The Americans may have been the first exporters of jazz, but it’s found itself a nice home here in Prague at the Reduta jazz club in the center city.
The club, located at Národní Třída 20, offers a classic jazz venue feel with a comfortable lounge area with couches and low wooden tables with candles. But beyond that, it offers what some cheaper music clubs sometimes lack – great acoustics and a nicely raised stage area that allow the audience (and probably the band) to sit back and enjoy the experience with ease – no craned heads, no muffled solos.
Apparently Bill Clinton thought so too – you can’t miss the posters and pictures plastered all over the front lobby of a younger, pre-scandal Clinton putting on a saxophone performance for some other dignitaries in 1994, and then visiting again a decade later in 2005.
This is not, however, the place to go if you’re in the mood to whirl your partner around to swing beats like back in the hey day – even if you could get past the lower energy, lounge-y atmosphere, the dense set up of seating and tables probably wouldn’t give much room for whatever expressive dancing takes hold of you anyway. I’d classify it as more of a high-brow, comfortable experience, the kind you might get in many East Village jazz clubs as opposed to the freer atmosphere of a New Orleans joint.
The club features mostly Czech jazz bands, with some occasional visitors from places like Germany and Austria – I happened to pop in to catch some of the Senior Dixieland Band, who certainly made for a nice, strong performance. The club has performances every night of the week that range from more classic jazz to latin, fusion, funk and swing. If you happen to take a particular fancy to any of the bands performing there, the club also features an extensive collection of CDs to buy right outside of the performance area.
There is a price to be paid for the quality and comfort in the club, however – the cover charge on Saturday when I went was 300 Kč, and drinks from the downstairs self-service bar are fairly pricey as well. Beer prices range from 60 to 80 Kč – but the selection is broader than a lot of bars, with Pilsner, Guinness, Corona, Heineken, Budvar, Stella Artois, Krusovice and Frisco. There’s a pretty fancy list of aperitifs and cocktails as well, but way out of my price range around 80 to 125 Kč.
You can find a schedule of performances in Czech and English at their website.
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