Libor Šmoldas ()
Libor Šmoldas is a Czech jazz guitarist.
His concert activity spans four continents and world capitals New York, Washington, Sydney, Beijing, Istanbul, Vienna, Berlin, Denver, Milan, Philadelphia, Brisbane, Melbourne and London. With his quartet, he was the first Czech jazz band to tour the USA and regularly returns there, as well as on annual concert tours to Australia and other countries. Among the world clubs where he performs are the legendary Pizza express, Smalls, Iridium, Blue Note, Dear Head Inn and Bennetts Lane.
In the Czech Republic, he has played over two thousand club concerts, leading festivals such as Prague Spring, Prague Proms, Brno Jazz Fest, Bohemia Jazz Fest, Strings of Autumn and Janáček’s May, and collaborated with top Czech jazz artists including Ondřej Pivec, Robert Balzar and David Dorůžka. He has played and recorded with world-class musicians such as George Mraz, Jeff Ballard, Sam Yahel, Bobby Watson, Adam Nussbaum, Brian Charette and Jay Anderson. Libor has won many awards, such as the Best Jazz Composition of 2014 and the Angel Award for Jazz Record of the Year with the Organic Quartet. He teaches at the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory in Prague and at international workshops in England, Germany, Greece, Italy and Australia. He has released nine albums under his own name and many more as a collaborator.
David Dorůžka ()
David Dorůžka is a Czech jazz guitarist.
He has been working professionally on the Czech jazz scene since 1994 and, in addition to concerts all over the world and numerous collaborations with international names, he has also had long stays in the metropolises of New York and Paris. In recent seasons Dorůžka has been busy with concert tours in Israel, France, Germany, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. In addition to performing with Iva Bittova, Swedish band The Stoner and his own trio, he has also recently recorded with stars such as Chris Cheek, Daniele di Bonaventura, Aga Zaryan and Cyrille Oswald.
Dorůžek's main concert activity, however, is his trio. Most of the repertoire consists of original compositions, but there are also pieces taken from the pop sphere, jazz evergreens (Sonny Rollins, Kurt Weill) or arranged songs from the classical repertoire (Edvard Grieg). The trio's playing is dynamic and sensitive, firmly rooted in the jazz tradition, yet unafraid of experimentation and transitions to other genres of the contemporary music world.
