David Doruzka 's Bio / Complete Version

David Doruzka was born in 1980 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He took up classical guitar at the age of ten and studied the instrument privately for four years. At the age of twelve he began playing electric guitar and at fourteen he started performing in various jazz clubs in Prague. From 1995 to 1999 he co-led the quartet Eye of the Hurricane, with which he appeared at several major jazz festivals in Czech Republic. He received the "Best Talent of the Year 1994" award from the Czech Jazz Society. In July 1996 Doruzka performed two concerts at the Montreal Jazz Festival in Canada with the Jaromir Honzak Trio upon invitation by the European Broadcasting Union. Doruzka also appeared as a guest soloist and composer on saxophonist Karel Ruzicka Jr's CD "You Know what I Mean" (1997), which was awarded "The Best Record of the Year 1997" in Czech Republic by the Czech Jazz Society. In 1998 Doruzka performed on bassist Jaromir Honzak's CD Earth Life together with the acclaimed drummer Jorge Rossy, member of pianist Brad Mehldau's trio (the CD Earth Life was awarded the Record of the Year in the category of Czech Jazz by the "Harmonie" magazine). In the same year Doruzka performed in Poland, Sweden and USA. Doruzka has also performed on several recordings commissioned by the Czech Radio, which included his own compositions. After graduating from high school in 1999, Doruzka came to Boston, USA, to study at Berklee College of Music. He received several prestigious scholarship awards from the college - the Jimi Hendrix Award (awarded twice - in 2000 and in 2001), the Wayne Shorter Award, the John LaPorta Award and the Herb Pomeroy Award. His teachers at Berklee College of Music include Mick Goodrick, Dave Samuels, Hal Crook, George Garzone, Phil Wilson and Greg Hopkins. Doruzka is a member of the two top big band ensembles at Berklee, the Concert Jazz Orchestra led by Greg Hopkins and Phil Wilson's Rainbow Band with which he performed at festivals in Pittsburgh and Cleveland together with guest soloist Christian McBride. In Spring 2000 David Doruzka was chosen by Pat Metheny to participate as the only guitarist in the two-week full-scholarship jazz program in Aspen, Colorado. In this program, organized by the Thelonious Monk Institute, Doruzka studied with Christian McBride, Herbie Hancock, Brian Blade, Joshua Redman, Russell Malone, Benny Green, Dianne Reeves, Jimmy Smith and others. In September 2000 David Doruzka performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival in California as a member of the Berklee-Monterey Quartet 2000 led by saxophonist Patrick Cornelius; besides playing two shows at the festival, the group also played a live broadcast on the KAZU FM radio station. Doruzka performed at many Boston clubs and concert venues, including the Ryles jazz club, the Scullers jazz club and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The list of musicians with whom he performed includes ex-Jaco Pastorius drummer Kenwood Dennard, trumpet player and composer Greg Hopkins, Cuban drummer Jimmy Branley and tenor saxophonist Robert Stillman.