George Mraz

In 2000 Richie Beirach surprised the jazz world in his guise as "Bartók’s nephew from New York". Those who have heard the pianist in concert with violinist Gregor Huebner and bassist George Mraz, or on the critically acclaimed CD "Round About Bartók" (ACT 9276-2), have also heard how the three effortlessly improvised around themes from Alexander Scrijabin and Zoltán Kodály. Thus it should come as no surprise that Beirach has discovered he has relations with other modern classical composers. "Discovered" in the narrower meaning of the word, for the band of admirers of Federico Mompous’s resolutely unspectacular music is still small; yet it is music that makes you sit up and take notice once you have heard it.

You couldn't have asked for a more sensitive, intuitive acoustic bassist in the '70s, '80s, and '90s than George Mraz. From Stan Getz and Joe Henderson to Hank Jones, Oscar Peterson, Jimmy Rowles, and Tommy Flanagan, the Czech bassist has accompanied one heavyweight after another since arriving in the U.S. in 1968. But surprisingly, Mraz didn't record as a leader until 1991. His first two albums, 1991's Catching Up and 1995's My Foolish Heart, were recorded for the Japanese Alfa label, and it wasn't until 1995's Jazz that Mraz finally recorded for an American label as a leader. Much of this excellent hard bop/post-bop CD finds him leading a trio that includes Richie Beirach on acoustic piano and Billy Hart on drums, although the trio becomes a quartet when tenor saxman Rich Perry steps in on Wayne Shorter's "Infant Eyes" and Mraz's brief "Pepper" (written for baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams)…

The fifth volume in the Concord Duo Series matches pianist Adam Makowciz and bassist George Mraz in a concert at the Maybeck Recital Hall; both musicians are virtuosoes originally from Eastern Europe who found fame in the U.S. On what is very much a duo set, Mraz gets nearly as much solo space as Makowicz. Their repertoire mixes together six fresh renditions of standards with four of the pianist's complex originals and the harmonically advanced music (which features plenty of close interplay) has enough variety to continually hold one's interest. ~Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

When it comes to combining jazz with European folk idioms, the Scandinavians haven't quite got the monopoly. George Mraz and Emil Viklický have been creating their beautiful blend of jazz and Moravian music for years, although this is their first purely duet album. In their hands the two idioms seem made for each other. The first of these 11 pieces could almost be a kind of blues. Mraz, long a US resident, is one of the most famous bassists in jazz, while pianist Viklický is one of the Czech Republic's top film composers.