CZECH PREMIERE

Peter Evans – trumpet (US)

Petter Eldh – bass (SE) 

Jim Black – drums (US)

Peter Evans is unquestionably a master of advanced trumpet techniques possessing limitless

technical abilities that amaze audiences all around the world. His musical versatility marks

him as not only a great jazzman, improvisator, and experimental musician, but also a

performer of contemporary classical music. His new trio consists of drummer Jim Black, who is a prominent name on the New York Downtown scene and an acknowledged double-bass player

Peter Eldh. The ensemble combines its bandleader’s compositions with completely improvised music. 

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CZECH PREMIERE

Amirtha Kidambi – voice, harmonium, synthesizer, effects (US)

Matt Nelson – soprano saxophone and effects (US)

Nick Dunston – bass and effects pedals (US)        

Jason Nazary – drums and electronics (US)        

Alfredo Colon – tenor sax and effects (US)            

Amirtha Kidambi’s Elder Ones pushes the boundaries of free jazz, composition and electronic forms, with the raw riotous energy of “spiritual punk”, comprised of vocalist, composer and keyboardist Amirtha Kidambi (Mary Halvorson's Code Girl, Darius Jones), saxophonists Matt Nelson (Battle Trance, Flying Luttenbachers) and Alfredo Colon (Henry Threadgill, Moses Sumney), bassist Lester St. Louis (jaimie branch's Fly or Die, Wendy Eisenberg’s Darlin’), and drummer Jason Nazary (Anteloper, Saint Abdullah). The ensemble’s instrumentation undergirded by the drone of the Indian pump organ harmonium forms an intricate landscape for Kidambi’s voice to traverse; she battles against its mountainous heights before sliding speedily down its slopes. Truly making an instrument of her vocal chords, Kidambi’s syllabic, frenzied, and powerful utterances weave into the alluring, hypnotic, and confronting jazz melodies of the ensemble. Dealing with issues such as power, capitalism, colonialism, white supremacy, and fascism, Amirtha Kidambi's Elder Ones are not shy to confront and resist systems of oppression and control through their music. As such, a sense of ancestral energy pulses through their performances; it feels as though they are not alone on the stage, but are rather carried along by an old knowledge buried deep within the music.

The subversive spirit and sense of collectiveness cultivated during mass demonstrations across New York City in the wake of the tragic murder of George Floyd serves as the driving force behind their forthcoming album New Monuments. Kidambi describes the title as a metaphor for tearing down old colonial monuments, paving the way for the rebuilding of new symbols. New Monuments is out March 15th on We Jazz.

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WORLD PREMIERE

Kaja Draksler – organ

Kaja Draksler is a Slovenian pianist and composer. After her studies in the Netherlands, she decided to stay in Amsterdam, became active on the improvised music scene, and performed all around Europe. An Amsterdam-based octet, which she formed in 2016, is her main project, she, however, frequently performs solo as well as with many international ensembles. She is one of the founding members of the interdisciplinary team I/O and a member of the internationally acclaimed Doek collective. Kaja looks for ways of merging composition and improvisation. Drawing from the Dutch avant-garde jazz heritage, she revels in the idea of erasing the stylistic and historical musical borderlines in search of one’s personal musical expression. We are greatly honored that this well-established and acclaimed musician became our residential artist for this year and will, as a part of her special concert here, premiere her composition for organ.

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CZECH PREMIERE

Maja S. K. Ratkje – voice, pump organ, fiddle

Stian Westerhus – voice, acoustic guitar

Maja S. K. Ratkje & Stian Westerhus are two prominent musicians on the Norwegian scene who are, as individuals, usually associated with electronic music, effect pedals, samplers, amplifiers, and computers. As a duo, however, they transform their music into an acoustic-only experience, employing organs, violin, acoustic guitar, and their voices. This musical rendering calls up the atmosphere of Christiania in the 19th century, as well as Norwegian immigrants’ saloons in the Midwest region. The responses to the few performances of the duo have been enthusiastic – the critics have described the experience as "one of the most powerful moments in music this year.” Let yourself be captivated by the colorful soundscapes of strings, windbags, old wood, and creaking pedals of the organ.

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CZECH PREMIERE

Erik Kimestad – trumpet (NO)

Ingimar Andersen – sax (IS)

Petter Hängsel – trombone (SE) 

Kristian Tangvik – tuba (NO) 

Jeppe Zeeberg – piano (DK)

Nicolai Kaas Claesson – bass (DK)

Rune Lohse – drums (DK)

Horse Orchestra is a very unique ensemble on the modern Scandinavian jazz scene. Its members manage to fuse key moments of jazz history with contemporary musical experiments that break the barriers. In the Horse Orchestra universe, a classic 20s' New Orleans meets with 1960s’ free jazz, as well as with hip hop, and contemporary classical music – all fuses into an original, postmodern style that has no parallel on the northern jazz scene.

Horse Orchestra consists of seven young musicians from Iceland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. The band represents a new generation of musicians, who have mastered their historical musical legacy and now aim to bring their performances to new grounds with the help of contemporary jazz music. For Horse Orchestra, humor is as important part of their performances as instrumental acrobatics and captivating compositions – their playful and thriving music is so infectious that it encourages the audience to embark on, sometimes quite extreme, sound experiments of the orchestra.

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http://horseorchestra.dk/

Philipp Gropper – tenor & soprano saxophone (DE)

Elias Stemeseder – piano, synthesizer (AT)

Robert Landfermann – double bass (DE)

Leif Berger – drums (DE)

PHILM is a Berlin-based quartet of Philipp Gropper,  Elias Stemeseder, Robert Landfermann and Leif Berger. The ensemble, which has won the prestigious Deutscher Jazzpreis in the Band of the year category, focuses on creativity and sharing. Its music is dynamic and tight, constantly building more space without shouting at the audience for no reason at all. The drums and the double bass not only serve as the rhythm section but also add to the sound of this meticulously tied-in machine. Gropper and Stemeseder push the band forward, making abrupt changes in rhythm or tempo. The band's slightly nervous sound is never cold, as the inspiration for their motives often come from spiritual melancholy. Elias Stemeseder has an incredible talent for creating strange, spooky melodies that lead the audience among various mood swings, using electronic interjections and explorations of timbre music. PHILM is the sound of classical 60s’ quartets distilled – no irony, no references, no intellectual artifice, just pure, brilliant sound, and technique.

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This concert was supported by Musikfonds.

David Dorůžka – guitar

Robert Fischmann – flutes, voice

Martin Novák – drums, percussion

Marcel Bárta – bass clarinet, tenor saxophone

Štěpán Janoušek – trombone

Luboš Soukup – clarinet, tenor saxophone

A trio of David Drůžka (guitar), Robert Fischmann (flute and vocals) and Martin Novák (drums and percussion) introduces compositions on the border between world music and jazz with a focal point in the rich legacy of Jewish music traditions, evolving for centuries in different regions of Europe and the Middle East. The trio was established at the end of 2020 with a desire to create new music that would develop various Jewish music traditions. Before that, all three musicians had pursued Jewish music and collaborated for instance with Israeli musician Yair Dalal or American multi-instrumentalist Alan Bern. The newly formed ensemble is remarkable for its original approach and sound based on unusual instrumentation as well as the exceptional freedom with which they render even the more traditional material. It may thus easily happen that the liturgic Hasidic hymns from eastern Europe fuse with Spanish melodies from the Middle Ages and the inspiration by New York downtown scene tints Ashkenazi songs sung in Yiddish. 

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Kaja Draksler (SI) – piano, keyboards, percussion, vox
Szymon Pimpon Gąsiorek (PL) – drums, electronics, vox

Copenhagen-based duo Czajka & Puchacz released their first, largely acoustic-sounding album Bivališča in June 2020. It was followed by a los retro-anat-pop single Entscheidung, which came out a year later and was ascribed to their alter-duo Kiebitz & Uhu. Having put out their second album that explores songwriting experiments within the scope of existentialism and the abstraction of everyday life, the two musicians continue combining impromptu songwriting with the elements of the European school of free improvisation aesthetics and musique concréte practices.

VSTUPNÉ DOBROVOLNÉ

CZECH PREMIERE

Maniucha Bikont – vocal

Ksawery Wójciński – double bass, vocal

Maniucha Bikont and Ksawery Wójciński compose a duo combining in an original way jazz improvisation and traditional songs from a former Polish region that is now a part of Ukraine.

In their compositions, the musicians conjure up the atmosphere of spring, weddings, love songs, and lullabies, and put them into the narratives of natural cycles and human life. Together, they tell stories from different eras and different music genres, drawing a lot from Maniucha’s many years of traveling to Ukrainian villages and their singers, as well as the duo’s own musical imagination.

Thanks to the winning of the prize of the Polish Radio’s “New Tradition” contest and their fans’ support, the duo recorded their first album Oj borom, borom in March 2017. When performing, Maniucha & Ksawery tell the stories and parables tied to their songs.

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Andy Schofield – altsax, flute
Standa Mácha – piano
František Uhlíř – bass
Pavel Razím – drums

After Easter Europe opened itself up to the rest of the world, the jazz scene became enriched with ensembles that had been unrecognized until then. One such band is the quartet performing under the name František Uhlíř Team (F.U.T.). The first ensemble under that name was established in 1987 by double-bass player František Uhlíř, a musician from the generation known globally as “Czech double-bass school (e.g. M. Vitouš, G. Mraz). F.U.T.’s chamber repertoire is meticulously balanced and full of mutual interaction between the players, who often venture into surprising changes of timbre and expression. Metaphorically speaking, the music of this ensemble is a living organism with František Uhlíř as its soul, Andy Schofield (UK) as its voice, Standa Mácha its physique, and Pavel Razím its heart. With a great level of understanding and feeling, F.U.T. performs jazz standards, often spiced up with their own arrangement, as well as original compositions that stem from jazz standards.

www.frantisek-uhlir.cz

WORLD PREMIERE

Niki Kokkoli – saxophone (GR)

Jan Michálek – saxophone (CZ)

Jan Bára – guitar (CZ)

Miloš Klápště – bass (CZ)

Szymon Gąsiorek – drums (PL)

The members of our festival's traditional ensemble will rehearse an original repertoire together and present it at the Friday evening concert. This year's ensemble will consist of Greek saxophonist and improviser Niki Kokkolli who is one of the principal figures on the Greek jazz scene; Polish composer and drummer Szymon Gąsiorek, who performed at the festival three years ago with his project Pimpono Ensemble; renowned Czech double bass player Miloš Klápště, associated with bands and musicians such as Aneta Langerová, Beata Hlavenková, Dorota Barová, JWQ or Tryptych; and two talented representatives of the youngest generation: Hradec Králové born guitarist Jan Bára, active in bands Rusty Cowboys and Tongu; and Portugal-based saxophonist Jan Michálek known for example from the Uthando ensemble.

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Martin Debřička – saxophone (CZ)

Jan Jirucha – trombone (CZ)

Michal Nejtek – piano, microtonal synthesizer (CZ)

Jan Bára – electric guitar (CZ)

Luan Gonçalves – bass guitar (BR)

Jan Chalupa – drums (CZ)

It is difficult to put a label on the music of the TONGU ensemble – it is an unusual fusion of many musical influences, including jazz and rhythmic music, improvisation, compositional techniques taken from contemporary classical music (e.g. microtonality or serialism), elements of rock, hardcore, dance music, and many others. All these musical roots intertwine – with a great deal of improvisation – into new structures. What emerges is a living substance, an unidentifiable object wrapping around the mind and heart (TONGU). We don’t know what comes next. The antennas are pricked up. He who has ears, hear.

TICKETS

https://martindebricka.com/cs/tongu/

Štěpán Flagar – reeds (CZ)

Vojta Drnek – accordion, vocals (CZ)

Jan Lacina – guitar (CZ)

Michael Acker – acoustic bass (RO)

Hot Brew, a 'four-man big band' from Czechia and Brazil, brings a unique approach to classic repertoire from the swing era. Music you know and love from Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Sidney Bechet, and many more. This unusual setting of accordion, saxophone, acoustic guitar, and bass brings a fresh new take on small band authentic swing. Whether they pour their soul into a slow and alluring blues, breathe new life into a well-known big band gem, or tackle a jumpin', breakneck tempo, be sure you won't be able to keep your feet still.

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Jakub Zomer – hammond and voice

Jiří Hokeš –  guitar

Jakub Doležal –  saxophone

Martin Kopřiva –  drums 

A few years ago, jazz organ player and vocalist Jakub Zomer established a blues project, focusing mainly on the rendering of songs by Ray Charles, Eddie Vinson, or Boogaloo Joe Jones. The audience will have an opportunity to listen to earthy funky grooves in the style of The Meters, or songs throughout Ray Charles' oeuvre. The band consists of the best interpreters of blues music, and genres related to it, in the Czech Republic. Their night performance is sure to be an energetic bomb that makes you dance and at the same time stir your emotions.

FREE ENTRANCE

Casual meeting of three artistic directors on the occasion of the festival's 30th anniversary, in the form of a debate and a short improvised performance.
The discussion will be hosted by journalist Jan Hocek.