"I don't think that Jimi Hendrix planned for 'Manic Depression' to be played the way we play it, but I bet he'd like it if he had the chance to hear it," says local singing star Tonya Graves, who makes an appearance this week fronting the New Orchestra of Dreams.

Graves' speculations about Hendrix don't seem too far off track, considering that when he died unexpectedly in 1970, Hendrix had begun negotiating with Miles Davis arranger Gil Evans to forge a big band–

meets–hard rock concept. Years later, when Evans attempted to interpret Hendrix's material without him, the results were mixed, as they usually are when anyone tries to combine rock 'n' roll with big band jazz. But NOD's current road show goes a long way toward advancing that equation.

"I'm just one of many guests who perform with NOD," Graves says, "but I mainly choose what I sing, and Štěpán [Smetáček] arranges it in a big band style. It's funny, because he's more of a rock 'n' roll kind of guy, and I'm more of a jazz, blues and everything else kind of person. But somehow it works together."

Graves, originally from New York state, has, over the past six years, built a solid career as lead singer of Prague's award-winning funk unit Monkey Business. And, although her work with NOD is a side project, the chemistry when she sings interpretations of Massive Attack, Hendrix or Billy Cobham could hardly be better.

Part of the reason may be Graves' confession of being "a big fan of Ella Fitzgerald and Shirley Bassey." Although many of those who have heard the likes of the big band jazz-rock pioneers like Don Ellis and Gil Evans will instantly hear the parallels with NOD, others will side with Graves when she says the band "is a reminder of what pop music used to be in the days when Frank Sinatra was the king of pop."

NOD is the brainchild of the innovative arranger and drummer Štěpán Smetáček. Smetáček has done some capable drumming in the past with popular Czech groups like Lucie and Krausberry, showing a fine sense of musical craft but nothing likely to transcend the local scene. But in between more predictable gigs, Smetáček's NOD project has been dedicated to breaking new ground. When The Prague Post finally got him on the phone, Smetáček insisted on meeting so he could play some unreleased tracks from the current incarnation of NOD.

While the unmarked CDs flowed from one full-bodied, brass-driven electrified track to another, Smetáček explained how the New Orchestra of Dreams was founded as a vehicle for his more experimental musical adventures. After his graduation from conservatoire in 1991, Smetáček found that his expert and fluid drumming style was keeping him fully employed. He played with '90s rock bands like Wanastowi Vjecy and Die El. Eleffant. He also worked occasionally as a jazz drummer with Lenka Dusilová's band Secretion, and a Prague ensemble known as the Traditional Jazz Studio.

But it's through NOD that the 35-year-old musician's vision has begun to unfold. In the past 10 years, NOD's projects have led from Smetáček's initial one-man-band studio recordings to an Iron Maiden tribute tour to what today is a 14-piece jazz-rock band.

In an era when most club owners will opt for a DJ over hiring a 14-piece band, Smetáček admits to some uncertainty over how long the current incarnation of NOD can continue. Yet a CD with the current lineup seems likely, and an appearance at the Prague International Jazz festival in November is planned.