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Libor Smoldas was born on February 17, 1982 in Olomouc, Czech republic, but has lived in Prague since his childhood. He devoted himself to music at an early age, starting with the recorder and trumpet, then beginning to play guitar when he was twelve. After initial forays into rock and blues he began to take an interest in jazz, mainly due to his fascination with the recordings of Charlie Parker. At sixteen he was already appearing in Prague jazz clubs with the blues band of American singer Phil Speat, as well as at Sunday jam sessions at U Malého Glena. He took guitar lessons from Josef Kustka, Lubos Andrst, Zdenek Fiser and Petr Zelenka. After finishing primary school he attended the Evropská High School of Music in Prague before being admitted to the jazz guitar department of the Jaroslav Jezek Conservatory as a student of Jirà Sindler in 2001. Two years later he transferred into the Conservatory’s newly-opened Post-Secondary School, which is directed by JaromÃr Honzák. There he studied under Petr Binder, Josef Stepánek and David Doruzka; after graduating he himself became a professor of guitar, ensemble performance and rythm training.
In 2005 he went to Freiburg to audition for a scholarship to the prestigious American conservatory, the Berklee School of Music. Although he was awarded a scholarship, he decided to remain in Prague. That same year he played in Brazilian Mood, the band of Polish-Cuban singer Yvonne Sanchez, opening for Billy Cobham on a tour of Turkey and Cyprus. He performs regularly with organist Ondrej Pivec and his Organic Quartet at numerous European festivals, including Cheltenham, Sibiu, Kishinev, Prague Spring, Jazz Brno and the Phillips Jazz Festival Prague (winning the Phillips Festival award in 2005). Together with the quartet, he recorded the albums Never Enough (2007) and Don’t Get Ideas (2006), the latter of which won the 2006 Andel award for Best Czech Jazz Album and was widely praised in both the Czech and international press. (AllAboutJazz, Hammondbeat USA, Music Web International, Harmonie, Lidové noviny). With the Libor Smoldas Trio he performs mostly his own music, although the ensemble also accompanied American trumpeter Bob Montgomery at his 2007 concert in Prague. Since 2006 he has also been performing with his wife, singer ZeurÃtia , whose repertoire consists primarily of Brazilian bossa nova.
Despite his young age, Libor Smoldas is an inseparable part of the Prague jazz scene, working with the legends of Czech jazz as well as with promising young players. He teaches at the Jaroslav Jezek Post-Secondary School of Jazz and at New York University’s Prague campus, composes his own music, and is generally considered one of the best Czech jazz guitarists.