Jazz Articles about Ondrej Pivec

Ondrej Pivec: Overseason

by John Barron
July 22, 2008

When Czechoslovakian organist Ondrej Pivec ventured to New York City with fellow countryman drummer Tomas Hobzek, a recording session was arranged with Brooklyn-based, Canadian guitarist Jake Langley and tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm. The resulting disc, Overseason, is a groove-oriented collection of soulful sounds, steeped in the organ combo tradition and brimming with hard-hitting, progressive solos.

Pivec's compositions, which make up the bulk of the disc's material, are full of melodic hooks and funky grooves. The opening track, “Song for Sam," ...

Take Five With Ondrej Pivec

by AAJ Staff
June 17, 2008

Meet Ondrej Pivec: Ondrej Pivec started his career as a classical pianist, but soon turned to jazz--he started to play the Hammond organ before he was 20 years old. He was inspired by such important organists such as Sam Yahel, Larry Goldings, Jimmy Smith, Larry Young and others. He has also taken lessons from the legendary English Hammond player Mike Carr and Italian organ virtuoso Alberto Marsico, and recently Yahel himself during Ondrej's stay in New York.

Ondrej Pivec / Organic Quartet: Don't Get Ideas

by Budd Kopman
October 3, 2006

Ondrej Pivec and his Organic Quartet burn white hot on Don't Get Ideas, from the very first notes of the opening “Mr. Littleroot's Green Room," by Jakob Dolezal, the group's tenorist. Living deeply within the R&B organ trio vibe, yet updating it with their personalities, these youngsters clearly live to play. The question of originality and derivativeness does not really apply here. Much like Scott Hamilton, who plays inside his chosen style with total honesty, these musicians--organist ...

Ondrej Pivec / Organic Quartet: Don't Get Ideas

by Nic Jones
June 5, 2006

The musicians who make up this “classic" organ-led small combo have technique and ideas in abundance. The music they make is a considerable distance from the grits 'n' gravy circuit with which such groups might once have been associated, and Ondrej Pivec's harmonic and melodic senses, in particular, are more akin to Larry Young than, say, Baby Face Willette. To hear Pivec on McCoy Tyner's “Inception," for example, is to witness a musician quite unselfconsciously mining a rich musical seam ...