Sweet and Lovely

Rudy Linka

Rudy Linka (b Prague, 29 May 1960) is a Czech-American jazz guitarist. He studied classical guitar as a teenager at the Prague Conservatory and learned jazz through his mentor, Karel Velebný. After travelling to Germany in 1980 he defected to the West in Sweden. In the first half of the 1980s, he studied composition at the Stockholm Music Institute. While in Sweden he began his collaboration with American double bassist Red Mitchell. In 1985 he moved to Boston and attended the Berklee College of Music under a scholarship obtained with the help of Mitchell. The following year he settled in New York, where he had private lessons with John Abercrombie (recording in 1992) and Jim Hall and began leading his own small groups. In New York, he also continued his stud… more »