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Around Town

Jazzing up Old Town

By Benjamin Thomas Cunningham
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
July 18th, 2007 issue

Music always sounds better live, especially when it’s free and you have a front-row spot.

Case in point: the Bohemia Jazz Fest, which played in Prague two nights last week on a massive stage on Old Town Square that looked more in keeping with a rock concert.
Unlike most rock concerts, though, it didn’t take much to get close to the front of this one. The friendly crowd was loosely knit enough that showing up 15 minutes before the show started and smiling and saying “Prosím” a lot was enough to join a group of friends leaning over the barrier at the foot of the stage.
It didn’t even hurt too much to listen to Prague Mayor Pavel Bém give his standard welcoming speech — in fact, the crowd gave him a smattering of applause.
The July 10 headliner, the Kenny Garrett Quartet, drew hundreds of jazz-lovers looking for a good time. And sax player Garrett didn’t disappoint. He worked the crowd with upbeat numbers such as “Happy People” and encouraged the audience to clap and sing along. The song was so popular that people were heard belting out the refrain to each other on the square later in the week.
Garrett knows how to blow. He started the set with some Coltrane-sounding riffs, then gave his keyboard player free rein to take off on flights of jazz improv and even let the dreadlocked drummer have a solo. Jazz standards along the lines of Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk ruled the set, interspersed by one out-of-place, Spyro Gyra–sounding piece.
“This was so good that I went to [the festival’s] Web site so I could see more,” said Edgar Hauster, 49, from the Netherlands, who is traveling around Europe on his motorcycle this summer. Hauster came back to the square July 11, but decided against following the show to Plzeň, west Bohemia, the next day.
Jazz purists would probably argue the music sounds best in small dark, smoky rooms. But aside from occasional soundboard adjustments, it sounded good on the square. If anything, it was the rock ’n’ roll lighting that struck the wrong note. At one point toward the end of Garrett’s set, some folks in front got a little too exuberant and started moshing. Garrett frowned, shot the offending men a stern schoolteacher look and raised his hand as if he was going to pat them hard on the head. They immediately quieted down.
Other than the technical problems — which weren’t apparent from the front of the stage, but drew a scowl from Garrett at one point — the musicians were tight and the weather cooperated, with the stormclouds rolling away for a glorious sunset.
The July 11 headliner was the relatively subdued Dave Holland Quintet, which played more original material. That set seemed better-suited for a jazz club, with noise from the beer tents competing with the music. But the group’s fans seemed happy. Christian and Karen Isensee, a husband and wife visiting from Germany who came to the square specifically for the music, said, “We know the band, and we enjoy it.”
Still, there is something odd about listening to contemporary jazz on historic Old Town Square. Visitor Erin McAdams, 29, who came with her friend Steve Smith, 32, who lives in Prague, said she found the scene pretty unexpected.
“We just stumbled on it, but it’s awesome,” McAdams said.
Another person in the audience, Dmitri, 29, insisted that it’s not “real” jazz unless it’s performed in a club. He declined to give his last name, worried that others might make fun of him for being such a purist. Dmitri is a foreigner who has lived in Prague for about 10 years, working for big corporations such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
“Natives would go to a jazz club,” he said with a smile. “But being outdoors is one of the pluses of jazz festivals.”

Benjamin Thomas Cunningham can be reached at bcunningham@praguepost.com


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