Jaroslav Ježek

Czech composer, pianist, conductor, band leader. Born September 25, 1906, Prague, Czechia, former Austro-Hungarian Empire – died January 1, 1942, New York, NY, USA. Composer of jazz, modern classical, incidental and film music. Member of avantgarde and satiric theatre “Osvobozené Divadlo” (“Liberated Theatre”), author of music for its performances. During the decade 1928–38, Ježek composed numerous songs, dances, marches and whole scenes for twenty revues and plays performed at the Liberated Theatre. The best among them were positively received – both artistically and technically – even by the likes of Igor Stravinsky and Kurt Weill. These works, which introduced the turns of Czech melody into the rhythms of modern dances – the tangos and foxes, charlestons and rhumbas, waltzes and blues – there ran another stream of Ježek’s compositions for orchestra and chamber groups, in which the elements of jazz music are combined with the bold polyrhytmics of the instrumental voices. Note: Nový Orchestr Jaroslava Ježka is Czech traditional jazz orchestra, named as a tribute to composer.