David Dorůžka /
Josefine Lindstrand Quartet
David Dorůžka, guitar
David was born in 1980 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, he took up the guitar at the age of ten and from the age of fourteen started performing with leading musicians on the Czech jazz scene. In 1995 he received the “Talent of the Year” award from the Czech Jazz Society. From 1999 until 2002 Dorůžka lived in Boston in the USA and studied composition and improvisation at Berklee College of Music. Among his teachers were Joe Lovano, Mick Goodrick and George Garzone. Dorůžka was chosen by Pat Metheny to participate as the only guitarist in the Aspen Snowmass Jazz Colony in Colorado in summer 2000, where he studied with Christian McBride, Joshua Redman, Brian Blade and Herbie Hancock among others. In the summer 2002 Dorůžka took part in a tour with the “Swinging Europe” project led by British pianist and composer Django Bates. After graduating from Berklee, Dorůžka lived in New York City from 2002 to 2003. In New York he recorded his first CD Hidden Paths, which was awarded the Anděl prize in the Czech music academy awards as CD of the year 2004 in Jazz&Blues category. Since moving back to Europe at the end of 2003, Dorůžka has been performing mostly with his own trio and also working in a quartet with singer Josefine Lindstrand from Sweden.
Dorůžka has appeared at important festivals in the US (Monterey, Cleveland and others), Canada (Montreal), and in many European countries (festivals in Vienne, Copenhagen, Warszaw, Athens and others). Countries where he has performed also include Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Greece, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The list of musicians he has worked with includes names such as Jorge Rossy, Django Bates, Tiger Okoshi, Perico Sambeat, Albert Sanz, Rodney Green, Orrin Evans, Kenwood Dennard, Phil Wilson, Greg Hopkins, Don Grusin and many others.
Josefine Lindstrand (Sweden), voice
Josefine Lindstrand was born in Orebro, at age 16 started studying voice, piano and saxophone and worked with a big-band. In 2002 she participated on the European tour with the European Jazz Youth Orchestra directed by Django Bates, who later invited her to work with his own ensemble Human Chain. With this group she has appeared all over Europe. She is also featured on Bates‘s last CD You Live and Learn (Apparently). At present she is studying at the Rhythmic Music Conservatorium in Copenhagen and performs with three different bands in Denmark and Sweden. She was awarded the “Ted Gardestad-stipendiet“ award for her compositional work. In the summers 2004 and 2005 she was a lecturer at the Prague Summer Jazz Workshop.
Jaromír Honzák (Czech Republic), bass
Jaromír Honzák has been active on the Prague jazz scene since the beginning of the 1980’s. Musicians who he has worked with include Phil Wilson, Bill Hardman, Don Friedman, Alan Praskin, Zbigniew Namyslowski, Giovanni Basso, Art Farmer, Amina Claudine Myers, Jorge Rossy, Victor Lewis and others. From 1989 to 1990 he studied at Berklee College of Music. He has appeared at festivals such as Sea Jazz Helsinki, Ingolstadter Jazztage, Leverkusener Jazztage, Jazz Jamboree Warszaw, International Jazz Festival Montreal etc. Honzák has recorded with many respected Czech musicians, for example Iva Bittová, Karel Růžička and Vladimír Václavek and he also recorded three CD’s as a leader- Getting There Together (1995), Earth Life (2000) and Present Past (2003).
Lukasz Zyta (Poland), drums
Lukasz Zyta is a graduate of the Katowice Musical Academy. He has received awards from competitions in Hoelaart (Belgium), Krakow and Katowice and the main prize at the Jazz Drummers Meeting in Grodzisk Mazowiecki. He has appeared at festivals in Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Belgium. He has worked with musicians such as Andrzej Cudzich, Joachim Mencel, Brad Terry, Darek Oleskiewicz, Kuba Stankiewicz and Grzegorz Nagorski.