Say what you will about President Václav Klaus's myopic politics. After-hours he's a hard-core jazz fan who likes nothing more than bringing some of the great names of the business to Prague Castle, introducing them like longtime drinking buddies, then sitting back with several hundred of his friends and supporters for another great night of music.

This is all to the good for local jazz fans, who have been treated to performances in the Spanish Hall and other regal settings by the finest Czech jazzmen and top-shelf visiting performers like Joe Zawinul and Bill Frisell. Next up is a duo that offers the best of both worlds: Czech bass player Miroslav Vitouš and American guitarist John Abercrombie.

Though Vitouš is a native who studied music at the Prague Conservatory, both men came out of the New York scene of the late '60s, when jazz was transforming itself from a tight traditional form to open territory for new ideas and experimentation, with Miles Davis going electric and pioneers like Chick Corea and John McLaughlin creating what became known as fusion.

Vitouš and Abercrombie first met at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, though Vitouš didn't linger there long. "He was just so far beyond anyone, they couldn't teach him anything about playing the bass," recalls Abercrombie. "So he went to New York and did the famous Now He Sings, Now He Sobs record with Chick Corea, then went off to play with Weather Report."

Abercrombie came to New York as a session musician, and put together a series of sterling performing groups over the next couple decades, along with playing on literally dozens of albums. He and Vitouš only ran into each other at occasional gigs, and remained essentially long-distance colleagues and friends until two years ago, when Vitouš called Abercrombie and suggested they play some European dates as a duo.

An earlier collaboration had turned into a life-and-death episode. "This was about 15 or 20 years ago; we were part of a quartet on our way to play in Hamburg," Abercrombie recalls. "The van blew out a tire and the driver couldn't control it, and we went off the road. The van flipped over and we wound up lying on the roof, staring up at the floor. I really though we were goners. [Drummer] Paul Motian and I looked at each other and realized we were still alive. We crawled out of the van and saw Miroslav sitting on the side of the road with his hand on his neck, in pain.

He got some kind of whiplash, and had to go to the hospital for a few days. And his bass was completely destroyed."

The more recent dates (reached by plane) have been not only less perilous but musically rewarding. So Vitouš has put together another mini-tour for the duo, with dates in Italy and Spain sandwiching a few days in Prague, during which Abercrombie will be recording with the Robert Balzar trio and performing at the castle. "Miroslav called me up and said, 'Yeah, man, we're going to play for the president, man,'" Abercrombie says. "Knowing Miroslav, I'm sure he knows him personally."

It's no exaggeration to describe Abercrombie and Vitouš as virtuoso players, both of whom have done their share of pushing traditional jazz boundaries. But as a duo, they've been playing more conservatively.

"Right now, we're pretty much concentrating on playing standard tunes, believe it or not," says Abercrombie. "On the last tour, we didn't play any original music. We played only the old chestnuts — although they don't sound that way when we're playing them."

A similar set list seems likely for their Prague performance. "Exactly what we'll be playing I'm not sure, but it will probably be more of that," says Abercrombie. "Miroslav was using a computer with a lot of prerecorded orchestral sounds for a while, but that doesn't really suit a duo. So we're trying to keep it pretty pure, and maybe do a little bit of free playing, too."

Abercrombie says he prefers traditional forms and structure to the free-form playing that he's so well-regarded for, but he likes what improvising does for his skill level. "It hones my ability to react in a really fast way to what's going on, and that trains your instincts better when you go back and play form-oriented tunes," he says.