Alex Machacek

Alex Machacek (born 1 July 1972 in Tulln, Austria)^[1] is an Austrian jazz fusion guitarist 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.^[2] John McLaughlin said about him, "Alex Machacek's music starts where other music ends".^[3] He is currently based in Los Angeles.

Early years

Machacek was born to a Czech 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.^[1]

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 Music, Boston for 2 semesters. Alex also won the European guitar competition "Guitar Newcomer 98".^[1] 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.^[4] Machacek released [Sic] in 2005. All his albums have received critical acclaim, especially in jazz circles.^[5][6][7][8] [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 musicians, bassist Raphael Preuschl and drummer Herbert Pirker. The Austrian Trio have collaborated with Mario Lackner.^[2]

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.

Personal life

Alex Machacek lives in Los Angeles with his wife Sumitra Nanjundan, an Indian American. 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.^[2]

Discography

• Featuring Ourselves - 1999
• Delete and Roll - 2002 (as part of the band BPM)
• [Sic] - 2005
• Improvision - 2007 (with Jeff Sipe, Matthew Garrison)

References

External links

• Official Site
• Alex Machacek at AllMusic.com