Czech pianist, composer, arranger, and educator Pavel Wlosok (*1973) started to play the piano when he was five years old. He received his classical education in piano performance and composition at the Conservatory of Music in Ostrava (1987 - 1993) in the classes of Mr. Zdenek Pecek and Mr. Igor Katajev, and in the class of Prof. Arnost Parsch at the Janacek Academy of Music (JAMU) in BRNO (1993 - 1995). He obtained his bachelor and master degrees in jazz studies at the University of North Texas in Denton, USA (1995 - 2000), where he studied composition with Prof. Cindy McTee, jazz piano with Prof. Dan Haerle, and classical piano with Prof. Adam Wodnicki.
While at the University of North Texas, Pavel served as pianist-arranger for the One O'clock Lab Band (his work is included on 4 CDs produced by this group, the last one featuring British ECM artist Kenny Wheeler). He also was featured as a solo pianist with the UNT Wind Symphony (as documented on CD Luminnaries, under the direction of fabulous Eugene Corporon), and has toured Europe and North America as a pianist and composer. His only self-produced album as a leader is titled Long Journey (1997), and features his best friends from early North Texas years, such as saxophonists Tyler Kuebler and Wayne Delano, bassist Mike McGuirk, drummers Ed Soph and Rich Matschulat, and trumpeter Scott Harrell. Early 2007 Czech label Cube Metier will release Pavel's latest trio project Live at the Grey Eagle with John Riley on drums and Mike McGuirk on bass.
During his years at JAMU , Pavel was one of the original founders of the Helpless Handful (1993 - 2002), a group of six young composers, whose compositions where performed in the Czech Republic as well as central Europe. An album released in 2002 can be found on the Indies label. However, due to the many international engagements of its members and the demands required for the continuous fight for survival in the current overly-commercialized music industry business, this group has recently disbanded. Pavel Wlosok's contemporary compositions have been performed mainly in Europe; most recently the World premiere of Reverberations for Marimba Solo, Volume II took place as part of the Janacek Philharmony Brno chamber music series in May 2003 (performed by Martin Oprsal.) Wlosok's String Quartet with Moravian Influences in Two Parts was recorded by Apollon String Quartet for the Czech National Radio in Prague in 2002.
Since 1999, Pavel and his wife Andrea Adamcova have been engaged in a unique series of solo piano recitals called Classical Meets Jazz ,
where Andrea specializes on the classical portion by performing Czech
composers of the 20th and 21st century, such as Leoö
Janacek, Bohuslav Martin
Between August 2000 and 2002 Pavel served as the director of jazz studies at Truman State University , in Kirksville, Missouri, where his duties included directing the university's two big bands and several small groups; he also was faculty advisor and active participatant in the annual Phi Mu Alpha Jazz Festival . Since 2002 Pavel has been an assistant professor of jazz, commercial and electronic music at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, where, besides his teaching and administrative duties, he has helped to establish, organize and participate in an annual WCU Jazz Festival, which targets mainly the Great Smoky Mountains community and WCU campus. Pavel is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi and has actively participated in Phi Mu Alpa music activities while in Missouri and North Carolina.
Since 2000, Pavel Wlosok has been regularly invited to participate as lecturer and performer at the International Summer Jazz Workshop in Prague, organized annually by the Czech Jazz Society , where, along with around dozen more European colleagues, he has been teaching concepts of solo piano improvisation, jazz harmony and styles, as well as couching small groups and teaching arranging. In 2001 Czech National TV Network filmed and broadcasted a documentary interview with him about his original contemporary compositions and jazz music. The Czech Radio station Vltava has regularly been broadcasting many of his compositions, both in jazz and in classical idioms. Wlosok has also appeared in a live John Adams jazz trio performance for the Texas TV Morning News on Channel 6.
In 2002 Pavel formed his own professional band named Acoustic Jazz Trio, along with dual Grammy award winner Eliot Wadopian, on bass, and Asheville's premiere drummer, Byron Hedgepeth. This band focuses on acoustic straight ahead mainstream, which is spiced up by some of the rich Czech folk music influencies. Both standards and original compositions can be heard frequently in the Asheville area, as this trio has been one of the favorite rhythm sections for artists coming through this artistically active region of the country. Most recently the trio appeared with trombonist Conrad Herwig, and trumpeters Vince DiMartino, Byron Stripling and Jon Faddis.
Since 1998 Pavel has been actively involved with mobile recording, mixing, and mastering of live classical and jazz performances. His home based studio includes high-end professional vintage and modern studio microphones, tube and solid state vintage preamps, a ProTools computer setup and mastering hardware equipment including half inch two-track reel to reel recorder by Studer 807 running at 15 and 30ips. Since the fall of 2004 Pavel has been partially involved with the new four million dollar recording studio facility located on campus of WCU, which includes a state-of-the-art 96-channel all digital recording console, model c200 made by Solid State Logic.
In April of 2006 Pavel has won James Dooley Teaching Excellence Award awarded to the best music teacher at Western Carolina University by music students, music faculty, and independent three-member committee. Since 2002 WCU Jazz and Combo Ensembles (under the direction of Pavel) have performed for more than 1800 K12 and high school students in North Carolina and surrounding states.
Pavel Wlosok is a 2000 IAJE (International Association of Jazz Educators) Gil Evans Fellowship recipient in the field of composition and arranging and has performed and/or recorded with many prominent jazz artists, such as Bob Berg, Vince DiMartino, Dennis Dotson, Jon Faddis, Danny Gotlieb, Wycliffe Gordon, Tim Hagans, Conrad Herwig, Louis Hayes, Denis Irwin, Ingrid Jensen, Victor Lewis, Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano, Janusz Muniak, Dave Pietro, Paquito DeRivera, Rufus Reid, John Riley, Lynn Seaton, Gary Smulyan, Ed Soph, Byron Stripling, Bobby Watson, and Kenny Wheeler.
University of North Texas (UNT)
Janacek Academy of Music (JAMU)
