George Mraz

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George Mraz (1983)

George Mraz (born September 9, 1944 in Písek , Czechoslovakia as Jiří Mráz ; † September 16, 2021 in Prague ) was a Czech -American jazz bassist .

Live and act

Mraz played the violin from the age of seven; later the alto saxophone and the double bass were added. Until 1966 he studied double bass at the Prague Conservatory . He became a member of the trio of guitarist Rudolf Dašek , which later became part of Karel Velebný's band , and took part in a jazz workshop of the North German Radio with a Czech band . After completing his studies, he lived in Munich for a year from 1966 to 1967 , where he performed with Benny Bailey and Mal Waldron , but also played in a trio with Irène Schweizer and Pierre Favre . In 1968 he belonged to the big band ofGustav Brom .

After the invasion of Warsaw five in Czechoslovakia in 1968, he emigrated to the United States via Munich, where he arrived to 1970 Berklee College of Music studied. He toured with Oscar Peterson and was a member of the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra from 1973 to 1976 . He then worked with numerous musicians such as John Abercrombie , Pepper Adams , Richie Beirach , Bill Evans , Tommy Flanagan , Richard Galliano , Stan Getz , Stéphane Grappelli , Roland Hanna , John Hicks , Hank Jones , Miriam Klein , Rudy Linka , Carmen McRae , Walter Norris , Art Pepper , Sonny Rollins , Jimmy Rowles , Zoot Sims and Attila Zoller . In total, he appears on more than nine hundred albums as a sideman. He accompanied many important jazz pianists in the piano trio, whereby he had a rough tone that makes him recognizable. In the field of jazz, according to Tom Lord , he was involved in 495 recording sessions between 1964 and 2014, most recently in New York with Yelena Eckemoff (A Touch of Radiance) and in Prague with the pianist NajPonk (Final Touch of Jazz) .

From the early 1990s, Mraz also presented a number of albums as a soloist and band leader, such as Duke's Place (1999, with Renee Rosnes , Cyrus Chestnut , Billy Drummond ) and Morava (2001, with Emil Viklický , Zuzana Lapčíková , Billy Hart ). In the program Return to Imagination he also appeared together with his wife, the singer and pianist Camilla Mraz.

In 2009 Mraz was awarded the Golden Plaque of the Czech head of state by Václav Klaus for his services to culture. In 2016, after an operation on the pancreas, there was a heart attack and other complications. He died in September 2021.

Discographic notes

Lexical entries

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b dpa: Jazz double bass player George Mraz died at the age of 77. tag24.de, September 17, 2021, accessed on September 18, 2021 .
  2. ^ Williams Liam: George Mraz Obituary-Death, George Mraz Has Died. .
  3. ↑ Tom Lord The Jazz Discography (online, accessed September 2, 2021)
  4. ↑ George Mraz & Camilla Mraz Trio @ Faust Studios
personal data
SURNAME Mraz, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mráz, Jiří (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czechoslovak-American jazz bassist
BIRTH DATE September 9, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Písek
DATE OF DEATH September 16, 2021
PLACE OF DEATH United States