Year in Review: Jazz

For jazz lovers, the year kicked off royally in early January at the Municipal House with two sold-out performances of elegant swing by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. From "Moonlight Serenade" to "In the Mood," the orchestra enchanted an audience of all ages, though seniors were in the majority.

The next month, the Agharta Jazz Festival began with the United Kingdom's Courtney Pine touring his new album, a tribute to the legendary clarinetist and saxophonist Sidney Bechet (1897-1959) from New Orleans. Pine is one of the few saxophonists of our time who can be compared to John Coltrane in his ferocity. His tribute to Bechet, one of jazz's founders, however, was a return to ragtime and early swing.

March was ripe for more contemporary sounds. Swiss trumpeter Erik Truffaz brought his Paris Project, a collaboration with young up-and-coming Afro-French rapper Sly Johnson. A more party-rock-funk influenced group from New York City, Sex Mob, tore up the house at Jazz Dock, with the aid of DJ Olive, a supreme turntablist.

Later in April, more traditional jazz legends managed to get some stage time. Jazz Dock hosted the John Abercrombie Trio, featuring Abercrombie on electric guitar with longtime collaborator Adam Nussbaum on drums and new blood Jonathan Gold on the Hammond B-3 organ. Bobby McFerrin performed two evenings at Prague Spring, while John Scofield returned to the good old Lucerna Music Bar, which he insists is one of his favorite places to play.

Later in spring, there were phenomenal performances to unfortunately small audiences. The Abraham Burton and Eric McPherson Quartet played in the cellar of the smoky U Sudu. The electricity went out numerous times, but the band roared on.

The least attended show of the year, unfortunately, was the early-evening solo performance at Jazz Dock by Doug Hammond, a drummer-poet from Detroit and New York, now based in Linz, Austria. Hammond stayed positive, and he's likely to return to Prague soon.

In July, the Bohemia Jazz Festival offered free outdoor concerts in the center of Prague and other cities across the country. In Prague's Old Town Square, the headliners were the Stanley Clarke group featuring the Japanese pianist Hiromi and the young Norwegian saxophonist Hakon Kornstad.

In early autumn, the 5th Free Jazz Festival at KC Kaštan hosted the German duo Helter Skelter, who blazed through The Beatles' repertoire with a distorted guitar and overheated percussion. The headliner was a trio featuring New York-based pianist Matthew Shipp, acoustic bassist Joe Morris and mystical Russian saxophonist Sergey Letov.

In October, the Prague Strings Festival brought the Vijay Iyer Trio. It was a treat to see one of jazz's most highly acclaimed young pianists in the intimate Lucerna Music Bar. In the same month and on the same stage, the legendary Hammond B-3 organist Dr. Lonnie Smith debuted in Prague, turban and smile galore, playing some of his soul jazz and funk classics, along with more recent recordings.

The highlight of the year came in early November, as trumpeter Christian Scott and his quintet played at the Agharta Jazz Festival. Still in his 20s, Scott recalls the flair and genius of Miles Davis and Dizzy Gilespie. The sound of his band, including the voodoo-child drummer Jamire Williams, and guitarist Matt Stevens is utterly in the now, refining the best of modern rock influences.  

Chris Potter's Underground played a two-night stand at Jazz Dock the same month. Potter stands out for his harmonically rich and melodically complex sound with a thoroughly hypnotic groove behind him, fed by guitarist Adam Rogers, keyboardist Craig Taborn and drummer Nate Smith.

Lucerna Music Bar celebrated its 20th anniversary in November with a special show by the acid jazz legends Brand New Heavies, and the 15th Solo Jazz Piano Festival brought the rising nu jazz star Kelvin Sholar, originally from Detroit but now based in Berlin, as well as American Chris Jarrett.

In December, Jazz Dock pulled out all the stops in bringing the best of newer Czech jazz, including the Beata Hlavenková Trio, the utterly genre-bending Muff, the young Berlin-based group Inner Shape and Kurt Rosenwinkl. The event proved jazz is in no way a relic of the past in Central Europe. The region is helping to push jazz into the future.

Tony Ozuna can be reached at
features@praguepost.com