Sammy Vomáčka

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Sammy Vomáčka (real name Jiří Vomáčka; born August 17, 1946 in Brandýs nad Labem , Czechoslovakia ) is a guitarist from the Czech Republic who has lived in Germany since 1970 . His musical repertoire includes acoustic blues including slide guitar , piano ragtimes arranged for guitar , swing pieces , instrumentals and fingerstyle jazz.

Life and musical work

Born and raised in the small town of Brandýs nad Labem near Prague , he played in a band for the first time at the boarding school at the age of 15, before he was guitarist in the Czech rock beat band "Tom Cats" from 1963 .

After a two-year hiatus due to military service, he toured Yugoslavia with the Tom Cats in the summer of 1969. After a year previously Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union had been occupied militarily and signs compacted that the Czechoslovak border for departures would be closed soon, he started with musician Joe Kucera from the Croatian island of Solta by train to Slovenia's Maribor to then in September 1969 at Spielfeld to flee across the border to Austria . During the nightly escape through the forest and the onward journey to Leibnitz , Austrian high school graduates , whom they had met at concerts on Šolta, helped them . In Bad Reichenhall they fled on to Germany, where they were detained for illegally crossing the border for three weeks. Then they were brought back to Austria to a refugee camp in Traiskirchen near Vienna . After he was denied asylum , he fled again across the German border and was taken to a refugee camp in Zirndorf near Nuremberg in 1970 .

After he had received German asylum and a longer stay in Kamp-Lintfort in North Rhine-Westphalia , he moved to Cologne , where he gained a foothold musically and u. a. lived with Klaus the violinist in a commune.

Then he moved to Berlin . He was quickly integrated into the folk scene of the time and became a well-known fingerpicking guitarist. During his time in Berlin he performed a. a. with Tony Sheridan , one of the founders of beat music and an early companion of the Beatles . In the beginning he played regularly in the trendy bars "Steve-Club", "Folk Pub" and "Go-In", where Jürgen von der Lippe , Karl Dall and Hannes Wader were also on stage. Because he was one of the first in Germany to transfer ragtime to the guitar. In 1974 his first LP "Ragtime Guitar", produced by Stockfisch Records , was released. At that time he played around 100 gigs a year. In 1975 a major tour of Germany followed with John Pearse , David Qualey and Werner Lämmerhirt .

In 1975 he left Berlin and moved to Otzenhausen in Saarland . 1979 followed several appearances in the USA , like u. a. in Los Angeles , at the San Diego Folk Festival , in San Francisco at Club Folk-Society and in Minneapolis .

Increasingly dealing with jazz , he founded the Sammy Vomáčka Jazz Trio in the late 1980s . The trio is composed of a double bass player and a drummer next to him on guitar, although the line-up of the latter varies. He tours regularly with the trio in Germany, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic .

Sammy Vomáčka now lives in Bliesdalheim in the Saarland .

Discography

LPs

  • Ragtime Guitar (1974) - Stockfisch Records SF-5002
  • Come to My Kitchen (1975) - Stockfisch Records SF-8002
  • Rags & Tunes (1977) - Sammy Vomáčka production Vo 7701
  • Sammy Vomáčka ... Live! (1980) - Stockfisch VO 7702

CDs

  • Easy Rider (1984) - Jeton 118/1 CD
  • Easy Rider (re-released 1991) - Bell Records BLR 84019
  • Ragtime, Blues & Jazz Guitar (1998) - Wonderland Records 319.9022.2

Participation

Publications

  • Guitar book. Ragtime - blues - jazz. Schott, Mainz 1983 (= Edition Schott. Volume 7410).

TV appearances

  • in Saarland radio (1975)
  • Coffee or tea, SWR television (June 6, 2014)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Vomáčka, Sammy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vomáčka, Jiří (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech guitarist
DATE OF BIRTH August 17, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Brandýs nad Labem