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About George Mraz

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Musician

A native of the Czech Republic, George Mraz was born in 1944. He began his musical studies on violin at age seven and started playing jazz in high school. He attended the Prague Conservatory in 1961 studying bass violin and graduating in 1966. While studying at the Prague Conservatory Mraz was deeply moved by the Voice Of America radio broadcasts of Willis Conover, who was his connection to a vast new world of possibilities across the ocean. "The first jazz I ever heard was actually Louis Armstrong when I was about twelve years old. They had an hour of his music on one Sunday in between all these light operettas and stuff they played on the radio in the Czech republic (then Czechoslovakia)

Album

Bird Food

By Pierre Favre

Label: Blaser Music
Released: 2026
Track listing: Bird Food; Sounds II; Hinten; The Attack.

Article: Profile

The Discreet Charm of Tete Montoliu

by Con Chapman
September 9, 2026

In 1947 tenor saxophonist Don Byas, a transplant from America following a tour of Europe, joined a society orchestra--complete with strings--to play dates in Spain. After their ballroom engagement was over, Byas and the band's rhythm section would jam until the early morning hours when they would be forced to quit “either because the police burst ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

The Legacy of Billy Strayhorn, part I: Lush Life, Take the A Train and more

by Larry Slater
April 10, 2026

Billy Strayhorn had one of the most unusual careers in jazz. Today his genius as a composer of jazz and song is uniformly acknowledged, but that was not the case during his lifetime. Strayhorn spent his entire career as in Duke Ellington's words, “his composing and arranging partner."Many of his most famous creations were ...

Article: Interview

Richie Beirach: Indelible Memories and Thought-Provoking Reflections on a Life in Jazz, Part 1

by Victor L. Schermer
January 31, 2026

This two-part article was first published on All About Jazz on August 13, 2019. Part 1 | Part 2 Richie Beirach hovers somewhat mysteriously in the pantheon of the great modern jazz pianists. Some of the others in that category from his generation (coming up in the 1960s/'70s), like Herbie Hancock, Keith ...

Article: Interview

Ralph Towner: The Accidental Guitarist

by Mario Calvitti
January 20, 2026

This article was first published on All About Jazz on May 16, 2017. Ralph Towner is a rather atypical figure in the vast world of jazz guitar. His instruments of choice are the classical guitar, which when he started, in the '60s, was played almost exclusively by guitarists related to Brazilian music like Charlie ...

Article: Building a Jazz Library

Ornette Coleman's and Horace Silver's "Lonely Woman" — A Disambiguation

by Artur Moral
July 27, 2025

Reality is filled with confusion and misunderstandings; some are suggestive or creative, while others are disappointing or, worse, malicious. The jazz world is no stranger to the first type: specific compositions are often confused or misidentified as if they were the same. Usually, this happens because of similar melodies or titles that are sometimes identical. This ...

Article: Play This!

Richie Beirach: Sea Priestess

by Scott Lichtman
July 4, 2024

Pianist Richie Beirach has been a foundation of the jazz community since the '70s, having released over 70 albums through 2022. His style combines romanticism with a dissonant compositional flair. His music, usually expressed in solo, duet and trio formats, sounds exceptionally intimate. Beirach could create chemistry with most anyone and has collaborated with luminaries such ...

Article: Bailey's Bundles

Late-Period Art Pepper Box Sets

by C. Michael Bailey
March 15, 2024

In his essay, “Endgame," which opens the liner notes to Art Pepper: The Complete Galaxy Recordings (Galaxy, 1989), music critic Gary Giddens said of Art Pepper's professional comeback: “Pepper's sudden reappearance in 1975 was something of a second coming in musical circles. For the next seven years, his frequent recordings and tours, and ...

Article: First Time I Saw

Jimmy Rowles

by Carol Sloane
August 25, 2023

Part 1 I had just finished my night's work at a long-since vanished jazz club in Greenwich Village called Hopper's. I was singing with The New York Jazz Quartet: Sir Roland Hanna, George Mraz, Richie Pratt, and Frank Wess. The year was 1977. Mraz said he was going to walk over to Bradley's* to listen to ...