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 top-tier big band, world-class guests, and the christening of the new album Here And Now. For one night only, the large hall will be transformed into a world-class jazz club.

For one night, you want to transform O₂ universum into the world’s largest jazz club. What led you to this idea?

I love big challenges – the moment when a person steps out of their own shadow. I’m fascinated by the idea of a jazz singer stepping out of their natural environment of a club or theater and onto the stage of a massive arena, while losing none of what makes jazz “jazz”: intimacy, emotion, contact with the audience, and the story. The idea is built on contrast. O₂ universum is a large space, but I believe that if we focus on the details, we will create an atmosphere that is absolutely unrepeatable. We want to turn the hall into a club – a jazz club, an environment that will have the flair of New York cabarets and speakeasy bars, the elegance of concert halls, and maybe even a bit of the Las Vegas vibe from the era of Frank Sinatra and his cronies from The Rat Pack. Maybe it’s a crazy idea, but great things often start exactly like that.

Why did you decide to create an intimate club atmosphere specifically in a large hall?

In a club, I’m at home! I love that intimacy, but at the same time, I long to pass this music on to a wider audience. Recently, a journalist even called me the “21st-century swing apostle.” 🙂 And since I’m celebrating my fortieth 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 many years. Then the band and I visited a few more cities, some festivals, and started getting ready for Prague. And why O₂ universum? Because it is one of the best concert spaces in the Czech Republic, which suits jazz and big orchestras perfectly. Jamie Cullum, Gregory Porter, Zaz have all performed here, and now I’m diving into it with my Big Band, choir, and guests. And then there’s one more thing: I don’t think jazz is a “complex genre only for the initiated.” It obviously has many forms and directions, but it’s also about the songs and the stories contained within them. Moreover, when I remember the time fifteen or twenty years ago when, as a boy fresh out of the conservatory, I sang in Prague restaurants, bars, and clubs for a few spectators, the contrast is truly moving. Standing on the stage of a large hall twenty years later and bringing the magic of a club to it – that’s exactly what I enjoy.

What feeling should a spectator have the moment they sit down at a table on the floor or in a seat in the auditorium and the first notes of the concert ring out?

The first notes will clearly 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 large jazz ensemble, so that from the very first second, harmony, energy, and that specific “drive” that only a big band has will pour through the hall! That instrumental composition is simply ingenious. And I believe people will say to themselves at that moment: “Yes. We are in the right place. This is our spot. We’re going to enjoy this today.” And then I’ll come out and start swinging. The key will be to establish contact with the audience – the kind I know from clubs and theaters. I want to sing as if I were singing into the eyes of every person in the hall. Just like in Malostranská beseda, the City Theater in Jablonec nad Nisou, or during summer Jazz Picnics at Villa Vojkov. Exactly as my mentor, the legendary American singer Marilyn Maye (*1928), taught me. It will be the biggest concert of my musical career so far, but my goal is for it to feel intimate and for everyone to feel as if they’ve come to visit friends.

You are celebrating your fortieth 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 can seem retrospective – turning forty naturally leads a person to look back. But I am “only” forty. I’m looking forward and have plenty of plans. At the same time, I resonate with the words of my friend, composer, pianist, and fantastic doctor Svatopluk Smola, who has been telling 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, he should only evaluate and develop. His actions should already be unquestionable. So yes – there’s a piece of retrospective in it, but even more, it is a confident step into the future. A feeling that a period is coming now when I can be even bolder, be absolutely myself, and strive even more for quality. And who knows… maybe one day I’ll fill the hall next door, the O₂ arena, with jazz, swing, and a big band behind me. Because honestly: nothing is impossible in human life, and whatever 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 have admired for many years?

It is a huge honor – and at the same time a joy that the whole thing is actually happening quite organically. I never had to “push the envelope” significantly. Those people entered my life naturally, and I appreciate all the more that they are going into this with me. American saxophonist Scott Hamilton is a true jazz legend, an orthodox swinger, a man 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, with Woody Herman, Bing Crosby… His tone is like velvet, yet it can be as sharp as a razor, 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 of that in a million years. We’ve already played many concerts, recorded a joint album Two Tenors… and when I was heading to Carnegie Hall, I knew that he precisely had to be part of my band. But for my birthday gala concert, singer and actress Luba Mason from New York’s Broadway will also fly in, as well as her husband – singer, musician, composer, actor, and philanthropist, who is rightfully called the king of salsa, a native of Panama, Rubén Blades. And that this giant of the world music scene, a Hollywood actor and winner of 25 Grammy Awards, will come to Prague on April 29th and perform with me in O₂ universum? That is still something I wouldn’t have even dared to say out loud years ago.

You performed your solo concert at Carnegie Hall as the first Czech jazz singer. How did this experience influence you when planning the Prague concert?

Carnegie Hall was a dream come true, but also a huge commitment. When Carnegie Hall is mentioned, everyone who knows something 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 here in 1893, nor Karel Gott, who first performed in this musical sanctuary in 2000. When you enter through the artist entrance and realize all this, you have to pinch yourself to see if you’re not dreaming. At the same time, you have to hold your ground there. So humility yes, but without determination and healthy self-confidence, it wouldn’t work at all. The audience there is demanding, perceives every detail, and doesn’t forgive mistakes. But when at the end of my concert the whole hall rose from their seats and gifted me with a never-ending standing ovation, I told myself that I had probably just passed a “vocal graduation exam of world-class caliber.” And I’m carrying exactly this experience and feeling into O₂ universum: an emphasis on quality, dramaturgy, tempo, detail, and above all, truthfulness. No faking it. Being yourself. We even chose the same date – April 29th – I’ve considered it a lucky one since then. Carnegie Hall turned out great, and I believe this concert in Prague 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 care with the album. We recorded it both at home in the Czech Republic at Sono Records with Adam Karlík, 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. There I recorded with my pianist Mikuláš Pokorný and also with organist Ondřej Pivec, with whom I wrote two songs and on two others Ondra participated as a producer. In Manhattan, I also recorded duets with Rubén Blades and Luba Mason, and also several things with Jumaane Smith, the first trumpeter of Michael Bublé’s big band. And precisely in New York, I realized how fitting the title Here And Now is – “tady a teď”. In music, the present moment is what decides: either you are fully in it, or it doesn’t work. For me, that title symbolizes live, truthful music – the energy of the moment when something is created that you will never repeat exactly the same way. Here and Now is also a synonym for jazz! And precisely this “here and now” is what I want people to experience together with me in O₂ universum.

What would you say to people who say they “don’t understand” jazz, but are considering visiting this concert?

I’ve encountered this opinion many times. And almost every time it turned out the same: when I managed to “break” someone to come, it paid off. They stopped being afraid of jazz – and today they attend not only my concerts and are among my most loyal fans. My message therefore sounds quite clear: don’t be afraid of jazz, let it reach your heart without prejudice and surrender to the present moment. Nobody is going to test you on standards, on who wrote Summertime, or on everything Duke Ellington or Cole Porter composed! This will be an evening full of stories, emotions, bridges between genres, the joy of swing – music that is simply timeless. Some songs are almost a hundred years old, but they still work. They are still “here and now.” And mainly… This concert will be ONE NIGHT ONLY! It will never be repeated in this form. Come – it would be a huge shame not to be there with us.