American saxophonist Bob Mintzer, one of the best players on this instrument in the world, a holder of multiple prestigious Grammy awards, the musician crossing genres and also a respected educator, is the top star of this year's festival. In Karlovy Vary he will perform with his quintet.
The festival, which is traditionally supported by the City of Karlovy Vary and the Karlovy Vary Region, is held under the auspices of the Mayor of Karlovy Vary Ing. Petr Kulhánek.
Dramaturgy continues to focus primarily on modern jazz and its fusion with other musical genres, including symphonic music, with the participation of musicians from around the world. Besides listeners - jazz specialists and those who are open to all genres, the organizers of the festival wish to attract attention of young listeners who are trying to find their way to jazz.
A foretaste of the main festival concerts are concerts in the Karlovy Vary Slash Bar and Sokolov Municipal Theatre. In Slash Bar on October 2 the MK Collective led by Milan Krajíc will perform. It is a formation from Karlovy Vary which is almost unlimited in genres and largely built on their own tracks. After their performance Erika Fečová, a singer with a voice full of feeling and exquisite phrasing focused on the R&B and soul, will perform with her band. However, literally a bomb that can bring jazz closer to the young generation, is the performance of international hip hop - soul group Soul Resolution. There are young musicians from four different nations in the band, including the Czech outstanding pianist Vít Křišťan. The front man, Norwegian singer Simon, is a born showman and he can really warm up the audience. From the Soul Resolution concert you can expect nothing less than excellent experience when even the coldest ones will start to dance.
In Sokolov on October 7 the Luboš Andršt Blues Band will perform. Just the name of the main protagonist, a guitar player whose music goes far beyond the borders of the state, is a guarantee of great music. In addition, in the cast of his band we can find an excellent singer and organist Jan Holeček.
The first highlight of the festival will be a concert on October 16 at the Grandhotel Ambassador National house. This concert is organized in cooperation with the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra. At the beginning a concert master of the cello of the KSO Martin Ondráček will play together with the trio Henry Band selected parts of the Suite for cello and piano jazz trio composed by French composer Claude Bolling. The Henry Band consists of superb jazz pianist Jindřich Henry Volf, bassist of the KSO Jan Jirmásek and drummer Milan Krajíc jr.
At this occasion, trumpeter and composer Jaromír Hnilička, soloist and longtime member of Gustav Brom Orchestra, will be awarded with the Baron Schoeneck Prize, which is a recognition and appreciation of important personalities associated with music in Karlovy Vary. Jaromír Hnilička played at the first jazz festival in Karlovy Vary in 1962, the first festival of this kind in the former Czechoslovakia, he participated in other numerous festivals in Karlovy Vary, where he worked as a lecturer of jazz workshops, including memorial anniversary jazz concert in 2012.
Jaromír Hnilička will also perform as a soloist of his famous Jazz Mass - Missa Jazz, which will be performed by big band, choir and symphony orchestra for the first time. Jazz Mass was composed by the author in 1969, when it was also recorded and published in former West Germany. In the Czech Republic it could be published after the regime change in 1990. The Mass will be performed by the Karlovarský Repre Big Band or, said in another way, the Karlovarský Repre Band extended with visiting winds to a big band, by the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra and mixed choir Karlovarský výběr. The concert will be conducted by the Chief conductor of the KSO Jan Kučera.
And finally the blues Rene Trossman Band will perform at this concert. The repertoire of the guitar player and singer originally from Chicago, but living in Prague, is built from original blues referring to the tradition of the Chicago scene and the "golden era of blues ". In the variable group Rene Trossman Band regularly appear the best players of the Czech blues scene, this time it will be keyboard player Tomáš Homuta and drummer Martin Šulc.
To the club environment the festival will return on October 17, when in the Hall Film and Café of the Cinema Drahomíra a concert of regional bands will take place. Lucie Zemanová & Soul Sisters will start with the most famous hits by Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and other artists in an original interpretation with elements of jazz, Latin music and soul. Then, the band S Gustem formed by young musicians who met at the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory will play. They perform mainly their authorial creations with intention to disturb the traditional structures with their unconventional songs. The evening will be concluded by the household formation Blue Condition oriented on electric blues with rock and jazz overtones and composed of experienced musicians with an outstanding guitar player Jiří Krombholz.
The absolute highlight of the festival will be a performance of saxophonist Bob Mintzer on October 19 at the Grandhotel Ambassador National house. The evening will begin with a performance of the Big Band Jazz Fancies, a new musical project of saxophonist Milan Krajíc. The repertoire of this band consists of Milan Krajíc´s compositions and compositions of jazz fussion ensembles that Milan Krajíc has orchestrated for a big band.
Then Bob Mintzer Quintet will appear on the stage. Excellent saxophonist Bob Mintzer lives several musical lives - he is a member of the Yellowjackets band, winning several prestigious Grammy Awards and nominated for Grammy many times, he is performing with his own big band, also the Grammy award-winner, he is playing with his own quartet and with many different groups around the world.
He belongs to tenor saxophonists who rose from the New York School in the '70s, including Michael Brecker, Bob Berg, David Liebman and Steve Grossman. Bob Mintzer recorded thirty solo albums, he played on countless others as a member of a group or a studio player.
As a saxophonist Bob Mintzer played with such world jazzmen such as Art Blakey, Jaco Pastorius, Sam Jones, Randy Brecker, Gil Evans, GRP All Star Big Band, Mike Manieri, but he also played with the New York Philharmonic. As a studio musician he worked across genres for James Taylor, Steve Winwood, group Queen, Donald Fagan, Milton Nascimento and many others.
Bob Mintzer is also a respected teacher, in addition to his work at the university in Los Angeles and his leadership of workshops around the globe, he wrote nearly two dozen books, which are an important part of the global jazz education around the world.