At the heart of this smooth jazz group is a power trio of Jon Novak, guitars, Mike De Luca, drums, and Mark Haar, basses. Even though these three musicians are constantly in demand and are involved in many projects, they decided to combine forces to form Smooth Track.
Jon Novak has been playing guitar professionally since 1970. He has played a wide variety of guitar styles from classical to blues and has played with numerous musicians and bands, including Bo Diddley, the Platters, the Coasters, the Shirellels and the Lawrence Welk Orchestra. He has also played for the Broadway touring productions of Spamalot, Jesus Christ Superstar, Annie, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Jon now concentrates his efforts on his love for jazz guitar. He also spends time composing and arranging. His jazz and blues Lu¬theran church liturgy was premiered early May of 2003. He has record¬ed four CDs -“Live at the Zoo!” recorded with Blue House and “A Summer’s Carol,” “A Winter’s Carol,” and “Old Friends,” recorded with Novak & Haar.
Mike De Luca began playing drums at the age of 12, and played his first professional job at the age of 14. He worked at Remo Drum Company in North Hollywood California and became friends with sev¬eral touring and studio drummers. During that time, he began playing jazz with several groups. Playing for over 30 years, he continues to work in the Omaha area and enjoys the time spent with fellow musicians play¬ing and bringing good music to the area.
Mark Haar has performed as a bassist with many different jazz en¬sembles, everything from a small duo to a large big band jazz ensemble. Some of the groups with which Mark has performed include the Ne¬braska Jazz Orchestra, the Bluffs Big Band, the Omaha Big Band, the Matt Wallace Quartet, and the Darryl White Quartet. He has also per¬formed with blues bands, worship bands and musical theater pit orches¬tras including the pit orchestras of Broadway touring productions of Wicked, Grease, Irvin Berlin’s White Christmas, Chicago the Musical, and Big, as well as for many different stage productions at the Omaha Com¬munity Playhouse. With Novak & Haar, he has recorded “A Summer’s Carol,” and “A Winter’s Carol,” and “Old Friends.” All three of these al¬bums have received both national and international attention.
