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Building bridges

Two guitar greats reunite at this year's Bohemia Jazz Fest
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By Frank Kuznik
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
July 9th, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Scofield, left, and Linka were nearly hauled off to jail during their first collaboration in Prague, on Charles Bridge.
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The last time Rudy Linka and John Scofield played together in Prague, it was August 2000. The two jazz guitarists were visiting the city with their families and, after consulting her guidebook, Scofield’s wife declared that musicians in Prague all perform on Charles Bridge. It was decided that Linka and Scofield would take their guitars on the bridge, start playing, and the families would have dinner on whatever they earned.
“We managed to play about eight bars before the police showed up and asked us if we had a permit,” Linka recalls.
While the two men tried to explain that they weren’t common buskers, a crowd started to gather that included a TV crew. Rather than risk an ugly confrontation in front of the cameras, the police agreed to let them play one song.
“And we didn’t make a penny!” Linka says. “That night, when we were watching TV, the lead story was the Russian submarine [the nuclear-armed Kursk] going down in the Barents Sea. The second story was me and John getting busted for playing on Charles Bridge.”
The atmosphere will be considerably different next week when Linka and Scofield reunite on the Bohemia Jazz Fest stage on Old Town Square. Linka runs the festival, and Scofield is getting a lifetime achievement award — a slick sculpture and a check for $10,000 — from the festival’s main sponsor, Pilsner Urquell. It’s a measure of both how much things have changed in this country, and Linka’s gratitude.
“If I feel at home in New York, it’s because of John,” Linka says. “When I got to the United States 23 years ago, he was so friendly and helpful. He really helped me get started in the business. I’m very happy that he can come to my country, and I can give him this award.”
Linka was 19 when he left Czechoslovakia, and never looked back in carving out a stellar career as a jazz guitar player abroad. But after the country opened up, he felt he wanted to bring some of what he had learned and earned back to his homeland. So in 2005 he started the Bohemia Jazz Fest, the premise of which is simple: Every summer, Linka rounds up a bunch of his jazz buddies in the States and invites them to come with him to the Czech Republic for a series of free concerts on town squares.
How does he convince them to make the trip? Linka doesn’t hesitate when asked: “Free beer, of course! I tell them, ‘C’mon, we’ll hang out, drink Czech beer and play. It’s totally crazy, but we’ll have a good time.’ ”
Anyone who’s been to the concerts in Prague the past two years can attest to the good time. In fact, it’s startling to stroll onto the main town square here (much less in places like Plzeň or Domažlice) and see stars the caliber of Dave Holland and Bill Frisell jamming onstage, like a local band. The vibes are good, the beer is great, and as the evening slips into twilight, it’s a slice of jazz heaven.
This year brings two first-rate headliners to Prague. Scofield plays Monday night, July 14, and the following night it’s the Victor Wooten Band. The program begins at 4 p.m. both days with three backup bands from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and other European countries. Then Linka takes the show on the road, with the cast changing every night. On July 17, the lucky people of Plzeň will get to hear Mike Stern play with the Yellowjackets. And July 19, Ralph Towner and Oregon are playing in České Budějovice.
Linka has been in the Czech Republic the past couple weeks doing promotional work and nailing down a million details, and expects that he’ll go through the same curve that he did the past two years. “A few days before the festival, I’m so exhausted I think, I will never do this again!” he confides. “Then after it starts, and I see these guys playing where I grew up and generating such good energy, I honestly know I’ve done something good. So the minute it’s over, I say, ‘That was great! Let’s do it again next year.’ ”
It’s the Czech Republic’s good fortune that Linka gets recharged every year. And for jazz fans, or for that matter anyone interested in hearing great music in a spectacular historic setting, it’s an opportunity not to be missed.

Frank Kuznik can be reached at fkuznik@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (9/07/2008):

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