Jazz Dock Orchestra
Jazz Dock Orchestra is a 16-piece big band, with a once-monthly residency at Jazz Dock jazz club in Prague, beginning in January 2018, and celebrated 6 years at the club at the end of 2023.
The orchestra is a collaboration between Jazz Dock and the band's artistic and musical directors Andy Schofield, trombonist Jan Jirucha and saxophonist/band manager Petr Kalfus.
The aim of the orchestra is to perform original compositions and arrangements by its members, and also to celebrate the repertoire of some of the greatest composer/arrangers in jazz history.
Projects for 2018-23 included music by Jan Jirucha, Miroslav Hloucal, Richard Šanda and Andy Schofield, as well as classic repertoire from Thad Jones, Bob Brookmeyer, Kenny Wheeler, Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington, plus international guests such as Niels Klein (DE) Ben Wendel, and Kurt Elling (US), Reini Schmoelzer (AT), Nikki Iles (UK) and Richard Bona (Cameroon).
Jazz Dock Orchestra's first album "Tonight", featuring original compositions by Andy Schofield and Jan Jirucha, was released in October 2023, and is available on streaming platforms, and CD.
A TV special was recorded live in the club in February 2024, featuring Andy Schofield's new suite "Reflections" - a series of compositions inspired by English poetry, and will be broadcast later in 2024 on Czech TV channel ČT Art.
Please enjoy the videos from some of our live concerts, below:
(You Can find more on Andy's YouTube channel)
Trumpets: Miroslav Nováček, Jaroslav Kohoutek, Miroslav Hloucal, Martin Juzzl
Trombones: Jan Jirucha, Stepán Janoušek, Richard Šanda,
Tomáš Bialko (bass)
Saxophones/Woodwinds: Andy Schofield, Petr Kalfus (altos) Marcel Bárta, Suzanne Higgins (tenors) Jakub Cirkl (baritone)
Piano: Jiri Levíček
Bass: Tomáš Baroš
Drums: Daniel Šoltis
February 2024 Concert - Jazz Dock - "Reflections" Suite for Jazz Orchestra - composed & arranged by Andy Schofield.
February's concert at Jazz Dock featured the premiere of a major new work by Andy Schofield, based on English poetry. Each piece is inspired by a particular poem, and features a different soloist from the band. Here is the full list of poems (all easy to find with a quick Google search):
Part 1: The Listeners (Walter de la Mare)
Part 2: On The Ning Nang Nong (Spike Milligan)
Part 3: Ozymandias (Percy Bysshe Shelley)
Part 4: Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night (Dylan Thomas)
Part 5: If- (Rudyard Kipling)
Part 6: The Second Coming (W.B. Yeats)
Part 7: She Walks In Beauty (Lord Byron)
Part 8: This Be The Verse (Philip Larkin)