Nikolaj Nikitin & Luboš Šrámek - Live in Murmansk(Real Music House 2012)

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SLOVAKIA: Review of the Bratislava Jazz Days 2011

A big touch of jazz

Bratislava Welcomed Big Names From Across The Globe To Once Again Wow Audiences
Radka Minarechová Culture & Society

VIVID and full of energy on one hand, calm and mysterious on the other: jazz can be as different as the people who have dedicated their lives to playing it. The fact that this older musical style can combine very easily with rock as well as Latino rhythms could be attested to by anyone who was at the Incheba Expo Centre in Petržalka, the venue for Bratislava Jazz Days, during the October 21-23 weekend.
The first edition of Bratislava Jazz Days (BJD) was brought together in 1975 by amateur jazz musicians and during its first years it involved mostly musicians from Czechoslovakia or parts of the former USSR. But in each year since it has become more international and has gradually changed its look. This year’s festival looked like a reunion of US-based jazz performers seeking to permanently entrench this kind of music in Slovakia, in the heart of Europe.

EUROPE: JazzPlaysEurope Laboratory

What will European jazz sound like in the near future?
By gathering promising jazz artists in one unique project, JazzPlaysEurope Laboratory aims to provide a glimpse of where the new generation of jazz musicians is heading.
The 3rd JazzPlaysEurope Laboratory 2011 is hosted by TryTone. 7 musicians from 7 European countries rehearse in Amsterdam for three days in complete artistic freedom. The artists get to know each other’s musical universe and personality. They are free to discuss, play, quarrel, experiment, laugh… as long as they come up with a full concert program in the end!
This work is presented during a European tour, in professional jazz venues of each artists’ own country.
Following the two successful Laboratory projects of 2009 and 2010, this year’s line-up highlights once again the immense creativity of young European jazz artists. They are all very eager to show their musical skills as well as their artistic visions.
Above all, however, they will present their concept of what European jazz could lead to.

The 3. Jazzplayseurope-laboratory will tour Europe in October and November 2011 through 7 countries:

23/11 – 20:00 – Bratislava, SK – Bratislava Jazz Festival
26/11 – 20:00 – Amsterdam, NL – BIMhuis
16/11 – 20:00 – Luxembourg, LU
17/11 – 20:00 – Tourcoing, F – Tourcoing Jazz Club
18/11 – 20:00 – Ghent, BE – Jazz & Sounds Festival
19/11 – 20:00 – Bochum, DE – Jazzfest Bochum
20/11 – 19:00 – Wroclaw, PL – Jazztopad Festival
24/11 – 20:30 – Brno,  CZ – Metro Music Bar

7 countries 7 musicians BiographiesClaire Bellamy (F) double bass
Maxime Bender (LU) tenor & soprano saxophone
Michał Bryndal (PL) drums
Christian Mendoza (B) piano
John-Dennis Renken (D) trumpet
Jasper Stadhouders (NL) guitar
Radovan Tariška (SK) alto saxophone

http://www.jazzplayseurope.eu/

Pavol Bodnar : Ecce Jazz (HEVHETIA records 2006)

Pavol Bodnar - a jazz pianist, composer, arranger and teacher. In 1996, the Slovak Jazz Association awarded him the Ladislav Martonik Prize and the title Jazzman of the Year 1996 in Slovakia.In 2007,his ECCE JAZZ CD has been awarded AUREL 2006 for the best release in te category of jazz&blues. AUREL, European GRAMMY, is an annual prize instituted by IFPI, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
He was born in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, on March 24th, 1959. He attended piano lessons from the age of six. His father was an amateur musician, who loved playing piano and violin and introduced him to the magic of American jazz. In addition to his study of European classical music at the Conservatory in Zilina ( 1976 – 1979 ) and biochemistry at J.A.Komensky University ( 1979 – 1984 ), he later attended prestigious Berklee College of Music for his jazz studies in Boston, Massachusetts, USA ( 1992 – 1993 ).
In 1990, Pavol was a finalist at the international jazz competition Concours Internationale des Thémes de Jazz in Monaco with his composition Cheerful Afternoon. This success resulted in his winning a full scholarship for the study at Berklee College, where he spent two semesters. In particular, he focused on jazz composition ( Ted Pease ) and jazz arrangements ( Jeff Friedman ). He also participated in diverse school programs, including for example the accompaniment of musical singers and the recording for the film scoring department.
As a pianist, arranger and composer, he has been working over the years with musicians of diverse styles, including the classical music projects, traditional jazz, swing, bebop, modern mainstream and American musical ensembles, as well as Latin, soul, R&B, gospel and ethno jazz bands. Among others, he has played with jazz musicians like Joe Muranyi, Harry Sokal, Larry Smith, Winand Gabor, Peter Cardarelli, Piotr Baron, Grzegorz Nagorski, Elsa Valle, Errol Weiss Schlabach, Barbara Montgomery, Enzo Ruggieri, Philippe Lavoipierre, Peter Lipa, Jaroslav Country Cervenka, as well as with groups - Peter Lipa Band, Peter Cardarelli & Pavol Bodnar Band, Slovak Polish Jazz Quartet, Close Harmony Friends, Polemic, VladoVizar Jazz Quartet, All Time Jazz Trio, etc.
Nowadays, he works mainly for two bands, the InterJAZZional Band and V4JAZZ. While his previous work and piano style were formed by both European classical music and American jazz from the 1930s to the 1970s, recently he has begun experimenting with use of Centraleuropean folk music motives. His compositions reflect diverse influences he soaked up from the childhood. In his music, the Slavic melodic, Latin rhythms structures and North American jazz harmonies are noticeble, whereby all these together are joined in a unique eclectic music concept. Considering formal frames of Pavol´s modern compositions, he uses typical jazz forms as well as original forms naturally created by means of compositional techniques of modern classical music ( CD Ecce Jazz, Hevhetia, 2006 ).
Pavol, as a pianist, is a skilled improvizer in general terms. He has two strengths – the accompaniment of singers and spontaneous improvizing over baroque forms. He often works with jazz singers as well as theater ensembles singers. He, for instance, played in Freie Buehne Wieden, Vienna, in Astorka theater, Bratislava, etc. Nowadays, he also teaches both the musical and pop singing at the Church conservatory in Bratislava. In 2000, Pavol was headmaster of the J.S.Bach anniversary concert Bach In Jazz & Jazz in Bach, that took place in Slovak Radio, Bratislava.

CDBABY