Czech jazz society

is a civic organisation of jazz enthusiasts, fans, musicians and organisers. Its history reaches into the Communist era, in which it covered the events on the jazz scene and helped towards the existence certain festivals and clubs. It was central to the development of the Summer jazz workshop in Frýdlant and the Jazz Festival in Přerov.

Many musicians and personalities have occupied the place on the executive board of the CJS (Karel Velebný, Jiří Stivín, Rudolf Dašek, Karel Růžička, Emil Viklický, Jaromír Honzák, František Kop, Robert Balzar, Michal Hejna, Jan Hála, Antonín Matzner, Ivan Poledňák, Igor Wasserberger and many others).

In 1998, the CJS went through a major restructuring, and has since then focused mainly on educational activities.

Among the CJS’s most important efforts are the Czech Jazz Workshop, a yearly week-long course in Prague, the Czech Jazz Contest (previously Junior Jazz) for young ensembles, and, since December 2008, www.czechjazz.org.