Karlovy Vary, a spa resort of international recognition, offer several distinctive traits, that can not be found in any other place within the region, nor in the entire republic. One of these traits is the jazz tradition, which endured and survived even the times of the past totalitarian system. After all, the very first jazz festival held in then Czechoslovakia in 1962 took place in this very spot here in Karlovy Vary. This year´s festival is the 13th one produced by the Jazz Circle Association and also the 3rd one produced in cooperation with the City House of Culture in Sokolov. By tradition, it is being supported by the City of Karlovy Vary, by the Karlovy Vary County (region) and it is also being held under the patronage of the mayor of Karlovy Vary.
The XXIX. International Jazz Festival is focused mainly on the fusion of today’s modern jazz with different musical genres, and welcomes performances by musicians arriving from all countries of the world. The opening act of this year’s festival will be the brazilian singer and guitar player Adriano Trinidade whom you can see at the “M” Music Club in Sokolov on Monday, October 8th at 7pm. He will be accompanied by the energetic, up-beat, funky latin rhythm band Los Quemados - an ensemble from Prague founded by Filip Spaleny and well known to the Karlovy Vary jazz audience (Los Quemados performed at the Karlovy Vary Jazz festival back in 2010). Adriano Trinidade is a brazilian native from Porto Alegre and is no newbie to the European jazz scene. He has performed in many well known european clubs, i.e.: Dr. Gabs in Geneva, Favela Chic in Paris, Le Jeckyll in Chamonyx and Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club in London, and this year is the 2nd year in a row he will be performing in the Czech Republic.
The next concert in Sokolov will take place at the City Theatre (MDK) on Wednesday, October 17th at 7pm, introducing three big bands of the local region - Gringos from Karlovy Vary, Jazz Big Gang from Cheb and Big Band MDK from Sokolov.
In Karlovy Vary, the official kick-off of the festival will take place by tradition at the Husovka Theatre on Saturday, October 13th at 7:30pm. Be prepared for quite a unique celebration as this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Jazz Festival which remains the oldest festival in the Czech Republic. The stage will be shared by musicians and organizers of the original “Jazz Music Parade” from the year 1962! We will see and hear Jaromir Hnilicka and Bob Zajicek on trumpet, Karel Ruzicka on piano, Antonin Gondolan on vocals and bass, Jaromir Sostok on saxophone as well as Alojs Jezek, Stepan Podest and others. The musicians will be accompanied by a local ensemble Repreband from Karlovy Vary and the entire evening will be recorded/broadcasted by Czech Radio Plzen.
Another part of the festival are also various workshops and jazz work-schools which have already been on-going since January of this year. You can enjoy the performance by the participants of these workshops on Friday, October 19th at 7:30pm in Drahomira Theatre. An educational concert called “How to make jazz”, dedicated for high school students and directed by the Gringos big band, will be held on Tuesday, October 16th at 10:00am in Spa III.
Jazz music belongs to the night club scene, no doubt, and so this year, the directors of the festival have again chosen such a club for some of the performing acts. Come to the music club “Masarka” (meatfly) and experience the jazz-rock performance by M. K. Collective band and Jiri Simek Trio.
Throughout the years, the award for ‘exceptional person in jazz music of Bohemia and Moravia’ - i.e. the Gustav Brom Award - has been traditionally held in Karlovy Vary. However this year, the main organizator,Czech Radio Brno, has decided to relocate this ceremony to Brno, where the International Jazz Festival takes place. It was a decision that inspired the producers in Karlovy Vary to create their own award - an award tied not only to jazz music but also tied geographically to a specific region. And so this year, the “Baron Scheneck Award” ceremony will be held in the Gand Hall of Grandhotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary on Thursday, October 18th.
Now we come to the peak of this year’s XXIX. International Jazz Festival JazzFest Karlovy Vary 2012. The first peak performances will be held at the award celebration in Grandhotel Pupp on Thursday, October 18th at 7:30pm, where we introduce for the very first time a world-known composer and saxophone player from Argentina, Javier Girotto. Javier will be accompanied by the Czech band “Pigeon Saxophone Quartet”. Besides his unmatched brilliance and mastery of his instrument, Javier is an exceptional composer, completely unbound by genre - modern classical music and jazz music infused with the temperament of the Argentinian tango. As second act of the evening, you will experience the “Sinael Jazz Symphony” by Krystofek Marek. This symphony has been first heard publicly this year as part of the official opening of the Karlovy Vary spa season, when it was performed in the City Theatre, and met with great reviews from the entire audience. The musical ensemble consists of 60 members: a fusion of the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra and Karlovy Vary Repreband. We guarantee you an exceptionally unique and unforgettable experience. The Sinael Jazz Symphony was rehearsed by and will be conducted by the author himself.
The second peak performance of this season will be the final closing concert which will take place in Karlovy Vary in the Antonin Dvorak Concert Hall in Spa III on Saturday, October 20th at 7:30pm. The jazz-evoking atmosphere will most suitably accommodate the jazziest band of this year’s fest: a czech-slovak ensemble called Miroslav Hloucal Quartet feat. Ondrej Stveracek. The original music, written by the trumpet player Miroslav Hloucal, is a mix of sounds with influences from modern mainstreem jazz, free jazz, and leaning toward hard-bop tradition. Next comes East- West European Jazz Orchestra TWINS 2012 (D+EU, RUS, SRB, CZ), which was founded in 2008 by merging of East-West Jazz Dortmund in cooperation with Glen Buschmann Jazz Academy Dortmund and by various music institutions from partnering cities of Dortmund’s neighborhood, which were: Rostov on Don (Russia) and New Grove (Novy Sad, Serbia). In 2008, the orchestra became one of the official orchestras of the cultural capital of Europe - Ruhr 2010. This large ensemble interprets the european jazz main stream combined with eastern european traditional music and eastern european jazz. It is a melting pot of various european cultures, and the result is presented on an international level. There are over 50 participants of this project, and include visiting acts like Ondrej Stveracek on saxophone, Aram Rustamyants on piano, Ryan Carniaux on trumpet and Alina Engibaryan on vocals. But the main star of this ensemble is without question the brilliant (and slightly exotic to the czech culture) indonesian vocalist, Dian Pratiwi from the island of Bali. East- West European Jazz Orchestra is directed and conducted by the famous german saxophone player Uwe Plath.
A joint jamsession will mark the end of this year’s XXIX. International Jazz Festival„Jazzfest Karlovy Vary – Sokolov 2012“ on Saturday, October 20th at 11pm in the comfortable atmosphere of Popart Cafe in Karlovy Vary.
On behalf of the civil community Jazz Circle Milan Krajic