Today is the birthday of both Queen drummer Roger Taylor (1949) and Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger (1943). But putting these superannuated egos-on-sticks to one side, it is also the 60th birthday of a musician and writer who is still good.
So Happy Birthday to the one and only Luboš Andršt!
Good health and good wishes from all of us here at Prague Jazz HQ.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
CD Review: Emil Viklický Trio
Ballads And More
ARTA F10161, 2008
It is tempting to compare Ballads and More to the Robert Balzar Trio’s Tales. They are both new albums by virtuoso piano-bass-drum trios. They were both eagerly anticipated and they were both released within a couple of months of each other. Both trios are highly regarded not only on the local scene but also on the international stage. And, descending into the world of the subjective and personal, I like them both. However, such comparisons are unworthy and inappropriate, because these are two very different albums that do two very different things.
Ballads and More does what it says on the label. This is mainly an album of slowies, with all but two of the thirteen tracks being standards. This is no firebrand opus, but none of the musicians involved has anything to prove as writers or as the possessors of lightening chops. A listen to their previous recordings swiftly reveals their ability to jam wildly with the best in the land. What we have here is a mature, considered and reflective recording, by a trio who are capable of mature and considered reflection. It works as a late night album that you can let just wash over you as you go back to the bottle for yet another final glass, but for the keen and active listener there is much intricacy to excite and delight.
Opening with Pat Metheny’s “Always And Forever” the tone is instantly set. Long and languid, and with a yearning that befits the title, Viklický provides elegiac piano. František Uhlíř takes a similarly liquid solo on acoustic bass, and the whole thing is underpinned by the subtle and thoughtful work of Laco Tropp on drums. A brush here, a rolled cymbal there; his sticksmanship is a work of selfless understatement.
“I Fall In Love Too Easily” (J Styne, S Cahn) is yet another invite to comparison with Tales; an album that also features an interpretation this piece. Gentle dissonance brings in the main theme, and more mellowness ensues. Viklický’s playing, sometimes deceptively simple when given a superficial listen because of his easy and masterful delivery, leads and follows and falls and flourishes.
“Dedicated to You” (S Cahn, S Chaplin, H Zaret) picks up the pace a little, and for the first time on this album it is apparent how Uhlíř has picked up the tag of “the Paganini of the bass”. However the standout track has to be the Viklický original “Highlands, Lowlands”. Always a great moment in their live set, this composition has lost little of its vigour and glory in being captured on tape. By the standards of this album it is an upbeat romp; a gorgeous undulating lyrical landscape with cascading chiming piano and phrases that many writers would sell their soul to be able to conjure up. Purposely playful, serious fun, and with all three musicians on full burn, this piece is definitely the More that the album title promises. Even Tropp steps out of the sidelines for a brief solo, before piano and bass come crashing back in for an ecstatic release. Even if balladry isn’t really your bag, this one cut is worth the cost of the album alone.
The other original piece on the album is by the bassist. “Maybe Later” is a jaunty and compact little number that allows Uhlíř to share the spotlight with Viklický in driving the melody forward. Almost in the same class as “Highlands, Lowlands”, these two pieces add variety to an album that could otherwise be a little too uniform in mood for its own good.
“Polka Dots and Moonbeams” (J Van Heusen, J Burke) is given a particularly affecting outing, and “When The Sun Comes Out” (H Arlen, T Koehler) shifts things into a sleazy, bluesy key.
The album ends with “Smile”: composed by Charlie Chaplin (and popularised as a song with lyrics by Geoffrey Parsons and John Turner), it provides the perfect bitter-sweet finale. As with all the standards on this album it is interpreted with originality and innovation, with the simple and timeless melody yielding to ferocious improvisations before winding down to a sweet and tender finish.
At the risk of sounding simplistic, this album will appeal to those who like jazz ballads. Others could find themselves yearning for a little more variety, but the two original tracks should provide that in an ample amount. It is not a rounded representation of this multi-dimensional band but it does not claim to be. Instead it is an exploration of a sometimes overlooked aspect of jazz, where pyrotechnics are not required and feeling is everything.
Full track list:
Always And Forever / Pat Metheny 4:04
I Fall In Love Too Easily / Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn 5:38
Dedicated To You / Sammy Cahn, Saul Chaplin, Hy Zaret 5:31
Highlands, Lowlands / Emil Viklický 7:18
Coral / Keith Jarrett 4:04
A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing / Billy Strayhorn 4:46
Peacocks / Jimmy Rowles 7:03
Maybe Later / František Uhlíř 5:17
Polka Dots And Moonbeams / James Van Heusen, Johnny Burke 4:38
When The Sun Comes Out / Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler 5:13
Leaving / Richie Beirach 5:55
All Of You / Cole Porter 5:40
Smile / Charles Chaplin, Geoffrey Parsons, John Turner 4:22.
ARTA F10161, 2008
It is tempting to compare Ballads and More to the Robert Balzar Trio’s Tales. They are both new albums by virtuoso piano-bass-drum trios. They were both eagerly anticipated and they were both released within a couple of months of each other. Both trios are highly regarded not only on the local scene but also on the international stage. And, descending into the world of the subjective and personal, I like them both. However, such comparisons are unworthy and inappropriate, because these are two very different albums that do two very different things.
Ballads and More does what it says on the label. This is mainly an album of slowies, with all but two of the thirteen tracks being standards. This is no firebrand opus, but none of the musicians involved has anything to prove as writers or as the possessors of lightening chops. A listen to their previous recordings swiftly reveals their ability to jam wildly with the best in the land. What we have here is a mature, considered and reflective recording, by a trio who are capable of mature and considered reflection. It works as a late night album that you can let just wash over you as you go back to the bottle for yet another final glass, but for the keen and active listener there is much intricacy to excite and delight.
Opening with Pat Metheny’s “Always And Forever” the tone is instantly set. Long and languid, and with a yearning that befits the title, Viklický provides elegiac piano. František Uhlíř takes a similarly liquid solo on acoustic bass, and the whole thing is underpinned by the subtle and thoughtful work of Laco Tropp on drums. A brush here, a rolled cymbal there; his sticksmanship is a work of selfless understatement.
“I Fall In Love Too Easily” (J Styne, S Cahn) is yet another invite to comparison with Tales; an album that also features an interpretation this piece. Gentle dissonance brings in the main theme, and more mellowness ensues. Viklický’s playing, sometimes deceptively simple when given a superficial listen because of his easy and masterful delivery, leads and follows and falls and flourishes.
“Dedicated to You” (S Cahn, S Chaplin, H Zaret) picks up the pace a little, and for the first time on this album it is apparent how Uhlíř has picked up the tag of “the Paganini of the bass”. However the standout track has to be the Viklický original “Highlands, Lowlands”. Always a great moment in their live set, this composition has lost little of its vigour and glory in being captured on tape. By the standards of this album it is an upbeat romp; a gorgeous undulating lyrical landscape with cascading chiming piano and phrases that many writers would sell their soul to be able to conjure up. Purposely playful, serious fun, and with all three musicians on full burn, this piece is definitely the More that the album title promises. Even Tropp steps out of the sidelines for a brief solo, before piano and bass come crashing back in for an ecstatic release. Even if balladry isn’t really your bag, this one cut is worth the cost of the album alone.
The other original piece on the album is by the bassist. “Maybe Later” is a jaunty and compact little number that allows Uhlíř to share the spotlight with Viklický in driving the melody forward. Almost in the same class as “Highlands, Lowlands”, these two pieces add variety to an album that could otherwise be a little too uniform in mood for its own good.
“Polka Dots and Moonbeams” (J Van Heusen, J Burke) is given a particularly affecting outing, and “When The Sun Comes Out” (H Arlen, T Koehler) shifts things into a sleazy, bluesy key.
The album ends with “Smile”: composed by Charlie Chaplin (and popularised as a song with lyrics by Geoffrey Parsons and John Turner), it provides the perfect bitter-sweet finale. As with all the standards on this album it is interpreted with originality and innovation, with the simple and timeless melody yielding to ferocious improvisations before winding down to a sweet and tender finish.
At the risk of sounding simplistic, this album will appeal to those who like jazz ballads. Others could find themselves yearning for a little more variety, but the two original tracks should provide that in an ample amount. It is not a rounded representation of this multi-dimensional band but it does not claim to be. Instead it is an exploration of a sometimes overlooked aspect of jazz, where pyrotechnics are not required and feeling is everything.
Full track list:
Always And Forever / Pat Metheny 4:04
I Fall In Love Too Easily / Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn 5:38
Dedicated To You / Sammy Cahn, Saul Chaplin, Hy Zaret 5:31
Highlands, Lowlands / Emil Viklický 7:18
Coral / Keith Jarrett 4:04
A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing / Billy Strayhorn 4:46
Peacocks / Jimmy Rowles 7:03
Maybe Later / František Uhlíř 5:17
Polka Dots And Moonbeams / James Van Heusen, Johnny Burke 4:38
When The Sun Comes Out / Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler 5:13
Leaving / Richie Beirach 5:55
All Of You / Cole Porter 5:40
Smile / Charles Chaplin, Geoffrey Parsons, John Turner 4:22.
News: Jazz in Plzeň!
Late August sees the “Jazz na ulici” (Jazz on the street) festival in the beer capital of Plzeň. Over ten days, and in a variety of venues, some of Central Europe’s most talented and most exciting musicians will be in action. All of Prague Jazz’s favourite guys (and girls) will be there, and you should be too.
Details and schedules can be found at: http://www.naulici.cz/en/
Details and schedules can be found at: http://www.naulici.cz/en/
Saturday, July 19, 2008
CD Review: Robert Balzar Trio & John Abercrombie
Tales
Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Czech Republic) 98021150262, 2008
There were high expectations for Tales, an album that brings together the formidable talents of the Robert Balzar Trio and the legendary American jazz guitarist John Abercrombie. There is no doubting the potential of such a collaboration on paper, but quite often these things don’t really seem to work in the studio. Egos and styles can clash and grate, and you are left with a piece of music that is less than the sum of its parts. In short, high expectations are the easiest way to find deep disappointments. This album does not disappoint. This album works.
First things first: it just sounds beautiful. Stanislav Mácha’s Steinway is as sweet as a fresh mountain spring. Abercrombie’s guitar is warm and fuzzy, and delivered with the precision of a laser beam. Jiří “Mr Swing” Slavíček adds a sense of melody and depth with a vast array of tones and sounds from his kit, as well as counting out time. Last, and of course not least, Balzar underpins it all with his acoustic bass; rich and woody, rising to the forefront when the mood takes. All this is recorded with such clarity that you can almost hear the sweat dripping off their faces. Sound engineer Tadeusz Mieczkowski did a great job with the recording and mixing, and he deserves not only credit but lots of lucrative work in the future!
Of the nine tracks on the album five are penned by Balzar, three by Abercrombie, and there is one standard thrown in for luck. The selection is well balanced, and many of the pieces will be familiar to those who have seen the Robert Balzar Trio playing live.
The opening piece is the uncompromising “Tale” (Balzar): a graceful ten minutes of jazz mini-epic, it rolls and sways with shades of dissonance and slippery-slidey drumming that never intrudes but never seems to settle down, maintaining an air of nervous tension. Uneasy listening, but never falling into chaos, it is a brooding showcase for all the musicians on this album. A particularly beautiful moment is Balzar’s transition from a haunting background riff up into his own solo; a solo that makes my fingers ache just from listening to it.
The more upbeat “22 Years ago” (Balzar) contains chunky Latin themes underneath long and languid guitar before things get more frenzied. Mácha picks up Abercrombie’s solo seamlessly and runs with it for a while, and the finale features some fine rolls and thrashes from the drumming maestro.
“Just in Tune” (Abercrombie) and “Remember Hymn” (Abercrombie) are both staples of the Trio’s current live set, the latter being a dark and brooding slow-motion session of introspection. This piece is particularly effective, with the delicately thin guitar lines defining the phrases and movements of the sound with more precision than the wider tones of a piano are capable of doing. The effect is of something so fragile and something so ephemeral that it only seems to have been called into being for that single moment, seemingly sure to collapse under its own weight.
"Portissimo" (Balzar) kicks off with some breathtaking work by Slavíček: a crazy double-time beat, relentlessly busy and in furious contrast to the gentle piano, bass and guitar that ebb and flow over it. Another beautiful Balzar solo midway, and while tone and pace change on the higher levels, the drums carry on remorselessly below. It is only in the final moments that the pace finally drops for an elegant fadeout. I don’t recall seeing the Trio perform this piece live; it would be a welcome addition to their repertoire.
Abercrombie’s jaunty “Sing Song” features some of his most exciting guitar work on the album, and it is followed by the explosive “Black Cat White Dog” (Balzar). While it is good to have this live favourite captured for posterity on disc, with its furious shifting tempos and rhythms, it doesn’t quite hit the wild abandon that it does on stage. It is still pretty wild though, complete with more finger-aching bass, but it is not the totally feral beast it can sometimes be.
The fluid and rolling “Night” (Balzar) features some lovely brushwork from Mr Swing, and once again joyously unites the sounds of all four members. “I Fall In Love Too Easily” (S. Cahn / J. Styne) ends the album with a complete change of mood. You could listen to this piece at midday in a non-smoking juice bar and you would instantly be transported to the early hours of morning and a boozy smoke-filled cellar. Dripping with sadness, slow brushes, and aching languid phrases, it is the perfect low-key encore to the original material on this album.
What the RBT and Abercrombie have produced is more than a good album. It is an interesting and possibly important album that withstands repeated listening. We can only hope that Sony use the full powers they have available to bring this piece of music to the attention of their international audience. If awards and accolades do not come for this recording then there is little justice left in the world.
Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Czech Republic) 98021150262, 2008
There were high expectations for Tales, an album that brings together the formidable talents of the Robert Balzar Trio and the legendary American jazz guitarist John Abercrombie. There is no doubting the potential of such a collaboration on paper, but quite often these things don’t really seem to work in the studio. Egos and styles can clash and grate, and you are left with a piece of music that is less than the sum of its parts. In short, high expectations are the easiest way to find deep disappointments. This album does not disappoint. This album works.
First things first: it just sounds beautiful. Stanislav Mácha’s Steinway is as sweet as a fresh mountain spring. Abercrombie’s guitar is warm and fuzzy, and delivered with the precision of a laser beam. Jiří “Mr Swing” Slavíček adds a sense of melody and depth with a vast array of tones and sounds from his kit, as well as counting out time. Last, and of course not least, Balzar underpins it all with his acoustic bass; rich and woody, rising to the forefront when the mood takes. All this is recorded with such clarity that you can almost hear the sweat dripping off their faces. Sound engineer Tadeusz Mieczkowski did a great job with the recording and mixing, and he deserves not only credit but lots of lucrative work in the future!
Of the nine tracks on the album five are penned by Balzar, three by Abercrombie, and there is one standard thrown in for luck. The selection is well balanced, and many of the pieces will be familiar to those who have seen the Robert Balzar Trio playing live.
The opening piece is the uncompromising “Tale” (Balzar): a graceful ten minutes of jazz mini-epic, it rolls and sways with shades of dissonance and slippery-slidey drumming that never intrudes but never seems to settle down, maintaining an air of nervous tension. Uneasy listening, but never falling into chaos, it is a brooding showcase for all the musicians on this album. A particularly beautiful moment is Balzar’s transition from a haunting background riff up into his own solo; a solo that makes my fingers ache just from listening to it.
The more upbeat “22 Years ago” (Balzar) contains chunky Latin themes underneath long and languid guitar before things get more frenzied. Mácha picks up Abercrombie’s solo seamlessly and runs with it for a while, and the finale features some fine rolls and thrashes from the drumming maestro.
“Just in Tune” (Abercrombie) and “Remember Hymn” (Abercrombie) are both staples of the Trio’s current live set, the latter being a dark and brooding slow-motion session of introspection. This piece is particularly effective, with the delicately thin guitar lines defining the phrases and movements of the sound with more precision than the wider tones of a piano are capable of doing. The effect is of something so fragile and something so ephemeral that it only seems to have been called into being for that single moment, seemingly sure to collapse under its own weight.
"Portissimo" (Balzar) kicks off with some breathtaking work by Slavíček: a crazy double-time beat, relentlessly busy and in furious contrast to the gentle piano, bass and guitar that ebb and flow over it. Another beautiful Balzar solo midway, and while tone and pace change on the higher levels, the drums carry on remorselessly below. It is only in the final moments that the pace finally drops for an elegant fadeout. I don’t recall seeing the Trio perform this piece live; it would be a welcome addition to their repertoire.
Abercrombie’s jaunty “Sing Song” features some of his most exciting guitar work on the album, and it is followed by the explosive “Black Cat White Dog” (Balzar). While it is good to have this live favourite captured for posterity on disc, with its furious shifting tempos and rhythms, it doesn’t quite hit the wild abandon that it does on stage. It is still pretty wild though, complete with more finger-aching bass, but it is not the totally feral beast it can sometimes be.
The fluid and rolling “Night” (Balzar) features some lovely brushwork from Mr Swing, and once again joyously unites the sounds of all four members. “I Fall In Love Too Easily” (S. Cahn / J. Styne) ends the album with a complete change of mood. You could listen to this piece at midday in a non-smoking juice bar and you would instantly be transported to the early hours of morning and a boozy smoke-filled cellar. Dripping with sadness, slow brushes, and aching languid phrases, it is the perfect low-key encore to the original material on this album.
What the RBT and Abercrombie have produced is more than a good album. It is an interesting and possibly important album that withstands repeated listening. We can only hope that Sony use the full powers they have available to bring this piece of music to the attention of their international audience. If awards and accolades do not come for this recording then there is little justice left in the world.
News: Two Things Cool This Way Come
Interesting news from Michal Hejna, drummer with the Luboš Andršt Group and AghaRTA manager. During a break in what was yet another excellent performance last night, he said that the LAG will be releasing a new CD in September and Luboš will be celebrating his 60th birthday (belatedly) with a special concert at Lucerna.
More details when we have them.
More details when we have them.
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