Adventures, Animals, Art, Architecture, Astronomy, Autobiographies, Aviation, Biking, Books, Buddhism, Cars, Chanting, Cinematography, Cooking, Daimoku, Exploration, Food, Geography, Geology, Harmony, Hiking, History, Humanism, Kosen-Rufu, Literature, Money, Music, Mysteries, Nature, People, Philosophy, Photography, Real Estate, Running, Saxophone, Swimming, Travel, Windsurfing, Working Out, Yoga...There are many as you can see.
Music
Really just about any music that grooves and conveys some kind of message, physical feeling or emotion; I believe that music is here to move us and heal us. I do not believe in labeling the music by style...I think it's all about the people who make the music. Here are some of them...Al Greene; James Brown; Donny Hathaway; Lalah Hathaway; Marvin Gaye, Prince, George Clinton, Maceo Parker, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire; Dr.Dre; Outkast; The Tribe Called Quest; The Roots; De La Soul; Alicia Keys, D'Angello;Aerosmith;The Doors; Led Zeppelin; Police;Sting; Nirvana; Spin Doctors; Living Color;Medeski, Martin&Wood; Yellowjackets; Art Blakey; The Brecker Brothers; Chick Corea; Miles Davis; John Coltrane; Joe Lovano; Thelonious Monk; Charles Mingus; Bob Mintzer; Charlie Parker; Wayne Shorter; Weather Report; Antonin Dvorak; my dad- Karel Ruzicka Sr.; Igor Stravinsky; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Ravi Shankar; Tom Waits; Bob Dylan;The Beatles; Joni Mitchell; B.B. King; Patti LaBelle; Chaka Khan; Whitney Houston; Take 6; Marcus Miller, Jaco Pastorius; Milton Nascimento; Joao Gilberto; Astrud Gilberto; Bebel Gilberto; Norah Jones; Kenny Garrett; David Sanborn; Cannonball Adderley, Eddie Harris, Bill Evans, Ray Charles, Stan Getz, Stanley Turrentine, Pat Metheny, Keith Jarrett, Burt Bacharach, George Gershwin; Leonard Bernstein; Aaron Copeland; Samuel Barber;Duke Ellington; List goes on and on...
Movies
All the James Bond Movies, Austin Powers-all of them, early Woody Allen, everything by Alfred Hitchcock, Clint Eastwood, Robert DeNiro, The French Connection with Gene Hackman, Scarecrow with Gene Hackman and Al Pacino...Pulp Fiction, Donie Darko, Adaptation, About Schmidt, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Fish, Kill Bill1&2, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Feirnheit 911, Wedding Crashers, Possibilities (About Herbie Hancock).
Television
I don't really have too much time to watch TV. But as a Czech I had to watch a World Cup. Dang. I like Baseball, Basketball, U.S. Open. National Georgraphic. I really liked the HBO original series Angels of America with Merrill Streep, Al Pacino, Emma Thompson and others...The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Six Feet Under... I liked FRIENDS, Everybody Loves Raymond, SEINFELD, Cheers, Frasier, The Bill Cosby Show...SNL, History Channel, Discovery Channel, CNN while practicing saxophone in my hotel room...
Books
Well right now i am reading a lot of Buddhist literature, there is just so much to study-The Lotus Sutra translated by Burton Watson, The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, before that The Buddha In Daily Life by Richard Causton, The Human Revolution by Daisaku Ikeda, Recently I finished a great book about the history of the saxophone-The Devil's Horn...Footprints-The Biography Of Wayne Shorter, which actually has sparked my interest in Buddhism, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Black Cherry Blues and A Morning For Flamingos by James Lee Burke. Miles Davis's autobiography (It's always fun to read that one)...People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn...My favorite writers and poets of all time are: Charles Dickens, Milan Kundera, Ernest Hemingway, Franz Kafka, Honore Balzac, John Steinbeck, Jack Kerouac, Paulo Coelho, Carlos Castaneda, Daisaku Ikeda, Pablo Neruda, Rainer Maria Rilke, Samuel Beckett, Karel Capek-the list goes on...
Heroes
My Mom and Dad, Heroes of 9/11, John Coltrane, Nichiren Daishonin, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Vaclav Havel, Martin Luther King, Daisaku Ikeda, Hossei Toda, Wayne Shorter, Shakyamuni Buddha...
About me: Welcome, my dear friends and visitors from outer (my)space!!! So what do I do? I am a saxophonist, composer, producer and music educator. Since I moved to New York City from Prague, Czech Republic in 1997, I have been recording and touring with some great jazz musicians such as Roy Hargrove, George Benson, Ravi Coltrane, Bruce Barth, George Mraz, Fred Ho, Jeff 'Tain" Watts, Fred Wesley, Hiram Bulock and many others. I definitely feel very fortunate to be part of such a vibrant music scene, New York City with all the hustle and bustle and all the great people is a great inspiration to me. Besides jazz I like funk, rock, latin (especially Brazilian), electronica and classical music. But there is so much more to life than music. Our planet needs some serious dose of positivity. I believe my mission as a human being is to keep on spreading the positive vibe through the world. Music is my medium. Everytime I pick up my saxophone I try to remember that the music is the best when it's played through me, not by me. I try to stay out of my way and keep my ego in check. I practice Buddhism, which shapes many of my views. I recognize the importance of compassion and respect in our society and throughout the world. Happiness of all individuals and harmony among them are the essential ingredients of the peaceful world. I strongly believe that every human being has a potential to achieve great things. That's my basic philosophy, that reaches far beyond the realm of music. With all this in mind, I like to party with my friends, and I always do like to meet new ones. So hit me back, my space peeps. One last thing-I would like to invite you to my music page for some more tunes from my Brooklyn Moods CD. In fact you can get it right now, right here:
Enjoy and if you feel like it leave me some lovely comments...
http://www.myspace.com/karelruzickajrquartet
Who I'd like to meet: People who care about our beautiful planet. People who favor quality over quantity. People who love music, art and all the things creative.
Yo Karelski! Sending my love from Seoul Korea! Having a blast. Hope your doing well... no doubt your playing as brilliantly as ever. Miss ya dude. Say hey to all the maetsros for me. Aight!
Hey dude! I remember you from the days at the Village Lantern, w/ Duane Eubanks, Steve Hass,etc, and the crew! Great to hear from you...Guess what: I am also a SGI member! Best Laurent Medelgi
Thanks a lot from Paris !!! So happy to sheer with you our beautiful philosophy of life with Sensei...!!! I'll come on april to NYC to visit artfine galleries and I'll be very touched to meet SGI members !
Aloha, Karel my dear from Hawaii! Hey, Mahalo for adding me. You look ssssooooo young it has to be from chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo! I would love to here your music, you should post it. Anyhow have a TOTAL VICTORY IN YOUR WEEKEND!!!!!!
