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Piešťany is becoming a jazz town
This article is part of last issue of Revue Piešťany - trilingual (Slovak, English, German) magazine about town, spa and surroundings. Here it is available to read, download and print in FLASH format.
The non-profit organization International Jazz Piešťany organized the 2nd annual international jazz festival named after the unforgettable drummer Dodo Šošoka, to commemorate his legacy. The festival was held in between 8 – 11 July, 2010. Some 85 musicians from 10 countries presented their skill at 18 concerts. There were two festival highlights: The performance of trumpet player Roy Hargrove, a double Grammy Award winner (1997, 2002), was the first one. It was also his first visit to Slovakia. With his performance he persuaded the audience that his place among the most important figures of the world jazz scene is well deserved.
The following night, at the second round of four concerts, the jazz professors from the Jerry Bergonzi Organ Trio (USA) made a shining appearance. Saxophone player Jerry Bergonzi, who once belonged to jazz icon Dave Brubeck’s band, became world known thanks to his books on improvisation. Currently he works at an art school in New England. Jerry brought his two excellent colleagues to Piešťany – smiling Renato Chicco and the “heavy drum caliber” Howard Curtis.
From among the domestic performers we cannot forget to mention Matúš Jakabčic, a guitar player, composer and music adapter, Milo Suchomel, a saxophonist and composer and Tomáš Gajlík, a Piešťany born pianist and composer.
The 2010 Festival of Dodo Šošoka was accompanied by many accompanying events. The article about the Cartoon and Jazz exhibition is on page.....
Besides this, there was a photo exhibition in Kursalon, presenting the pictures taken at last year’s jazz festival.
A week after the Festival of Dodo Šošoka was over, jazz music retuned to Piešťany again. The Music Pavilion in the town park held the Young Jazz event, consisting of four concerts. This year the performances were on an incomparably higher level than last year. Young Jazz was organized by the Town Cultural Centre.