Saturday, March 13, 2021

Emil Viklicky Trio - What's New

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2003
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:13
Size: 145,6 MB
Art: Front

( 6:40) 1. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
( 5:55) 2. Enfance
( 8:50) 3. I'll Remember April
( 7:41) 4. Porthcawl
( 9:39) 5. Cherokee
(10:01) 6. What's New
( 9:01) 7. C.T.A.
( 5:22) 8. Going to Chicago

Emil Viklicky was born on the 23rd November 1948 in Olomouc, where in 1971 he graduated from the Palacky University in mathematics. Whilst a student he devoted much time to playing jazz piano. In 1974 he was awarded the prize for best soloist at the Czechoslovak Amateur Jazz Festival, and in that same year he became a member of Karel Velebny's SHQ ensemble. In 1976 he was a prizewinner at the jazz improvisation competition in Lyon and his composition Green Satin (Zeleny saten) earned him first prize in the music conservatory competition in Monaco, where in 1985 his Cacharel won second prize in the same competition. In 1977 he was awarded a year's scholarship to study composition and arrangement with Herb Pomeroy at the jazz school of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He then continued his composition studies with Jarmo Sermila, George Crumb and Vaclav Kucera. Since his return to Prague he has been directing his own ensembles (primarily quartets and quintets), composing and arranging music and - since the death of Karel Velebny - working as director of the Summer Jazz Workshops in Frydlant. He has also lectured at a similar workshop event in Glamorgan, Wales. Between 1991 and 1995 Viklicky was President of the Czech Jazz Society, and since 1994 he has worked with the Ad lib Moravia ensemble, whose performances combine elements of Moravian folk music, modern jazz and contemporary serious music. In 1996 the ensemble undertook a highly successful concert tour of Mexico and the United States.

As pianist Viklicky often performs in international ensembles alongside musicians from the USA and other European countries - with the Lou Blackburn International Quartet and the Benny Bailey Quintet, for example, and with multi-instrumentalist Scott Robinson. He has made frequent appearances in Finland (with the Finnczech Quartet and in particular with Jarmo Sermila) and Norway (with the Czech-Norwegian Big Band and Harald Gundhus) and has performed in the USA, Japan, Mexico, Israel, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands (at the North Sea Festival) and elsewhere. The editor of Rolling Stone wrote of Viklicky that "It was a delightful surprise to see such first-class, top-of-the-line jazz in Prague. As composer Viklicky has attracted attention abroad primarily for having created a synthesis of the expressive elements of modern jazz with the melodicism and tonalities of Moravian folk song that is distinctly individual in contemporary jazz. Besides this, however, he also composes 'straight-ahead' modern jazz as well as chamber and orchestral works that utilize certain elements of the New Music, and at times his music requires a combination of classical and jazz performers. He also composes incidental and film music and has produced scores for several full-length feature films and television series. Throughout the 1990s he has devoted an increasing amount of time to the composition of contemporary classical music for a great variety of instrumental combinations ranging from small chamber ensembles and electronic instruments to symphony orchestras and choruses. Viklicky's work has gained him quite a number of prestigious awards. https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/artist/emil-viklicky

What's New

Jane Monheit - Come What May

Styles: Vocal
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:31
Size: 112,1 MB
Art: Front

(2:58) 1. I Believe In You
(5:09) 2. When A Woman Loves A Man
(4:01) 3. Let’s Take A Walk Around The Block
(5:45) 4. Lush Life
(3:03) 5. Let’s Face The Music And Dance
(4:51) 6. Samba Do Aviao
(6:25) 7. The Nearness Of You
(3:53) 8. On The Sunny Side Of The Street
(5:29) 9. The Man That Got Away
(6:54) 10. My Funny Valentine

Jane Monheit is a potent antidote to a certain brand of jazz snobbery. At every major jazz festival, there are fans who will begrudgingly (or cheerfully) witness a set by Cécile McLorin Salvant or Gregory Porter, but if pressed, they would assert that they don’t consider vocalists to be in the same league as instrumentalists. (Was Ella Fitzgerald as good a musician as Count Basie? Debate that over a Zoom chat sometime.) When the luminous Monheit arrived on the scene 20 years ago with her debut, Never Never Land, she won over fans via renditions of standards such as “My Foolish Heart,” “I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)” and Jobim’s “Dindi.” On her latest album, Come What May, Monheit continues to dazzle, delivering a program chockfull of standards, such as “Lush Life,” “Let’s Face The Music And Dance” and Jobim’s “Samba Do Avi?o.”

Monheit’s version of Frank Loesser’s “I Believe In You” is delicately spiced with segments of scatting that elevate the tune just a pinch of salt that works wonderfully. Throughout the program, it should be clear to any snobbish naysayer that her instrument is equal to that of her band’s, which includes guitarist Miles Okazaki, bassist David Robaire, pianist Michael Kanan, drummer Rick Montalbano and percussionist Kevin Winard. In the opening section of “My Funny Valentine,” while floating atop Kanan’s lines, Monheit’s breath control and exquisite elongation of vowel sounds are so intoxicating that some listeners won’t even pause to ponder the arcane lyrics: “Thy vacant brow, and thy tousled hair/ Conceal thy good intent/ Thou noble, upright, truthful, sincere/ And slightly dopey gent.”

The inclusion of “Let’s Take A Walk Around The Block” (penned by Harold Arlen, Ira Gershwin and E.Y. Harburg) seems suited to our pandemic era in a particularly bittersweet way. Similarly, an elegant reading of “The Nearness Of You” might resonate on multiple levels for lovers who still share a spark, despite being stuck in a small apartment for the past 11 months. On the latter tune, the combination of Monheit’s emotive, wordless flights and Wayne Haun’s lush orchestral arrangement is positively intoxicating. Monheit’s album-release show at Feinstein’s at Vitello’s will be livestreamed on March 12. Catching this virtual gig might not be as fun as hearing her vocals reverberate around a jazz club or a festival crowd, but that will come, hopefully soon. https://downbeat.com/reviews/detail/come-what-may

Come What May