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The Easy Way
by Richard J Salvucci
It is fair to wonder how Jimmy Giuffre would be remembered had he not gone off on to the wilder shores of atonality, collective improvisation, and free jazz with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow in the early 1960s. It is easy to forget that Giuffre was regarded as a rising star, both as a multi-instrumentalist (he ...
John Abercrombie: The First Quartet
by John Kelman
With the release of Arcade (1979), Abercrombie Quartet (1980) and M (1981), John Abercrombie's entire ECM discography as a leader is finally available on CD. Looking back at these albums and their position in his oeuvre, they are revealed as seminal documents of Abercrombie's arrival as a distinctive writer, improvising guitarist and bandleader, delivering on the ...
Joe Lovano: Cleveland's Ultimate Jazz Titan
by Matthew Alec
Friday, June 24th, 2022, saxophonist Joe Lovano's group Sound Prints (alongside trumpeter and co-leader Dave Douglas) delivered a tour de force performance to spellbound audience members at the historic Mimi Ohio Theatre in Playhouse Square as a part of Cleveland's annual Tri-C JazzFest. Seasoned group interplay between drummer Rudy Royston, bassist Matt Penman, and pianist Leo ...
John Scofield: John Scofield
by Ian Patterson
John Scofield has spent the best part of his illustrious career leading or co-leading trios and quartets, with just the occasional quintet or sextet outing. Even his only duo collaboration, Solar (Palo Alto, 1984) with John Abercrombie, expanded to a quartet with George Mraz and Peter Donald on three of the seven tracks. Yes, Scofield enjoys ...
Hanksgiving: A Tribute to Hank Jones, Part 1
by Ludovico Granvassu
For our seasonal Hanksgiving show, this year we pay tribute to Hank Jones, both as a pianist and a composer, by playing music from his albums as a leader and sideman, and renditions of his music by musicians that came after him. The collaboration with Malian master musician Cheick Tidian Seck kicks off a playlist which ...
Emil Viklický & Pavel Hrubý: Between Us
by Ian Patterson
After four decades of small ensemble recordings, veteran Czech jazz pianist Emil Viklický is developing a taste for duo albums. Following the fine duo outings Together Again (ACT Music, 2014) with George Mraz, and Moravian Romance: Live at Jazzfest Brno 2018 (Venus, 2018) with Miroslav Vitous, Viklický partners with reed player Pavel Hrubý, here on bass ...
Buster Williams: Bass to Infinity
by Victor L. Schermer
Buster Williams: Bass to Infinity Director: Adam Kahan Distributor or Film Company USA: 90 minutes Premier Date: Nov. 12, 2019 This is an exceptional jazz film that most likely would have made its way into art theaters around the world were it not that four months after its premier in ...
Frantisek Uhlir: Story of my life
by Edward Blanco
Recognized as one of the finest bassists in all of Europe, Czech Republic-born Frantisek Uhlir, presents Story of My Life, a self-produced personal project in celebration for turning seventy years-young in 2020. He does so in swinging fashion. The album booklet contains photographs with details of many proud moments throughout his life. An intentionally designed aspect ...
About George Mraz
Results for pages tagged "George Mraz"...
George Mraz
Born:
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)
Darek Oleszkiewicz: Rolls-Royce Groovin'
by Jim Worsley
Inspiring greatness has long been the two-word association with the grand luxury of Rolls-Royce. Britain's entry into automobile finery has thus become benchmark terminology. To hear bassist Darek Oleszkiewicz interact, navigate, and improvise with today's finest jazz musicians is to understand why he has been deemed the Rolls-Royce of the modern day upright. Carrying the torch ...


