Gustav Brom

The recorded working language is Czech. The field of work recorded is music. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are jazz. Places of work recorded in the authority are Brno and Kroměříž. Distinctions recorded are South Moravian Region Award, Merited Artist of Czechoslovakia and honorary citizen of Brno.

Born Gustav Frkal on 22 May 1921 in Veľké Leváre, in the Bratislava Region of Czechoslovakia. his and the band's first professional engagement was in June 1940 in the Radhošť Hotel in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm Shortly after World War II, Brom's band performed in Brno and Bratislava and also for several months in 1947 in Switzerland. Other top big band leaders in Prague at this time included Karel Vlach and Kamil Běhounek. Brom triumphed in 1955 at the Leipzig Fair, in the former East Germany, winning accolades for his outstanding arrangements. The 1950s saw Brom signed with Supraphon in Prague, recording and arranging prolifically with many guest artists including British singer Gery Scott, Czech singers Karel Gott, Helena Vondráčková and Hana and Petr Ulrych (aka Ulrychovi) and Greek sisters Tena and Martha Elefteriadu. He died in Brno on 25 September 1995.

In the 1960s Brom's band was rated one of the top ten big-bands in the world by the American jazz polls. Maynard Ferguson, Dizzy Gillespie, Diana Ross & the Supremes, Ray Conniff, Ben Cramer, Bill Ramsey and others joined the Gustav Brom Big Band in many concerts and performances and the band's name became well known and respected among professional performers as well as the discerning public. Brom was honoured in 1993 with the Luděk Hulan Jazz Award, presented yearly by the Czech Jazz Society, Prague.