Alex Machacek
Encyclopedia
Alex Machacek is an Austria
n jazz fusion
guitar
ist best known for his 1999 debut album Featuring Ourselves
and the acclaimed follow-up Delete and Roll
with the band BPM
. He is critically acclaimed by the likes of John McLaughlin
and the late Shawn Lane
for his innovative style and the ease with which he shifts from legato
to staccato
. John McLaughlin said about him, "Alex Machacek's music starts where other music ends". He is currently based in Los Angeles
.
family in Tulln
, 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 8 by taking classical guitar
lessons for six years at a music school in Vienna
.
Machacek's early influences were heavy metal
musicians and bands like Iron Maiden
, KISS
, Deep Purple
and Queen
. However, in the mid-1980s, he was exposed to jazz
and quickly got hooked to music of Mike Stern
, John Scofield
, Allan Holdsworth
, Frank Zappa
, Chick Corea
and John McLaughlin
. Machacek states that he is influenced by all the music that he liked, including heavy metal and hard rock
.
, Boston for 2 semesters. Alex also won the European guitar competition "Guitar Newcomer 98". He released his first album Featuring Ourselves
in 1999. He then met his idol, drummer Terry Bozzio
. Both collaborated and released the album Delete and Roll
as BPM
. The album was a slight deviation from the first album. It has largely been considered a crossover
album with elements of avant garde, jazz
, fusion
and progressive rock
all evident. Music critics have likened the music to Frank Zappa's rhythmically complex patterns and atmospheric guitar synth backdrops reminiscent of Nordic
ECM
releases. The albums contain a lot of fluid legato guitar solos. Machacek released [Sic
] in 2005. All his albums have received critical acclaim, especially in jazz circles. [Sic] also features his wife, Sumitra on vocals in one song, the song being "Indian Girl".
Machacek has also toured as "Austrian Trio" with two other Austrian musician
s, bassist
Raphael Preuschl and drummer
Herbert Pirker. The Austrian Trio have collaborated with Mario Lackner.
In 2007, he was a founding member of UKZ
with Eddie Jobson
and Trey Gunn
.
Currently, he is playing for Planet X
, which toured in Greece and Armenia in November, 2008, and with the Virgil Donati
Band. Machacek is also an instructor at the Musicians Institute
in Los Angeles.
. They married in 2005 after having worked together for eight years. He has produced her solo album Indian Girl in which he is himself featured in one of the songs. He also visited India
in 2005 for a special show as part of the annual Jazz Fest
.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist best known for his 1999 debut album Featuring Ourselves
Featuring Ourselves
Featuring Ourselves is a jazz/fusion album released in 1999 by Alex Machacek.-Track listing:# Gnade # Liebe, Jaz Und Übermut# Zapzarapp# Jazzquiz - Hard Version # Donna Lee - Easy Viennese Teenage Version# Intro 2 7 # Allandig # Bänderriss...
and the acclaimed follow-up Delete and Roll
Delete and Roll
Delete and Roll is a jazz/fusion album released in 2002 by BPM.-Track listing:#"Dicht" #"Strafe" #"Austin Powers" #"Invisible" #"Aug Um Aug" #"Bulgarianish Folkdance"...
with the band BPM
BPM (band)
BPM is a jazz-fusion band formed by Alex Machacek, Terry Bozzio and Gerald Preinfalk in 2002. They released the album, Delete and Roll, in 2002, which has received heavy critical acclaim.They are from Montgomery, Alabama.- References :**...
. He is critically acclaimed by the likes of John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
and the late Shawn Lane
Shawn Lane
Shawn Lane was an American musician. Although piano was his first instrument, he quickly became a noted player in underground guitar circles and joined Black Oak Arkansas when he was just fourteen years old....
for his innovative style and the ease with which he shifts from legato
Legato
In musical notation the Italian word legato indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, in transitioning from note to note, there should be no intervening silence...
to staccato
Staccato
Staccato is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation it signifies a note of shortened duration and separated from the note that may follow by silence...
. John McLaughlin said about him, "Alex Machacek's music starts where other music ends". He is currently based in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
Early years
Machacek was born to a CzechCzech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...
family in Tulln
Tulln (district)
Bezirk Tulln is a district of the state of Lower Austria in Austria.-Municipalities:Suburbs, hamlets and other subdivisions of a municipality are indicated in small characters.* Absdorf** Absberg* Atzenbrugg...
, 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 8 by taking classical guitar
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
lessons for six years at a music school in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
.
Machacek's early influences were heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
musicians and bands like Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
, KISS
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
, Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
and Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
. However, in the mid-1980s, he was exposed to jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and quickly got hooked to music of Mike Stern
Mike Stern
Mike Stern is an American jazz guitarist. After playing for a few years with Blood, Sweat & Tears, he landed a gig with Billy Cobham and then broke through with Miles Davis' comeback band from 1981 to 1983, and again in 1985. Since then, he launched a solo career, releasing more than a dozen albums...
, John Scofield
John Scofield
John Scofield , often referred to as "Sco," is an American jazz guitarist and composer, who has played and collaborated with Miles Davis, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, Charles Mingus, Joey Defrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Pat Martino, Mavis Staples, Phil Lesh, Billy Cobham,...
, Allan Holdsworth
Allan Holdsworth
Allan Holdsworth is an English guitarist and composer. He has released twelve studio albums as a solo artist and played many different styles of music over a period of four decades, but first drew attention for his work in jazz fusion...
, Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
and John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
. Machacek states that he is influenced by all the music that he liked, including heavy metal and hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
.
Music career
Alex Machacek studied Jazz Guitar and Jazz Education at the Conservatory of Vienna, Austria. He also took classical lessons in percussion. After that, he attended Berklee College of MusicBerklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
, Boston for 2 semesters. Alex also won the European guitar competition "Guitar Newcomer 98". He released his first album Featuring Ourselves
Featuring Ourselves
Featuring Ourselves is a jazz/fusion album released in 1999 by Alex Machacek.-Track listing:# Gnade # Liebe, Jaz Und Übermut# Zapzarapp# Jazzquiz - Hard Version # Donna Lee - Easy Viennese Teenage Version# Intro 2 7 # Allandig # Bänderriss...
in 1999. He then met his idol, drummer Terry Bozzio
Terry Bozzio
Terry John Bozzio is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons and Frank Zappa.-Biography:Terry Bozzio was born December 27, 1950 in San Francisco, California. He started at age 6 playing makeshift drum sets. At the age of 13 he saw The Beatles premier performance on The Ed...
. Both collaborated and released the album Delete and Roll
Delete and Roll
Delete and Roll is a jazz/fusion album released in 2002 by BPM.-Track listing:#"Dicht" #"Strafe" #"Austin Powers" #"Invisible" #"Aug Um Aug" #"Bulgarianish Folkdance"...
as BPM
BPM (band)
BPM is a jazz-fusion band formed by Alex Machacek, Terry Bozzio and Gerald Preinfalk in 2002. They released the album, Delete and Roll, in 2002, which has received heavy critical acclaim.They are from Montgomery, Alabama.- References :**...
. The album was a slight deviation from the first album. It has largely been considered a crossover
Crossover (music)
Crossover is a term applied to musical works or performers appearing on two or more of the record charts which track differing musical tastes, or genres...
album with elements of avant garde, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
and progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
all evident. Music critics have likened the music to Frank Zappa's rhythmically complex patterns and atmospheric guitar synth backdrops reminiscent of Nordic
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
ECM
ECM (record label)
ECM is a record label founded in Munich, Germany, in 1969 by Manfred Eicher. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a wide variety of recordings, and ECM's artists often refuse to acknowledge boundaries between genres...
releases. The albums contain a lot of fluid legato guitar solos. Machacek released [Sic
Sic (album)
[Sic] is a jazz/fusion album released in 2005 by Austrian guitarist Alex Machacek. The album features drummer Terry Bozzio.- Track listing :# [sic]# Indian Girl. feat. Sumitra Nanjundan# Miss Understanding # Yellow Pages # Djon Don # Piano...
] in 2005. All his albums have received critical acclaim, especially in jazz circles. [Sic] also features his wife, Sumitra on vocals in one song, the song being "Indian Girl".
Machacek has also toured as "Austrian Trio" with two other Austrian musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s, bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Raphael Preuschl and drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Herbert Pirker. The Austrian Trio have collaborated with Mario Lackner.
In 2007, he was a founding member of UKZ
UKZ
UKZ is an international progressive rock band, that was formed in 2007 by keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson, who had played in UK. The band also features former King Crimson guitarist Trey Gunn.-History:...
with Eddie Jobson
Eddie Jobson
Edwin "Eddie" Jobson is an English keyboardist and violinist noted for his use of synthesizers. He 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...
and Trey Gunn
Trey Gunn
Trey Gunn is an American musician, known for his membership in progressive rock band King Crimson from 1994 to 2003, playing Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick.-Biography:...
.
Currently, he is playing for Planet X
Planet X (band)
Planet X is an instrumental rock/progressive metal supergroup, founded by keyboardist Derek Sherinian and drummer Virgil Donati. Throughout a decade of activity, they have released three studio albums and one live album, each with a variety of guest musicians and oft-changing...
, which toured in Greece and Armenia in November, 2008, and with the Virgil Donati
Virgil Donati
Virgil Donati is an Australian drummer, frequent drum clinician and a producer. He is currently playing with the band Planet X and Seven the Hardway among other projects. Virgil is perhaps most well known for his fast, highly technical drumming skills...
Band. Machacek is also an instructor at the Musicians Institute
Musicians Institute
Musicians Institute is a privately owned for-profit music vocational school located in Hollywood, California. Although not a regionally accredited school, the school offers a variety of unaccredited Bachelor Degree, Associate Degree and Certificate programs in fields including contemporary music...
in Los Angeles.
Personal life
Alex Machacek lives in Los Angeles with his wife Sumitra Nanjundan, an Indian AmericanIndian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
. They married in 2005 after having worked together for eight years. He has produced her solo album Indian Girl in which he is himself featured in one of the songs. He also visited India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in 2005 for a special show as part of the annual Jazz Fest
Jazz fest
Jazz fest may mean:*a music festival for Jazz*Cork Jazz Festival*Montreal International Jazz Festival*New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival...
.
Discography
- 1999: Featuring OurselvesFeaturing OurselvesFeaturing Ourselves is a jazz/fusion album released in 1999 by Alex Machacek.-Track listing:# Gnade # Liebe, Jaz Und Übermut# Zapzarapp# Jazzquiz - Hard Version # Donna Lee - Easy Viennese Teenage Version# Intro 2 7 # Allandig # Bänderriss...
- 2002: Delete and RollDelete and RollDelete and Roll is a jazz/fusion album released in 2002 by BPM.-Track listing:#"Dicht" #"Strafe" #"Austin Powers" #"Invisible" #"Aug Um Aug" #"Bulgarianish Folkdance"...
(as part of the band BPMBPM (band)BPM is a jazz-fusion band formed by Alex Machacek, Terry Bozzio and Gerald Preinfalk in 2002. They released the album, Delete and Roll, in 2002, which has received heavy critical acclaim.They are from Montgomery, Alabama.- References :**...
) - 2005: [SicSic (album)[Sic] is a jazz/fusion album released in 2005 by Austrian guitarist Alex Machacek. The album features drummer Terry Bozzio.- Track listing :# [sic]# Indian Girl. feat. Sumitra Nanjundan# Miss Understanding # Yellow Pages # Djon Don # Piano...
] (Abstract Logix) - 2007: Improvision (with Jeff Sipe, Matthew Garrison) (Abstract Logix)
- 2008: "Ritual Fiction" by Twilight Archive (with Chris Mancinelli, Tom Vedvik, John Fumo) (electrophonogram)
- 2008: Official Triangle Sessions (with Jeff Sipe, Neal Fountain) (Abstract Logix)
- 2010: 24 Tales (with Marco Minnemann) (Abstract Logix)
External links
- Official Site
- [ Alex Machacek at AllMusic.com]