden musical horizons and find a unique collective identity.

The Czech-Turkish connection has been an integral part of Tomáš Liška’s life for almost a decade, as his Invisible World project is based on a strong musical connection with the Turkish violinist Efe Turumtay. The current Liška band also relies strongly on international cooperation, with a majority presence from the Turkish enclave. Alongside Turumtay, the guitar phenomenon gets into the spotlight, specifically, its fretless variant, represented by Cenk Erdogan.

Bassist Tomáš Liška is a multi-faceted artist, for whom alternating genres is motivating and inspiring, and at the same time, it is the means of seeking himself. “I enjoy a lot of music and I find myself in a lot of it,” says Liška. “I guess I’m still seeking, though some things are already clear. I also feel it would be a shame to stay trapped in one world and not to look beyond the borders at worlds that can enrich your own. Maybe also test, raise doubts, stimulate, wondering whether where you are is really you.”

Mathias Eick – trubka, Audun Erlien – baskytara, Håkon Aase – housle, Eyolf Dále – klavír, Paal Hausken – bicí

Trumpetista Mathias Eick je spíše atypickým zástupcem severského jazzu. Z tamní scény se vymyká především svými atmosférickými melodiemi, v nichž se melancholii spíše vyhýbá. Jeho poslední deska Ravensburg završuje jeho cestu od talentovaného mladíka ke zralému umělci s jedinečným hudebním výrazem.

Norský hudebník se na své poslední desce nechává inspirovat, jak už to většinou bývá, vlastním životem. Zatímco jeho dřívější desky evokovaly životní styl plný cestování, objevování a hledání nových cílů, leitmotivem Ravensburgu je rodina. „Moje inspirace byla moje rodina, má milovaná, mé malé děti, které mě nikdy nepřestaly ohromovat, a všechny emocionální situace, které zažíváme na pódiu s mojí druhou rodinou – kapelou,“ vysvětluje Eick. Trumpetista, skladatel a kapelník si na nové desce střihl také novou roli, když do svého portfolia přidal zpěv. Jedná se sice o zpěv bezeslovný, ale o to procítěnější. „Už sedm let zpívám doma svým dětem. A říkal jsem si, že by bylo možná pěkné zkusit využít i lidský hlas. Sice jsem vždy tvrdil, že mým hlasem je trubka, ale – zvlášť ve spojení s houslemi, na které v naší kapele hraje Håkon Aase – zpěv funguje dokonale. Håkonova hra s mým hlasem krásně ladí,“ řekl Eick v rozhovoru pro UNI magazín a jeho slova potvrzují i početné pozitivní recenze na jeho již čtvrtou desku u prestižního labelu ECM.

Ač se Eickova tvorba pod vlivem životních zkušeností proměňuje, jedna věc se od jeho začátků nemění – Mathias Eick je hudebník, který každou další skladbou potvrzuje, že jazz je žánr dokořán otevřený všem živým podnětům.

Fire and water, many may say after seeing the names Chris Potter and Bill Frisell in one band. Their connection, however, promises an optimum counterbalance of the yin and yang forces, especially when supported by a backing duo in the form of pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Eric Harland.

Potter is considered to be one of the world’s technically unrivalled naturals of the saxophone.  At his Brno concert in 2017, however, he confirmed that he can wear a variety of musical masks, and in the presence of the calm power of the guitar grandmaster, he will certainly be revealing another one. Unlike Potter, Frisell is referred to as a sound seeker, a precise minimalist who loves detail. In Brno, Bill Frisell will finally make a proper premiere, following the unfortunate infamous improvisation with a siren on the outdoor stage. Alongside Pat Metheny and John Scofield, he is one of the most influential guitarists of the sixties and is synonymous with the term “style innovator”. His view of jazz is unique, so the encounter of four original personalities promises an unusual experience. They do not actually meet in this line-up every day!

TRIO MUH: Roberto Magris – piano, František Uhlíř – double bass, Jaromír Helešic – drums
František Uhlíř – Story From My Life – Music For Septet: František Tomšíček – trumpet, Přemek Tomšícek – trombone, Andy Schofield – alto saxophone, Suzanne Higgins – tenor saxophone, Standa Macha – piano, František Uhliř – double bass, Marek Urbánek – drums

Double bassist František Uhlíř is celebrating his jubilee this year – how else than with music and on stage, where his Czech and foreign colleagues will congratulate him. The evening will start in a more intimate atmosphere with the MUH Trio, while the second and larger group of well-wishers will tell the life story of the birthday boy through his compositions.

František Uhlíř belongs to a generation of players known in the world as the “Czech bass school”. He was born into a musical family as the grandson of a bandleader and the son of a musician, music teacher, composer and bandleader of a jazz big band. He studied the piano and, as a 13-year-old, played the organ in Vladimír Volf’s beat band. While studying at the State Conservatory in Brno, he played in the Janáček Opera Orchestra, in the Brno Philharmonic, and in his father’s jazz quartet.

During his military service at the AUS Symphony Orchestra, he was one of the founders of the jazz quartet (E. Viklický, F. Uhlíř, J. Dušek, J. Růžička), which received the “European Extra-Class” award at the International Jazz Festival in Přerov, where two years later, Uhlíř himself got the Best Solo Performance Award. A year later he became a member of Karel Velebný’s new SHQ, where he mostly played in the chamber trio without drums. At that time he quickly matured, began composing and became a sought-after double bass player. His career is flanked by collaborations with prominent Czechoslovak jazz bands and musicians such as the Emil Viklický Quartet, Laco Deczi Cellula International, Jiří Stivín Quartet, Karel Růžička, Jana Koubková, Zuzana Lapčíková or Peter Lipa.