Touring Czechoslovakian jazz master LIBOR SMOLDAS is a Prague-based guitarist and composer who is widely considered to be one of the finest young jazz musicians in his country and a leading representative of his generation. In addition to playing with top Czech and European musicians, he has worked and recorded with international stars including George Mraz, Jeff Ballard, Sam Yahel, Bobby Watson, Adam Nussbaum, Brian Charette, Jay Anderson, and Stephen Keogh.
He has released seven albums as a leader (Blue, Smoldas Plays Jezek, Dreamtime, Intuition, 18 Days 2000 Miles, In New York on Time, Live at Jazz Dock, and On the Playground). He has worked and recorded on numerous occaisions as a sideman for Hal Tsuchida, Skip Wilkins, Bob Montgomery, Ingrid James, Bill Warfield, Zeuritia, and Robert Balzar. While playing with Ondrej Pivec and his Organic Quartet, the band was awarded the prestigious Andel Award for Best Jazz Recording of the Year.
Although awarded a scholarship to the Berklee School of Music in 2005, he opted to stay in the Czech Republic where he studied in the Advanced Secondary Studies department of the Jezek Conservatory of Jazz and Music, and the Janacek Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. He toured the USA with his Czech quartet in 2011 and has been returning to play in North America ever since. Libor’s concert activities have covered four continents and major cities including New York, Washington, Sydney, Brisbane, Beijing, Istanbul, Milan, and London. Since 2012, he has toured in Australia annually, living there for much of the year in 2014 and 2015.
This evening’s all-star LIBOR SMOLDAS TRIO features DUNCAN HOPKINS on bass and drummer TERRY CLARKE, entertaining in the up-close-and-personal ambience of The Home Smith Bar.