Your feedback, dear reader, is always a great thing and it encourages me to continue with my work. And when the feedback comes from one of the actual protagonists of this blog, I couldn’t be honored more: Emil Viklický has e-mailed me recently and he was very pleased about my positive review of his album Okno (Window). In the e-mail dialog which followed he has provided some more background informations about the album; I’ll be adding the new facts to the original entry soon.
Since I’m in Prague again these days, Mr. Viklický has kindly invited me to his gig at the legendary Reduta Jazz Club yesterday (if you click the Reduta link, that’s actually him on their homepage!). Thus not only I had the opportunity to enjoy his stellar trio with ex-Impuls František Uhlíř on double bass and with the legendary mid-1960s SHQ drummer Laco Tropp (don’t worry, he will be featured on Funky Czech-In, too), but also to talk to them about this and that after the concert. And since it became quite late, Mr. Viklický was even so kind to drive me home with his car… Unbelievable! Thank you, Emil!
I’ve also learned that Emil Viklický has a large archive of master tapes, which have never been released on records yet. In the 1980s he has composed and arranged lots of big band stuff which he recorded in the Czechoslovak Radio studios either with JOČR (Jazz Orchestra of the Czechoslovak Radio Prague) or with ORO (Ostrava Radio Orchestra which basically consisted of members of Flamingo). I’ve heard some samples – fantastic big band jazz-funk, if you ask me! Mr. Viklický was quite surprised to hear that there still exists a market for this kind of music. So: If you have an idea how to bring these recordings to the public, don’t hesitate to contact me! There shouldn’t be any legal hurdles since Mr. Viklický owns all publishing rights to this material.
Another feedback I’ve received some time ago came from former Crystal leader Jaroslav Nevrkla. He then e-mailed me the whole Crystal story, thus I will be able to update my post with first hand informations. Many thanks, Jaro!
