A bRIef hISToRy of CzeCh jAzz by PeTR VIdoMuS

muSiCal dramaturgy and PreSenter on CzeCh radio Jazz www.jazz.rozhlas.cz

The first Czech book about jazz was written in 1928 by the left-wing intellectual and playwright e. f. burian, who later, in the name of “socialist realism”, participated in fighting this genre. Another music journalist and anti-regime activist of the so-called jazz Section later appeared to be a collaborator of the Communist State Security… the history of Czech jazz is full of paradoxes and is closely linked to politics.

The golden era of Czech jazz was undoubtedly in the 1960s. A temporary political liberalisation was beneficial to international contacts (Charles lloyd or louis Armstrong played in Prague) and to creative freedom. Parallel to the period of revivalism (e.g. Traditional jazz Studio), interest in the west coast and hard bop (bands such as Studio 5, SHQ) deepened. It was at this time when the foundations of the highly professional Czech big bands (Radio Bigband, Gustav Brom Orchestra) were laid. jazz fusions with classical music, the so-called Third Stream (e.g. Pavel blatný), were also very popular.

The beginning of the 1970s was marked by the creative tension between freejazz and jazz-rock, but also other waves of ideological repression after the Soviet occupation in 1968. It is significant that the generation of the music immigrants of those times are still the most famous Czech jazzmen. People like George Mraz, Miroslav Vitous and Jan Hammer received a scholarship to berklee College of Music based on a talent competition in Vienna (1966) and later on, they all emigrated to the united States.

Apart from the renowned “Czech Bassist School” (such as Mraz and Vitous, but also Jaromír Honzák), the attempt of Czech jazzmen to seek inspiration in folklore (especially Moravian and Silesian, similar to the Czech composer Leoš Janáček) also deserves attention. The most famous protagonists of this direction include Jiří Stivín, Emil Viklický (older generation), and Pavel Wlosok and Jiří Slavík (younger generation).

Although the first attempts at jazz education go back to the 1960s, jazz at the university level has only been studied in the Czech Republic since 2010. While this may seem like a handicap, poor educational opportunities at home forced Czech jazzmen to study abroad: mainly in the uSA (still valued at berklee College), later in Poland, Austria or Scandinavia. The contacts and inspiration gained at international schools are still reflected in a number of international projects and original albums.