Česky
Jan Smigmator to transform O2 universum into the world’s largest jazz club
A unique gala concert celebrating the 40th birthday of singer Jan Smigmator promises an evening unlike any other in the history of O2 universum: round tables, intimate lighting, champagne, a world-class big band, international guests, and the christening of his new album Here And Now. For one night only, the grand arena will be transformed into a world-class jazz club.
For one night, you want to turn O2 universum into the world’s largest jazz club. What led you to this idea?
I love big challenges – those moments when you step out of your own shadow. I’m fascinated by the idea of a jazz singer stepping out of the natural habitat of a club or theater onto a massive arena stage, while losing none of what makes jazz jazz: the intimacy, the emotion, the connection with the audience, the storytelling. The concept is built on contrast. O2 universum is a vast space, but I believe that by focusing on the details, we can create an atmosphere that is absolutely unique. We want to turn the hall into a club – a jazz club with the flair of New York cabarets and speakeasies, the elegance of great concert halls, and perhaps a touch of Las Vegas from the era of Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack. It might be a crazy idea, but that’s how great things often begin.
Why did you decide to create an intimate club atmosphere in such a large hall?
I’m at home in a club! I love that intimacy, but at the same time, I long to share this music with a wider audience. Recently, a journalist even called me the “21st-century swing apostle.” And since I’m celebrating my 40th birthday this year, it simply calls for something big. Right on my birthday, January 17th, I kicked off the tour with a sold-out concert at Brno’s Sono – a club I dearly love and have returned to regularly for years. Then the band and I hit a few more cities, some festivals, and started preparing for Prague. And why O2 universum? Because it’s one of the best concert venues in the Czech Republic, and it suits jazz and big orchestras perfectly. Jamie Cullum, Gregory Porter, and Zaz have all performed here, and now it’s my turn with my Big Band, choir, and guests. And there’s one more thing: I don’t believe jazz is a “complex genre only for the initiated.” It has many forms, of course, but it’s also about the songs and the stories within them. When I look back fifteen or twenty years to when I was a kid fresh out of the conservatory, singing in Prague restaurants and bars for just a few people, the contrast is truly moving. Standing on a major arena stage twenty years later and bringing the magic of a club to it – that’s exactly what excites me.
What feeling should the audience have the moment they sit down at a table on the floor or in the stands and the first notes of the concert ring out?
The first notes will definitely belong to my magnificent big band – eighteen top-tier Czech musicians. They are the best of the best. I want the evening to start with the sound of a grand jazz ensemble so that from the very first second, harmony, energy, and that specific “drive” that only a big band possesses fill the hall. That instrumentation is simply genius. I believe that in that moment, people will say to themselves: “Yes. We are in the right place. This is where we belong. We’re going to enjoy this.” And then I’ll come out and start to swing. The key will be establishing a connection with the audience – the kind I know from clubs and theaters. I want to sing as if I were looking every single person in the hall in the eye. Just like at Malostranská beseda, the City Theater in Jablonec, or during the summer Jazz Picnics at Villa Vojkov. Exactly how my mentor, the legendary American singer Marilyn Maye (born 1928), taught me. It will be the biggest concert of my musical career so far, yet my goal is for it to feel intimate, like visiting friends.
You are celebrating your 40th birthday with a gala concert – do you see this evening more as a retrospective or a new beginning?
It will be both. On one hand, it might seem retrospective – turning forty naturally leads one to look back. But I’m “only” forty. I’m looking forward and have so many plans. At the same time, I resonate with the words of my friend, composer and pianist Svatopluk Smola, who has told me for years that a man at forty should already stand firmly on his own two feet – and everything he has done up to that point should now be refined and developed. His actions should be beyond doubt. So yes – there is a piece of reflection in it, but even more so, it’s a confident step into the future. A feeling that now comes a period where I can be even bolder, be absolutely myself, and strive even harder for quality. And who knows… maybe one day I’ll fill the arena next door, the O2 arena, with jazz, swing, and a big band behind me. Because honestly: nothing is impossible in human life, and anything you can imagine, you can realize.
World-class musical personalities will appear by your side at the concert. What is it like to share the stage with people you’ve admired for years?
It’s a huge honor – and a joy that it’s all happening so organically. I never really had to “force it.” These people entered my life naturally, and I appreciate all the more that they are doing this with me. American saxophonist Scott Hamilton is a true jazz legend, a pure swingman, a person who tells stories through his saxophone. He recorded with Tony Bennett, toured and recorded for years with Rosemary Clooney (George Clooney’s aunt), played with Benny Goodman’s orchestra, Woody Herman, Bing Crosby… His tone is like velvet, yet it can be razor-sharp, and he has a sense of swing in his blood like few others. I actually always wanted to be able to sing the way he plays his tenor sax. But that we would become friends and partners – I wouldn’t have dreamed that in a million years. We’ve played many concerts, recorded a joint album Two Tenors… and when I headed to Carnegie Hall, I knew he had to be part of my band. But for my birthday gala, singer and actress Luba Mason from New York’s Broadway will also fly in, as will her husband – singer, musician, composer, actor, and philanthropist, rightfully called the King of Salsa, Panama native Rubén Blades. The fact that this giant of the global music scene, Hollywood actor, and 25-time Grammy winner is coming to Prague on April 29th to perform with me at O2 universum? That’s still something I wouldn’t have dared to even say out loud years ago.
You performed your solo concert at Carnegie Hall as the first Czech jazz singer. How did that experience influence your planning for the Prague concert?
Carnegie Hall was a dream come true, but also a huge commitment. When you say Carnegie Hall, anyone who knows anything about music tips their hat. It’s a place where the greatest of the greats have performed. Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles Aznavour, Edith Piaf… and of course, I must not forget Antonín Dvořák, who premiered the New World Symphony there in 1893, or Karel Gott, who first performed in this musical sanctuary in 2000. When you walk through the artist entrance and realize all of this, you have to pinch yourself. At the same time, you have to deliver. So humility, yes, but without determination and healthy self-confidence, it wouldn’t work at all. The audience there is demanding; they notice every detail and don’t forgive mistakes. But when the whole hall rose to its feet at the end of my concert for a never-ending standing ovation, I told myself that I had probably just passed my “world-class vocal graduation exam.” And that exact experience and feeling is what I’m bringing to O2 universum: an emphasis on quality, dramaturgy, tempo, detail, and above all, truthfulness. No pretension. Just being myself. We even chose the same date – April 29th – which I’ve considered my lucky day ever since. Carnegie Hall turned out great, and I believe this Prague concert will be just as powerful.
During the evening, you will christen the album Here And Now. What does this title symbolize for you?
Where I am right now. Here and now! We really took our time with this album. We recorded it both at home in the Czech Republic at Sono Records with Adam Karlík and at Studio Svárov with Lukáš Martinek, but a crucial part of the album, including the title track, was created in New York at the legendary Flux Studios. I recorded there with my pianist Mikuláš Pokorný and also with organist Ondřej Pivec, with whom I wrote two songs and who co-produced two others. In Manhattan, I also recorded duets with Rubén Blades and Luba Mason, as well as several tracks with Jumaane Smith, the lead trumpeter of Michael Bublé’s big band. It was in New York that I realized how fitting the title Here And Now is. In music, the present moment is everything: either you are fully in it, or it doesn’t work. For me, the title symbolizes live, honest music – the energy of a moment when something is created that you will never repeat in exactly the same way. Here And Now is synonymous with jazz! And that’s exactly the “here and now” I want people to experience with me at O2 universum.
What would you say to people who claim they “don’t understand” jazz but are considering attending this concert?
I’ve encountered this opinion many times. And almost every time, it ends the same way: if I manage to “break” someone and get them to come, it pays off. They stop being afraid of jazz – and today they not only attend my concerts but are among my most loyal fans. My message is clear: don’t be afraid of jazz; let it reach your heart without prejudice and surrender to the present moment. No one is going to quiz you on standards, who wrote Summertime, or how much Duke Ellington or Cole Porter composed! This will be an evening full of stories, emotions, bridges between genres, and the joy of swing – music that is simply timeless. Some of these songs are nearly a hundred years old, but they still work. They are still “here and now.” And most importantly… this concert is ONE NIGHT ONLY! It will never be repeated in this form. Come – it would be a great shame not to be there with us.