Matúš Jakabčic with his CZ-SK Big Band celebrates its 20th anniversary

Guitarist, composer and pedagogue Matúš Jakabčic and his Czech-Slovak big band have completed two decades of existence. This period has brought numerous performances on the domestic and international scene, cooperation with different generations of musicians and the release of four albums. The aim of this big jazz orchestra is to present an original repertoire based on the rich tradition of this genre of music. The group will commemorate the anniversary with several summer concerts.

At the suggestion of Rudolf Neuls, director of the Czechoslovak Jazz Festival in Přerov, Jakabčic assembled the Czech-Slovak Jazz Orchestra. In 2004, the big band began its Přerov premiere and gradually performed at almost all major festivals and individual concerts in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It has also performed in Serbia (festivals in Novi Sad and Valjevo) and in Austria (ORF Radiokulturhaus, Vienna’s Porgy & Bess, Graz, Jazz & Wine festival in Poysdorf).

The orchestra cooperated with a number of local and foreign musicians. The cooperation with ORF together with the leading Austrian saxophonist Harry Sokal resulted in several recordings; the recording of the concert at the ORF Radiokulturhaus was released on the CD “Matúš Jakabčic CZ-SK Big Band featuring Harry Sokal – Live” on the ORF label. The CD “Matúš Jakabčic CZ-SK Big Band”, released as part of the “Jazz at the Castle” edition, features a recording of a concert at Prague Castle, hosted by the then Czech President Václav Klaus. The CD also contains a recording of the New Year’s concert of the Volksbank 2009, which featured Matúš Jakabčic CZ-SK Big Band with soloists Sigi Finkel and Berec Balogh. In 2022, after almost 14 years, a new 2-CD of the big band was released – Room#555. It also features guest vocalist Peter Lipa. With this 2-CD the Big Band became the winner of the Radio Head Awards 2022 in the Jazz Music category and the winner of the Esprit Award for the Best Jazz Album of 2022.

During its 20-year history, the group has included a number of jazzmen from the Czech Republic and Slovakia; in recent years, Ádám Gráf has been a permanent member of the group as 1st trumpet, a long-time core member of the Modern Art Orchestra from Budapest. Several generations of musicians have taken turns in the orchestra. With its concerts, the orchestra will also honour the memory of the late former members and pillars of Czechoslovak jazz, trumpeter Václav Týfa and trombonists Svatopluk Košvanec and Fer Karnok. It also commemorates the prematurely deceased young players, the trumpeter Martin Ďurdin and the saxophonist Rosta Fraš.
The repertoire of the big band is based on the compositions of M. Jakabčic, as well as his original arrangements of well-known jazz standards. Since 2010, its programme has been enriched with compositions from the project “Fools from Chelm”, in which, in addition to M. Jakabčic, Erik Rothenstein also participates, as well as compositions by other authors – members of the orchestra (Michal Motýľ, Lukáš Oravec, Ľuboš Šrámek, Erik Rothenstein).
Jakabčic’s several-year collaboration with Harry Sokal also resulted in a joint suite for big band and solo for tenor and soprano saxophone. The orchestra’s repertoire also includes “The Nutcracker Suite” – Ellington and Strayhorn’s arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. With drummer Martin Valihor, the orchestra also performed the Tribute to Buddy Rich project.