Meet Martin Uherek:
I am a young professional saxophonist from Slovakia. I have a deep admiration for the legendary jazz musicians of the '40s through the '60s. I am a leader of several bands— notably the Martin Uherek Quartet and Jazz Pianoless Trio.
My newest project is Stories of Jazz (Self Produced, 2014), which combines music performed by my trio and tells stories about jazz musicians, tunes, history and much more.
Instrument(s):
Tenor saxophone.
Teachers and/or influences?
My teacher has been for the past six years is the great Slovak pianist Klaudius Kovac, who taught me everything there is to know. He mainly taught me to listen, transcribe, and learn from all the greats that lived and played jazz.
I knew I wanted to be a musician when...
I heard Charlie Parker's recording of "Confirmation" and it blew my mind. I always liked music, but did not think of becoming a musician. I was around 18 when heard that tune and I got into it deeply.
Your sound and approach to music:
I like the big sound of Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins. I liked the power and authority that they possessed in their playing. I try to have similar approach, but I am also trying to find my own way. I am trying to create nice melodic lines in the bebop style, utilizing my knowledge of harmony to get some tension and release as well as call and response.
Your teaching approach:
I do not actively teach, but in my project Stories of Jazz, I am try to help people get closer to jazz. My goal is to win wider audience of lay people that do not have the opportunity to get in touch with jazz before.
Your dream band:
My dream band would probably include a lot of the great musicians, that have been deceased for a long time. I would love to have played with Bird, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and many more. Maybe I will one day in jazz heaven!
Road story: Your best or worst experience:
One evening we got something that looked like punctured tire on the front wheel of our car after arriving at a gig. After we finished playing, we went on to try to put on the spare tire, but we realized we did not have one. Then we spent about three hours running around town trying to get someone to lend us the spare. After we finally found someone, we came back to our car and realized that we couldn't take the punctured tire off since the nuts were all corroded. After we tried to take the wheel off for about half an hour, we gave up around 2 a.m. There was no possibility of accommodation for the night, so we decided we will have to try to blow/inflate the tire with a manual tire pump and hope it will last for at least couple minutes, then we'd do it again—on the road—and again until we hopefully get home.
We later realized that it was just a faulty valve that caused it and it was only a temporary thing. The tire just needed to be inflated again! So that's how we got home at 5 a.m. after finishing a gig at 10 p.m.
Read more: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=46794#.Uy2X5tzSx3g
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