Biography – Dano Šoltis

About

Dano Šoltis is a contemporary drummer and occasional vibraphone player, with a wide understanding and complex view of music. A very flexible, but also sensitive player, who feels equally at home on big stages with pop–rock bands as with the club scene. With his project Drum Song he also performs solo. He is a Zildjian cymbals and Balbex drumsticks endorser and also he plays his own model Balbex ”Danodrum” whose design he personally contributed to.

Backround

Dano was born in 1982 in Košice, into an artistic family. His mother is a music teacher and cello player and his father was a classical dancer in National Theater. At first he tried cello for a year and started to play drums when he was eight years old. He was very much influenced by recordings of drummers which his father bought him, especially those of Vinnie Colaiuta on Mercury Falling.

As well as individual practice and attending Elementary Art School he played with the Youth Brass Band of Košice, with whom he travelled and attended his first festivals and competitions. Later he attended the Classical Conservatory of Košice and from 1999 continued at the Prague Jazz Conservatory of Jaroslav Ježek. In Prague he becomes part of recognized Young Jazz Wave and starts to work with many personalities on Czech and international music sceen. Under this influence he attends Jazz Academy in Katowice, where he is awarded a Master degree in 2012. Later that year he releases his solo album Drum Song.

Among other activities he currently teaches individual drums and drum history at Jazz Conservatory of Jarosalv Ježek. Occasionally he leads drum master classes in Poland, the Czech republic and Slovakia. He is a founding member of the leading Czech-Slovak contenporary jazz band Vertigo (formerly Vertigo Quintet) with whom he has won several important awards. Besides Vertigo and other bands and projects, in 2016 he also cooperated with Arturo Sandoval.

He is a big fan of motorsport and races in go-karts and lives in Prague with his wife and three children.

Mayor projects

Vertigo (CZ/SK, contemporary jazz) – manager and a founding member; highly awarded band of current Prague jazz scene

-123minut (CZ/SK, pop rock) – a comeback of a cult Czech trio

MaBaSo (PL/SK, jazz/fusion) – with Bernard Maseli as frontman and Michal Baranski

Bands and personalities co-operation since 2000

Personalities

Arturo Sandoval (USA/Cuba)
Bernard Maseli (PL)
Lizz Wright (USA)
Kurt Elling (USA)
Erik Truffaz (FRA)
Brian Charette (USA)
Ben Wendel (USA)
David Dorůžka (CZ)
Niels Klein (DE)
Vince Mendoza (USA)
Will Bernard (USA)
Nippy Noya (NED/USA)
Steve Walsh (USA)
Janet Robin (USA)
Ed Partyka (USA)
Ivan Tásler (SK)
Cyrille Oswald (NED)
Pat Fulgoni (UK)
Rich Perry (USA)
Ingrid Jensen (CAN)
Osian Roberts (UK)
Andy Schofield (UK)
Jaromír Honzák (CZ)
Zdeněk Bína (CZ)
Lenka Dusilová (CZ)
Dorota Barová (CZ)
Marcel Bárta (CZ)
Beata Hlavenková (CZ)
Štepán Markovič (CZ)
Petr Zelenka (CZ/FR)
Martin Kratochvíl (CZ)
Jana Koubková (CZ)
Ondřej Konrád (CZ)
Felix Slováček (CZ)
Roman Pokorný (CZ)
Ondřej Pivec (CZ/USA)
Kamil Střihavka (CZ)
František Segrado (CZ)
Miriam Bayle (CZ/SK)
Najponk (CZ)
Yvonne Sanchez (CZ/CU)
Michal Horáček (CZ)
Robert Balzar (CZ)
Vladimír Václavek (CZ)
František Kop (CZ)
Ondřej Ruml (CZ)
Lucie Bílá (CZ)
Marta Kubišová (CZ)
Petr Malásek (CZ)
Dan Bárta(CZ)
Grzegorz Nagórski (PL)
Aga Zaryan (PL)
Michal Tokaj (PL)
Pawel Tomaszewski (PL)
Piotr Wojtasik (PL)
Piotr Wylezol (PL)
Michal Baranski (PL)
Pawel Kaczmarczyk (PL)
Robert Kubiszyn (PL)
Grzegorz Karnas (PL)
Józef Skrzek (PL)
Kuba Badach (PL)
Peter Lipa (SK)
Matúš Jakabčic (SK)
Katarína Knechtová (SK)
Jana Kirschner (SK)
Richard Müller (SK)
Andy Belej (SK)
Katarína Koščová (SK)
Andy Ďurica (SK)
Amir Gwirtzman (ISR)
Bob Montgomery (USA)
Juraj Bartoš (SK)

Bands and Projects

Vertigo (CZ), Projekt Z (CZ), Eternal Seekers (CZ), Tarafuki (CZ), Yvonne Sanchez Band, (CZ/SK/PL/Cuba), Arturo Sandoval Quintet (USA), -123 Minut (CZ), minus123minut (CZ/SWE), S’aight (CZ/SK), Open Sextet with Rich Perry & Ingrid Jensen (CZ/SK/USA/CAN), Lenka Dusilová Band (CZ), David Dorůžka Trio (CZ), Clarinet Factory (CZ), Ondřej Štveráček Quintet (CZ), Bigband Gustava Broma (CZ/SK), Miriam Bayle Band (CZ), IMT Smile (SK), IMT Smile & Lúčnica (SK), Camilla Mráz Duo (CZ/USA/SK), Dunajská Vlna (CZ), Michal Horáček Band (CZ), Katarína Knechtová Band (SK), Radovan Tariška – Ondřej Štveráček Quintet (SK/CZ), Pawel Tomaszewski Trio (PL), Piotr Wylezol Quintet (PL), Lukáš Martínek Band (CZ), Jiří Šimek Trio (CZ/SK), Bucinatores (CZ), Pawel Kaczmarczyk Trio (PL), Ondřej Pivec Band (CZ/USA), Ostrak Mode (CZ), Gumbo (CZ), Július Baroš Quintet (CZ), Zeurítia (CZ), Tonny Blues Band (CZ/USA), Elena Suchánková & Jocose Jazz (CZ), Beata Hlavenková Trio (CZ/SK), Grzegorz Nagorski Quartet (PL), November 2nd (CZ), Rostislav Fraš Quartet (CZ/SK), Antonín Gondolán Band (CZ), Filip Gondolán Band (CZ), Petr Zeman Band (CZ), Martin Kratochvil Jazz Q (CZ), Tonny Bues Band (CZ/USA), Matej Benko Trio (CZ/SK), Limbo Acoustic (CZ), Leona Prokopcová Group (CZ/SK), Jazz Efterät (CZ), Gappa & Groovin Heads (SK), Inner Spaces (CZ/PL/SK), Muff (CZ), Points 7tet (CZ), Najponk Trio (CZ), Vojtěch Eckert Trio (CZ), Vojtěch Procházka Trio (CZ/SK/NOR), Sax Time (CZ), Yellow Sisters (CZ), Yellow Familly (CZ), Infinnite Quintet (CZ), Kuba Badach Band (PL), Tchokolla (CZ/SK), František Kop Quartet (CZ), Libor Šmoldas Trio/Quartet (CZ), Jana Koubková Band (CZ), Cyrille Oswald Quartet (CZ), Cyrilic (CZ/NED/UKR/SK), Bernard Maseli On The Road Band (PL), Bernard Maseli – MaBaSo – (PL), Czech National Symphony Orchestera (CZ), Roman Pokorny & Blue Box Heroes (CZ), Steve Walsh Trio/Quartet (USA/CZ/SK), Brian Charette & Martina Fišerová Band (USA/CZ), Charette-Štveráček-Šoltis Super-trio (CZ/USA/SK), Sarrah & The Adams (CZ), Ondřej Ruml Band (CZ/SK), Janet Robin Band (USA), Will Bernard trio (USA), Jósef Skrzek Band (PL), Lucie Bílá & Orchestr Petra Maláska (CZ), Clarinet Factory (CZ), Bob Montgomery Quartet (USA), JazzDock Orchestra (CZ)

Special projects

Film Music ”Zátopek” (CZ), 2021
Film Music ”Ten kto tě miloval” (CZ), 2018

Film Music ”Zlatý podraz” (CZ), 2018

IMT Smile – Príbeh príbehov (SK), 2016, Short movie – music co-producing
Made in Slovakia (SK), 2016, Movie about project IMT Smile a Lúčnica
Film Music ”2Bobule” (CZ), 2009
Film Music ”Patrit” (SK), Documentation Movie by Lucia Nimcová, 2005
Theatre Novoga Fronta (RUS), 2003

Vibraphone cooperations and recordings:

Vertigo – Daleko (CZ/SK) 2019, Animal Music (Czech Grammy Awared)

-123Minut – Les (CZ) 2019, Indies Records

IMT Smile, Príbeh príbehov (SK), 2016, Universal Music
Vertigo, Nononononininini (CZ/SK), 2016, Animal Music (Czech Grammy Nominated)
Planety – Matej Benko (CZ/SK), 2015, Warner Music

Personall prices

”Grand Prix” – Individuality of year 2009 – Jazz nad Odrou Wroclaw (PL)
Solist of year 2004 – Junior Jazz (CZ)
The band of year 2003 – ”Daniel Šoltis Trio” – Junior Jazz (CZ)

Other prices

Nomination for ”Zlatý Anděl” in Jazz & Blues category 2017 –Vertigo, Nononononininini(equivalent of Czech Grammy Awards)
Česká Jazzová sklizeň 2017– 2nd best record of year 2016 – Vertigo, Nononononininini
Nomination for ”Tais Awards 2016 (independant media price) – Vertigo, Nononononininini
Nomination for ”Zlatý Anděl” in Jazz & Blues category 2014 – Vertigo – Taj
”Tais Awards 2011 – Vertigo – Metamorphosis
”Zlatý Anděl” in Jazz & Blues category 2011– Vertigo – Metamorphosis
Nomination for ”Zlatý Anděl” in Jazz & Blues category 2008 – Vertigo Quintet a Dorota Barová
”Zlatý Anděl” in Jazz & Blues category 2005 – Vertigo Quintet (debut CD)

Appearances:

Arturo Sandoval Quintet, 2016, Ohrid Jazz Fest (Macedonia)
Open Sextet Group, 2006, Montreux Jazz Festival 2006 (CH)
Felix Slováček Quintet, 2003,Hanoi Jazz Fest 2003 (Vietnam)

Jazz and other music festivals 2003 – 2015 – Portugal, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, Poland, Spain, Czech Republic, Scotland , Vietnam, Belgium, France, Holland, USA, UK, Romania, Macedonia