Two Guitars, No Safety Net: Nigel Price and Libor Šmoldas Come to Huddersfield
Two guitars, a room close enough to hear every change of direction, and no rhythm section to hide behind. That is the proposition at The Keys on Saturday night, when Nigel Price and Libor Šmoldas bring the closing date of their seven-show UK duo run to Huddersfield.
Price is one of the most travelled figures on the British jazz circuit; Šmoldas arrives from Prague with a reputation for fearless, quick-thinking improvisation. Together they favour straight-ahead jazz with blues and soul in its bloodstream — standards, original pieces and plenty of musical conversation rather than a fixed, note-for-note show.
A partnership built in the moment
The two guitarists first played together several years ago and found common ground immediately. Price’s current Grassroots Jazz Tour pairs him with Šmoldas for seven dates from London to Lincoln, before the tour changes shape in November and brings Canadian guitarist Lorne Lofsky into a quartet.
That context matters. Huddersfield is not receiving an isolated one-off booking: The Keys is the final stop of a concentrated duo run that has moved through London, Swindon, Guildford, Davenham and Liverpool. By Saturday, the pair should know exactly where they can push, surprise and wrong-foot one another.
In a current interview with UK Jazz News, Price describes Šmoldas as a fearless player who can take an unfamiliar tune and work it out on the stand. He also says the pair plan to record a live album while Šmoldas is in Britain, adding another bit of electricity to this short run.
Two different routes to the same stage
Price has spent more than three decades on the road, including ten years with acid-jazz outfit The Filthy Six and a spell with the James Taylor Quartet. His CV includes more than 60 album appearances, ten records as a leader, a Parliamentary Jazz Award and a British Jazz Award for guitar.
Šmoldas is a Prague-based guitarist and composer who has worked with players including George Mraz, Jeff Ballard, Bobby Watson and Adam Nussbaum. He has released eight albums as a leader, and his playing brings a modern European edge to music still rooted in swing, blues and the language of the great jazz guitarists.
The useful thing about a duo is that those biographies stop mattering the moment the first tune starts. With only two instruments in the room, every choice is exposed: when to lead, when to support, when to leave space and when to chase the other player up the neck.
Huddersfield jazz, up close
The Keys is an intimate setting on Byram Street, which should suit this music better than a distant concert-hall stage. Doors open at 7.30pm and the music begins at 8pm. The venue lists tickets at £10, while online booking through Eventbrite adds its booking charge.
It is also another sign that Huddersfield’s jazz calendar is spreading across different rooms and different promoters. Monkey recently covered the opening of Huddersfield Jazz’s autumn season; this date brings an international touring partnership into the town centre on a weekend already crowded with bigger, louder attractions.
That contrast is exactly the appeal. While Halloween crowds chase spectacle elsewhere, The Keys offers two world-class players, two guitars and the possibility that the best bit of the night will be something neither of them had planned ten seconds earlier.
The practical bits
Nigel Price and Libor Šmoldas play The Keys Kitchen & Coffee House, Byram Street, Huddersfield, on Saturday 31 October 2026. Doors open at 7.30pm and the music starts at 8pm. Check the official venue listing or book through Eventbrite.
Cover photograph: Libor Šmoldas with his guitar during the current Grassroots Jazz Tour. Photograph by Ondřej Kosík, supplied through UK Jazz News.