Prague Live Music: The Official Autumnal Equinox

Yesterday marked the very first official day of autumn. For those of us who absolutely love the summer, it was another inevitable “already?” moment—it really does seem to arrive earlier and earlier every single year. Fortunately, there are a few wonderful consolations that come with the changing of the seasons. Chief among them is that the live music life in our European jazz capital is officially back to its full, vibrant rhythm. Last night, that meant a beautifully packed house at U Staré paní for one of the city’s most popular weekly events: Libor’s Jam Session (Libor as in Libor Šmoldas, just in case anyone needed a reminder!).

This particular jam session has grown explosively popular, especially among the local music academy students. Last night offered a rich variety of exceptional performances and improvisational highlights, ranging from classic jazz standards to some pure, deeply honest twelve-bar blues. We picked up right where we left off in the spring—there were so many eager participants that one single evening barely seemed long enough to fit them all, leaving the stage mildly described as packed from wall to wall.

While watching the younger generation jam is always a beautiful thing, it did mean that Libor’s own core lineup for the evening—an absolute musical powerhouse featuring Libor Šmoldas (guitar), Ondřej Štajnochr (bass), and Tomáš Hobzek (drums)—didn’t get quite as much room as usual to unleash their own virtuoso skills! Still, the energy in the room was electric.

If you missed out on the action last night, don’t worry. The next edition of Libor’s Jam Session is right around the corner on Monday, October 5th—same place, same time, running nonstop from 20:00 to 23:00!