Viking's dreams

Jana Koubková & Horký dech - Vikingovy sny [sample]

from 7 inch EP "Mini jazz klub 23", 1979, Panton 81350005; also on export compilation "Jazz à la carte", 1981, Panton 81151981


original EP sleeve (front/inside)

If I stated before that Vlasta Průchová was the 1st lady of Czechoslovak jazz, then Jana Koubková (1944) must be the female president, for in the meantime she's a jazz "institution". She began to sing with Kulínský's Children Radio Chorus when she was six. From the early 1960s until the mid 1970s she was a member of possibly all important pop/jazz vocal groups that appeared on the scene: she co-founded the Linha Singers in 1963, she spent a few years with the Lubomír Pánek Singers & Swingers (alias Sbor Lubomíra Pánka) and she sang with the Inkognito Kvartet (a.k.a. Incognito Quartet). She quitted the latter shortly before their Mongolian tour with the Karel Duba Combo in August 1968, where the majority of both ensembles died in a car accident. Later she also briefly performed with Kučerovci, C&K Vocal, Jezinky and she worked in the Semafor Theatre.

Koubková came to "real" jazz quite late though, when she began to sing with Luděk Hulan's Jazz Sanatorium in 1975. Then she was a member of the Jazz Half Sextet and she also co-founded the female vocal trio/quartet Hot Tety (Hot Aunts). With both bands she recorded several 7" singles for Supraphon and Panton. After Hulan's tragical death in 1978 a group with the pun name Horký dech Jany Koubkové (Hot Breath Of Jana Koubková) came to existence. It was a relatively loose combo where Koubková's role wasn't that of a conventional lead singer, instead she used her voice as a further solo instrument. The nucleus of the group was made up of Ladislav Malina (dr), Ivo Durczak (b), Zdeněk Kalhous (p), Zdeněk Hrášek (g) and - surprise, surprise - Jiří Tomek on congas. (Really: if you hear any congas on a Czech record from the seventies, the chances might be around 90 % that it's been Tomek playing!) The rhythm section was augmented by a variable horn section, e.g. Rudolf Ticháček (ts), Zdeněk Šedivý (tp) and Zdeněk Bártík (tb) on these recordings.

Vikingovy sny (Viking's Dreams) was written by the future movie score composer Ilja Cmíral who also collaborated with Koubková on another track from the EP. It's a relatively complex fusion tune with a brazilian flavour in a vein similar to early Mahagon with Zdena Adamová, not necessarily danceable yet still very funky. Koubková excels as an expressive soloist, towards the end Ticháček joins in on tenor sax.

In 1982 Supraphon released Koubková's first solo album, a self titled LP under the Horký dech moniker. She reduced the line-up to a trio, however. She was backed only by guitarist Michal Pavlíček and drummer Jiří Hrubeš, who both joined Michael Kocáb's Pražský výběr shortly thereafter. Aside from a brief intermezzo with Jazz Q, from the 1980s on Koubková worked independently on numerous projects: from duos like with the Japanese pianist Aki Takase over Alan Vitouš Trio up to big band recordings with Kamil Hála's JOČR and others. And sort of stepping in Luděk Hulan's footprints (who also often worked behind the scenes), in 1981 she iniciated and organized the first edition of the Vokalíza jazz/blues/rock festival which ran annually until 2000. These days Koubková still can be heard performing on Prague's jazz stages regularly; a quick web search revealed that she plays at Jazzklub U staré paní (alias USP Jazz Lounge) tonight, for example...

As far as I know, Viking's Dreams has been reissued on a Japanese "best of" compilation. Besides of that, I still have the double LP Bratislava Jazz Days 1981 for sale in my web shop, which contains the live version of Fankuj fankuj vykrúcaj (Funky Funky Hop) by the late Horký dech trio.

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Bossa Nova

Jana Petrů & TOČR - Bossa Nova [sample]
recorded in 1964, from compilation "Starci a klarinety", 2002, BMG-Ariola 743214111826


CD compilation booklet

Starci na chmelu (Oldmen Picking Hop, known as Hop Side Story or The Hop Pickers) from 1964 was the first Czechoslovak musical film. The pun title "Hop Side Story" isn't a bad analogy: like its famous U.S. mold, it tells a story of teenagers in love, outsiders and the troubles that may arise in such situations. But I've actually never seen the movie, so I can't tell if it would stand a direct comparison with West Side Story. Probably not, the socialistic realism didn't allow as much drama as in Manhattan's Upper West Side.

The movie soundtrack, however, is an undisputed Czech classic. Composed by Jiří Bažant, Jiří Malásek and Vlastimil Hála with lyrics by Vratislav Blažek, it features several original hits sung by popular stars of the early sixties like Karel Gott, Josef Zíma and Karel Štědrý.

I don't have much informations about Jana Petrů. She began to record in 1962. Besides of singing easy listening pop and foxtrot tunes she also used to perform with brass ensembles. Her most popular song was Den je krásný (It's A Beautiful Day), a duet with Karel Gott and the signature melody from the Starci na chmelu movie. Petrů remained active as a singer until the mid 1970s. By the way, do not confuse Jana Petrů with the pop/rock singer Petra Janů (1952), whose birth name actually also was Jana Petrů. As you might have guessed by now, later she changed it in order not to get confused with the older singer...

Bossa Nova is, well, a nice bossa nova, sort of. Acoustic guitar, maracas, cheesy organ, cool voices, actually it's got all what's needed. The lyrics are quite absurd though: Let's pray, let's pray, bossa nova, bossa nova / Let's repeat those two words, bossa nova, bossa nova / With this little prayer you'll be coming a long way / It will help you to reach what ever you wanted / Although Charles IV was a cruel feudalist / He initiated viniculture and not hop. Uh, without seeing the movie, the connection between hop and bossa nova is somewhat beyond my horizon...

The compilation Starci a klarinety (Oldmen And Clarinetes) is a double feature: on the same CD it also contains the even more popular soundtrack from yet another musical Kdyby 1000 klarinetů (If 1000 Clarinets) from the same year.

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Interlude: Emil Viklický Trio

Your feedback, dear reader, is always a great thing and it encourages me to continue with my work. And when the feedback comes from one of the actual protagonists of this blog, I couldn't be honored more: Emil Viklický has e-mailed me recently and he was very pleased about my positive review of his album Okno (Window). In the e-mail dialog which followed he has provided some more background informations about the album; I'll be adding the new facts to the original entry soon.

Since I'm in Prague again these days, Mr. Viklický has kindly invited me to his gig in the legendary Reduta Jazz Club yesterday (if you click on the Reduta link, that's actually him on their homepage!). Thus not only I had the opportunity to enjoy his stellar trio with ex-Impuls František Uhlíř on double bass and with the legendary mid-1960s SHQ drummer Laco Tropp (don't worry, he will be featured on Funky Czech-In, too), but also to talk to them about this and that after the concert. And since it became quite late, Mr. Viklický was even so kind to drive me home with his car... Unbelievable! Thank you, Emil!


Emil Viklický Trio live in Reduta Jazz Club, Prague, yesterday evening: Emil Viklický, František Uhlíř, Laco Tropp (photo: © 2007 Lukas Machata / Lou Kash)

I've also learned that Emil Viklický has a large archive of master tapes, which have never been released on records yet. In the 1980s he has composed and arranged lots of big band stuff which he recorded in the Czechoslovak Radio studios either with JOČR (Jazz Orchestra of the Czechoslovak Radio Prague) or with ORO (Ostrava Radio Orchestra which basically consisted of members of Flamingo). I've heard some samples - fantastic big band jazz-funk, if you ask me! Mr. Viklický was quite surprised to hear that there still exists a market for this kind of music. So: If you have an idea how to bring these recordings to the public, don't hesitate to contact me! There shouldn't be any legal hurdles since Mr. Viklický owns all publishing rights to this material.

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Another feedback I've received some time ago came from former Crystal leader Jaroslav Nevrkla. He then e-mailed me the whole Crystal story, thus I will be able to update my post with first hand informations. Many thanks, Jaro!

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Pendulum

Discobolos – Kyvadlo [sample]
from album “Discobolos”, 1978, Supraphon 1132348
conducted by Jiří Svoboda, produced by Michael Prostějovský


original album sleeve (front/back)

As I stated before, Discobolos was a studio project of the brothers Karel (1938-2007) and Jiří Svoboda (1945-2004). While Karel became (in)famous as a hitmaker and later as a composer of musicals, Jiří was mainly active writing film and TV scores. The highlights of his career were two movie scores written for the director and future Academy Award winner Jan Svěrák in 1991 (Obecná škola) and 1993 (Akumulátor 1).

Established at the zenith of the disco era, Discobolos was one of the few projects when the Czechoslovak pop music industry was able to keep pace with a global vogue. (Not that it comes as a big surprise: unlike rock, for sure the communist censors considered disco ideologically “safe” due to the lack of any serious verbal message.) Besides of studio work for artists like Jiří Schelinger or Helena Vondráčková (the 1980 album Múzy/Music), Discobolos released two “solo” albums in 1978 and 1979: Discobolos and Disco/Sound. The latter consisted mostly of “recycled” and disco-fied versions of older pop hits writen by Karel Svoboda. The first album, however, contained original material including one of the most popular Czech disco hits Dlouhá bílá žhnoucí kometa (A Long White Glowing Comet) sung by the exceptional vocal talent Jana Kratochvílová (1953).

Kratochvílová’s unmistakeable voice also adds the spice to the theme melody on Jiří Svoboda’s nearly-instrumental Kyvadlo (Pendulum). Czech pop music has never been closer to American disco-funk than with this tune, despite the occasional timing problems which the drummer seemed to have. Nonetheless, the studio group was built around a competent bunch of rock and jazz musicians, then also known as Bohemia: Vladimír Kulhánek on bass, Michal Pavlíček on guitars, percussionist Jiří Tomek, saxophonist Jan Kubík and Pavel Trnavský who was obviously the said drummer. On few tracks even Lešek Semelka appeared as the lead vocalist. Lots of keyboarders were involved anyway: Pavel Větrovec, Karel Štolba, Jan Hála and of course the Svoboda brothers. Additional vocals à la Silver Convention were provided by the female trio Viktorínová/Nopová/Jakoubková alias Bezinky.

Both Discobolos vinyl album should be quite easy to find in Prague or in Czech online stores, since they were anything else but rare. I’ve even seen some on flea markets in Switzerland recently. In fact, that reminds me that I still have a copy for sale – for one Euro only! (Yes, there’s a caveat: one track is badly scratched, that’s why.)

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