The enormously talented double bassist Martin Kocián has gained considerable fame in a short time within the Moravian jazz scene and is an increasingly sought-after player there. He attended the elementary art school in Frenštát pod Radhoštěm, where he now teaches himself. He first studied violin under the guidance of Jiřina Dostálová and as a violinist he was a member of a number of chamber ensembles and also the dulcimer music group Sedmikvítek and the M. Holub Cimbalom Orchestra. He completed his first cycle in 2010 as a student of Vladimír Vondráček, who helped him discover other genres, especially jazz. He then once and for all fell in love with this genre in combination with the double bass, which he began to study within the fields of jazz and classical double bass in the class of Marian Friedl.
He was a member of jazz bands of various genres (Hot Club Fren, Rosťa Hus Band, Ostrich Quartet, Harry Sokal New Quartet, Czech Quartet) and occasionally performs with many other projects as a guest. His home band Ostrich Quartet won the Jazz Fruit 2014 competition, held as part of the Prague festival Mladí ladí jazz, and Martin Kocián was declared the “instrumentalist of the evening”.
With his current Czech-Austrian band Purple is the Color, he performs and enjoys success all over the world (2nd prize Powiew Młodego Jazzu Jelenia Góra, 1st prize Central European Jazz Competition, 2024/2025 Stage Band Porgy&Bess Vienna). He is also a member of other ensembles such as Nikol Bóková Trio, Marian Friedl’s Beránci a Vlci band, with whom he also collaborates in Vladimír Javorský’s band.
He is the author of his own original work Living Dream (2018) – a 120-minute melodrama and part of the full-length program Purple is the Color called “Seeing red”.
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