Alex Machacek (born 1 July 1972,

Tulln an der Donau Tulln an der Donau () is a historic town in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, the administrative seat of Tulln District. Because of its abundance of parks and gardens, Tulln is often referred to as ''Blumenstadt'' ("City of Flowers"), and "The ...

, Austria) is an Austrian

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

guitarist.

Early years

Machacek was born to a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

family in

Tulln Tulln an der Donau () is a historic town in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, the administrative seat of Tulln District. Because of its abundance of parks and gardens, Tulln is often referred to as ''Blumenstadt'' ("City of Flowers"), and "The ...

, Austria. His family had moved to Austria in the 1960s as refugees. Since then, they have adopted Austria as their nation. He started playing the guitar at the age of eight by taking

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

lessons for six years at a music school in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. Machacek's early influences were heavy metal musicians and bands such as

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

KISS A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

and

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

. However, in the mid-1980s, he was attracted to the music of

Mike Stern Mike Stern (born January 10, 1953) is an American jazz guitarist. After playing with Blood, Sweat & Tears, he worked with drummer Billy Cobham, then with trumpeter Miles Davis from 1981 to 1983 and again in 1985. He then began a solo career, re ...

John Scofield John Scofield (born December 26, 1951) is an American guitarist and composer. His music over a long career has blended jazz, jazz fusion, funk, blues, soul and rock. He first came to mainstream attention as part of the band of Miles Davis; he ...

Allan Holdsworth Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British jazz and rock music, rock guitarist, violinist and composer. He contributed to numerous bands, including Soft Machine, U.K. (band), U.K., The Tony Williams Lifetime, Pierre Moerl ...

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain (instrumental), Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" ...

and John McLaughlin. He stated that he is influenced by all the music that he liked, including heavy metal and

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

Music career

Machacek studied jazz guitar and jazz education at the Conservatory of Vienna, Austria. He took classical lessons in percussion. After that, he attended

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

in Boston for two semesters. He won the European guitar competition Guitar Newcomer 98. His first album, '' Featuring Ourselves'', was released in 1999. He then met his idol, drummer

Terry Bozzio Terry John Bozzio (born December 27, 1950) is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons, U.K., and Frank Zappa. He has been featured on nine solo or collaborative albums, 26 albums with Zappa and seven albums with Missi ...

. They collaborated on '' Delete and Roll'' as the band BPM. The album had elements of avant garde jazz,

, and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

. Music critics compared the music to the complex rhythms of Frank Zappa and the atmospheric guitar synth backdrops of ECM albums. The albums contain many legato guitar solos. '' ic' was released in 2005.IC> His wife Sumitra Nanjundan sings on "Indian Girl". Machacek has toured as the Fabulous Austrian Trio (FAT) with bassist Raphael Preuschl and drummer Herbert Pirker. They have collaborated with Mario Lackner. In 2007, he was a founding member of UKZ with

Eddie Jobson Edwin Jobson (born 28 April 1955) is an English musician who has been a member of several progressive rock bands, including Curved Air, Roxy Music, U.K. and Jethro Tull. He was also part of Frank Zappa's band in 1976–77. Noted for his key ...

and

Trey Gunn Trey Gunn (born December 13, 1960) is an American musician, known for being in the progressive rock band King Crimson from 1994 to 2003. He plays Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick instruments. Biography A native Texan who now resides in New Mexi ...

. He has also played in

Planet X Following the discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846, there was considerable speculation that another planet might exist beyond its orbit. The search began in the mid-19th century and continued at the start of the 20th with Percival Lowell's ...

, which toured in Greece and Armenia in November 2008, and with the

Virgil Donati Virgil Donati (born 22 October 1958) is an Australian drummer, composer and producer. He holds the drum sticks in the traditional style and is also proficient at the keyboard. Donati formed Planet X with Derek Sherinian and was the band's pri ...

Band. Machacek has taught at

Musicians Institute Musicians Institute (MI) is a private for-profit music school in Los Angeles, California. MI students can earn Certificates and – with transfer of coursework taken at Los Angeles City College – Associate of Arts Degrees, as well as Bachelor ...

in Los Angeles. Machacek played with

Brand X Brand X were a British jazz rock band formed in London in 1974. They were initially active until 1980, followed by reformations between 1992–1999 and 2016–2021. Despite sometimes being considered to be a Phil Collins side project (due t ...

on the Cruise to the Edge 2019. Machacek is currently the substitute guitarist for

John Goodsall John Goodsall (15 February 1953 – 10 November 2021As far as the exact date of death is concerned, numerous false statements are circulating on the internet. The only reliable reference is the photocopy of the death certificate provided by John ...

of Brand X for all tours outside of the US. Machacek occasionally plays with the fusion band CAB led by bassist Bunny Brunel &

Scott Kinsey Scott Kinsey is a keyboardist and member of the band Tribal Tech. He is a 1991 graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Career In addition to playing in Tribal Tech with Scott Henderson and Gary Willis, Kinsey has worked with phila ...

former keyboardist from the fusion band

Tribal Tech Tribal Tech was a progressive fusion band, originally formed in 1984 by guitarist Scott Henderson and bass player Gary Willis. From 1993 forward the band included Scott Kinsey on keyboard and Kirk Covington on drums, and released ten albums th ...

Personal life

In 2005 Machacek married Sumitra Nanjundan, an

Indian American Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from India. The terms Asian Indian and East Indian are used to avoid confusion with Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans in the United States, who ar ...

, after having worked with her for eight years. He produced her solo album ''Indian Girl''. He visited India in 2005 to perform as part of an annual jazz festival.

Praise for Alex Machacek

He has been praised by John McLaughlin,

, and

Shawn Lane Shawn Lane (March 21, 1963 – September 26, 2003) was an American musician who released two studio albums and collaborated with a variety of musicians including Ringo Starr, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Reg ...

for his innovative style and the ease with which he shifts from

legato In music performance and notation, legato (; Italian for "tied together"; French ''lié''; German ''gebunden'') indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly, such that the transition from note to note is made with no intervening si ...

staccato Staccato (; Italian for "detached") is a form of Articulation (music), musical articulation. In modern notation, it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence. It has been described by theorists and ...

."Alex Machacek-The Next John McLaughlin" in Rave Magazine Issue 45, Oct 2006 McLaughlin said, "Alex Machacek's music starts where other music ends".

Discography

* '' Featuring Ourselves'' (Next Generation Enterprises, 1999) * '' Delete and Roll'' with

, Gerald Preinfalk (Next Generation Enterprises, 2002) * '' ic' (Abstract Logix, 2006) * '' Improvision'' with

Jeff Sipe Jeff Sipe (born January 31, 1959), also known as Apt. Q258, is an American drummer. He works mainly in rock and jazz fusion. He is a founding member of Aquarium Rescue Unit with Bruce Hampton. He was a member of Leftover Salmon and the Zambi ...

Matt Garrison Matthew Justin Garrison (born June 2, 1970) is an American jazz bassist. Since 2011, he has run ShapeShifter Lab in Brooklyn, New York, with Fortuna Sung. Described by ''the New York Times'' as "an electric bass virtuoso", he has toured with ...

(Abstract Logix, 2007) * ''The Official Triangle Sessions'' with Jeff Sipe, Neal Fountain (Abstract Logix, 2009) * '' 24 Tales'' with

Marco Minnemann Marco Minnemann (born 24 December 1970) is a German multi-instrumentalist and composer who primarily plays drums. Career Minnemann has released over a dozen solo albums as drummer, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist, and performed on over 100 ...

(Abstract Logix, 2010) * ''FAT'' with Raphael Preuschl, Herbert Pirker (Abstract Logix, 2012) * ''Now'' with

Gary Husband Gary Husband (born 14 June 1960) is an English jazz and rock drummer, pianist, keyboard player and bandleader. He is also a composer, arranger, producer and educator. Husband was a member for 16 years of John McLaughlin's group The 4th Dimen ...

(Abstract Logix, 2013) * ''FAT: Living The Dream'' with Raphael Preuschl, Herbert Pirker (Abstract Logix, 2015) * ''#awesome'' with Raphael Preuschl, Herbert Pirker (Abstract Logix, 2018)

References

External links

Official site

Alex Machacek biography, discography and album reviews, credits & releases
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Alex Machacek discography, album releases & credits
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

Alex Machacek albums to be listened
on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

Alex Machacek albums to be listened
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Machacek, Alex 1972 births Living people Austrian jazz guitarists Austrian male guitarists 21st-century Austrian guitarists People from Tulln an der Donau Jazz fusion guitarists