About us

FATS JAZZ BAND is a first-class nine-member swing orchestra steeped in the swing music of the late 1920s through the 1940s. Founded by Ladislav Fanzowitz, one of today’s finest Slovak pianists, the orchestra performs authentic hot-jazz and swing music that takes you to another world, gets your blood pumping and brings you back in time to the era of elegance, glamorous gowns, and wild parties.

FATS JAZZ BAND is dedicated to authenticity. Ladislav Fanzowitz transcribes carefully chosen contemporary tunes by ear into music scores. That’s why you have a unique opportunity to listen to the original arrangements as they were once played by jazz legends of their time. Furthermore, FATS JAZZ BAND also uses an array of reconstructed period instruments, and vintage clothes. The whole impression of the orchestra fully grasps the period of music and style that FATS JAZZ BAND represents.

The band’s repertoire features some of the most interesting pieces by the great legends of American jazz music of 1930s and 1940s, including Thomas “Fats” Waller, whose nickname inspired the band’s name. In addition, FATS JAZZ BAND also performs tunes from other remarkable jazz legends of the era such as Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, Teddy Wilson, Lester Young, Clarence Williams, Gene Krupa, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee. The orchestra also pays tribute to Slovak and Czech swing and tango stars František Krištof Veselý, Viera Racková, Dr. Janko Blaho, Inka Zemánková, Jiřina Salačová or R. A. Dvorský.

Even though we could say it is an anachronism, the orchestra’s presence evokes the vibrations of something unmistakably timeless. FATS JAZZ BAND takes an antique framework and infuses it with the immediacy of the present. The main thing that gave music of this era its magic was spontaneity, which is undoubtedly recaptured by FATS JAZZ BAND.

The members of this band are professional musicians and singers active in the Slovak leading orchestras and big bands such as the Slovak Philharmonic, Gustav Brom Big Band, Matúš Jakabčic Big Band, Bratislava Hot Serenaders and Orchestra of Slovak National Theatre.