Gustav Brom (22 May 1921 in Veľké Leváre – 25 September 1995) was a slovak big band leader, arranger, clarinetist and composer. He achieved fame in Europe and abroad from the 1940s right through to his death in 1995. He worked prolifically and was noted for remaining true to the jazz big band idiom, beginning with

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ...

and swing and later, with contributions from his musicians, moving into the

West Coast jazz West Coast jazz refers to styles of jazz that developed in Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a subgenre of cool jazz, which consisted of a calmer style than bebop or hard bop. The music relied rela ...

sound. Born Gustav Frkal, his and the band's first professional engagement was in June 1940 in the Radhošť Hotel in

Rožnov pod Radhoštěm Rožnov pod Radhoštěm (; german: Rosenau unter dem Radhoscht) is a town in Vsetín District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. Administrative parts Rožnov pod Radhoštěm is made up of one administrativ ...

. Shortly after World War II, Brom's band performed in Brno and Bratislava and also for several months in 1947 in Switzerland. Other top big band leaders in Prague at this time included Karel Vlach and

Kamil Běhounek Kamil Běhounek (March 29, 1916, Blatná - November 22, 1983, Bonn) was a Bohemian accordionist who played jazz and popular music. He also worked as a bandleader, arranger, composer, and film scorer. He also occasionally played tenor saxophone. B ...

. Brom triumphed in 1955 at the

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

Fair, in the former East Germany, winning accolades for his outstanding arrangements. The 1950s saw Brom signed with

Supraphon Supraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, oriented mainly towards publishing classical music and popular music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers. History The Supraphon name was first registered as a trademark in 1932. ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

, recording and arranging prolifically with many guest artists including British singer Gery Scott, Czech singers

Karel Gott ) Sinatra of the East( cs, Sinatra Východu, link=no)Divine Charlie Helena Vondráčková Helena Vondráčková (born 24 June 1947, in Prague) is a Czech singer whose career has spanned five decades. Early life/career Beginnings Vondráčková spent her childhood years in the town of Slatiňany. She took piano lessons from an ea ...

and Hana and Petr Ulrych (aka Ulrychovi) and Greek sisters Tena and Martha Elefteriadu.

International recognition

In the 1960s Brom's band was rated one of the top ten big-bands in the world by the American jazz polls. Maynard Ferguson, Dizzy Gillespie,

Diana Ross & the Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful ...

, Ray Conniff, Ben Cramer, Bill Ramsey and others joined the Gustav Brom Big Band in many concerts and performances and the band's name became well known and respected among professional performers as well as the discerning public. Brom was honoured in 1993 with the Luděk Hulan Jazz Award, presented yearly by the Czech Jazz Society,

Legacy

With Brom's death in 1995, the band started a new phase under a slightly changed name, conducted by Vladimír Valovič from the

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

n capital, Bratislava. Valovič was appointed by Brom himself as successor. New members have joined from the Czech cities of

, Brno,

Olomouc Olomouc (, , ; german: Olmütz; pl, Ołomuniec ; la, Olomucium or ''Iuliomontium'') is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 99,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019). Located on t ...

and

Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four riv ...

, and also from Bratislava. Since June 1940, Gustav Brom's big-band's name has appeared on over 570 music records, of both Czech and foreign origin, and the post-war recordings are becoming of interest to record collectors and music lovers worldwide. In September 2006, Czech recording label ''Producentské centrum Františka Rychtaříka'' released the CD ''Gery Scott & Gustav Brom'', a reissue of selections recorded by Supraphon in Prague in 1957.

Discography

*1961: ''Jazz in der Tschechoslovakei'' (Supraphon SUC 15388) *1962: ''Jazz Souvenirs'' (Supraphon, SUK 35545) Single B-side only, A-side consists of music by

János Kőrössy János Kőrössy (26 December 1926 – 21 January 2013) was a Romanian jazz musician of Hungarian descent. He was a piano player, composer and arranger. He was born to an ethnic Hungarian family in Cluj. His first teacher was pianist and conduct ...

& Studio 5 *1966: ''Ceskoslovensky Jazz 1965'' (Supraphon DV 1023) Various Artists (including Jan Hammer, Karel Velebný and others) *1967: ''Jazzovy Concert'' (Supraphon 150478) *1967: ''Swinging The Jazz'' (MPS Records) *1969: ''Missa Jazz'' (MPS Records) *1969: ''Maynard + Gustav'' (Supraphon, 1 15 0716, Los Grandes del JAZZ Sarpe 85), Maynard Ferguson and Gustav Brom Orchestra *1976: ''Polymelomodus'' (

) *1976: ''Mini Jazz Klub vol.3 in memoriam Josef Blaha'' (Panton, 330388) *1976: ''Plays for you pop, jazz and swing'' (Opus 91150447)

References

*Jaroslav Smolka: ''Malá encyklopedie hudby.'' Prague: Editio Supraphon, 1983.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brom, Gustav 1921 births 1995 deaths 20th-century composers 20th-century Czech people Czech composers Czech male composers Czech conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Czech jazz musicians Jazz bandleaders Jazz clarinetists Czech people of Slovak descent People from Malacky District 20th-century Czech male musicians Male jazz musicians Czechoslovak musicians