The Stimul Festival is now in its second year of bridging jazz, electronic music and improvisation, and showcasing the fusion of these three. As in the first year, upcoming shows combine some well-known names from the European free-jazz scene, along with younger progressive musicians, with an emphasis on projects from Central and Eastern Europe.

LOK 03 combines all the goals of the festival in a nutshell. The band features a reunion of two veteran jazz pianists, Alexander von Schlippenbach and Aki Takase, who have played together on occasion as a duo or in larger groups for well over 20 years. (The last time they played as a duo was 2001.)

Von Schlippenbach, born in Berlin, is a seminal figure of the European jazz scene of the '60s who has played with free-jazz-noise giants like Peter Brotzman and Evan Parker. His largest project, The Globe Unity Orchestra, is over 30 years old and, according to recent reviews, just keeps getting better.

Aki Takase (born in Japan, but now based in Europe) is a petite, free-spirited lioness on the piano. She has toured and recorded with Lester Bowie and David Liebman, and toured with ex-Coltrane musicians Rashed Ali and Reggie Workman. Though she usually performs with free jazz players, she doesn't pound on the keys like her male counterparts.

Her 2001 recording, St. Louis Blues, is a delicate avant-garde excursion in bluesy jazz with Fred Frith, Nils Wogram and Paul Lovens. Like most of her recordings, this one is an inspirational and exploratory experience for musicians and listeners alike.

Takase first played Prague solo in 1982, then returned with her Japanese group in 1984. In 1987 she performed here again with Jana Koubková, with whom she also recorded an album.

As LOK 03, Von Schlippenbach and Takase will be joined by Berlin-based DJ Illvibe (von Schlippenbach's son), who creates an improvisational bed of found sounds, hip-hop beats and scratches with assorted instrumentation and vocals. Takase explains how she came up with the name for the trio: "I had the idea that we all three could have many different impressions and inspirations of cities' landscapes, which we could then bring to our different approaches for improvisation."

They will be performing in the acoustically superb Divadlo Komedie, a perfect setting for a rare union of two first-rate jazz pianists with an abstract DJ.

On April 7, the festival will feature another exceptional show: Sao Paulo Underground Trio, playing at Roxy NoD. This is the newest project of cornet player Rob Mazurek of Chicago Underground, an alternative jazz project that records and tours as a duo (with drummer Chad Taylor), often expanding to a trio and beyond.

Mazurek lives in Brazil, where he's been working with local musicians Mauricio Takara (drums and electronics) and Guilherme Granado (vocals and samples). Compared to the more ambient sound of the Chicago project, Sao Paulo Underground has a reborn rhythm, reflective of its birthplace. Takura's drumming pushes Mazurek into a different realm of sound. For Sao Paulo Underground's Prague show, the group will be joined by Polish trumpeter Artur Majewski of Robotobibok.