Miroslav Bukovsky (born Czechoslovakia) is one of Australia's leading jazz trumpeters and composer/arrangers.
He has won the Jazz Action Society's Jazz Composers Competition several times and also teaches and does session work. He won an ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album of 1994 with his band Wanderlust, formed in 1991, which has released five albums to date. Miroslav has been lecturer in Jazz Trumpet at the Canberra School of Music, Australian National University since 1999. He is a former student of famed American trumpeter teacher and pedagogue Bill Adam.
Born in Czechoslovakia, Bukovsky grew up listening to jazz on illegal 'Voice of America' late-night broadcasts. Originally classically trained, he joined various big bands while still living in Czechoslovakia. When the Soviet army invaded his homeland in 1968, Bukovsky, who was then on tour, decided not to return. He migrated to Australia and soon found a place for himself in the Sydney jazz scene. Despite then having only a basic grasp of English, Bukovsky met a number of musicians and quickly made a name for himself jamming with them. It wasn't long before he was playing in such groups as the Daly-Wilson Big Band and Bob Bertle's Moontrane.
Bukovsky co-founded Ten Part Invention with drummer John Pochee and pianist Roger Frampton in 1986, and has been active as a composer for this band. He has also composed for his other bands, including Major Minority, which he formed in 1987, and Wanderlust, formed in 1991. Wanderlust then went on to win the ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album of 1994 with their 1993 self-titled first release, Wanderlust (Rufus Records/Universal).
Due in part no doubt to his classical training, Bukovsky has great technical control of the instrument. However, his initial focus for students is predominantly on the sound and tone produced. He has been teaching at a university level since the mid-seventies, first at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and currently at the ANU School of Music. Influenced by a wide variety of musicians including Louis Armstrong, Freddie Hubbard, Blue Mitchell, Clifford Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis, Bukovsky incorporates aspects from all jazz styles into his playing. He feels that jazz is an ever-changing fusion of influences, and his successful experiments with the music highlight the truth of this belief.
He has had a long and established career, and has performed with many groups including: