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Jakub Dolezal

A saxophone player and music teacher based in Prague, Czech Republic.

About Me

Jakub was born in 1980 in Dačice. He spent the next nineteen years living in Moravské Budějovice, attending music lessons since he was seven. He got his first saxophone when he was fifteen and soon after he was playing gigs with local rock bands. In 1999 he began his studies at the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory in Prague. He switched from the conservatory to the college program in 2003 - he began to study with František Kop (and later Rostislav Fraš) and had theory lessons with Jaromír Honzák, Beata Hlavenková or David Dorůžka. After graduation he spent next two years freelancing. In 2008 he became a student at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam but returned to Prague only a year later. In 2010 he was offerd a teaching position at the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory and thus became a school ensembles tutor. Jakub loves playing jazz but also he grew up listening to all kinds of popular music. He played saxophone or keyboards for various legendary czech musicians (Vladimír Mišík, Michal Ambrož, Lukáš Martínek...), shared stage with blues singers (Eb Davis, Sharon Lewis, Lorenzo Thompson...); he has played fusion (w. Los Quemados or Walter Fischbacher), acid jazz (w. Jan Kořínek), blues (w. Jakub Zomer) or samba (w. Adriano Trindade). He was a sideman for peers like Ondrej Pivec (recently of Gregor Porter fame), Petr Kalfus or Jan Jirucha. The main creative outlet for Jakub Doležal has been (of course) Jakub Doležal Quartet. The band released their first album in 2016 (see http://bandcamp.com/jakubdolezal).

My Jazz Story

I love playing music—those are the moments when I feel that I contributed something to the world. The music I like could be inside a style or on the edge —the important thing to me is the authenticity. Charlie Parker was authentic, so were Weather Report, Albert Ayler and Pink Floyd. They all stood for what they were doing. Playing music I could stand for is my goal. Coffee is also good...