Please note this is an old page and Fly Global Music has now moved. Please follow this link and search for the entry in the new site.

A truly accomplished pianist and composer, Viklický borders the space between jazz and classical music, flitting beautifully between both sides. As ripples of the enthused audience’s applause on this recording suggest, Viklický’s playing warms the listener, with his masterly fingers gliding along the keys generating delicious sounds.

Viklický is a pianist of legendary status, having recorded over 30 albums and featured with many of the finest Czech jazz acts including Milan Svoboda & Prague Big Band and The Keyboard Conclave (records available as part of the Cosmic Sounds Rare Jazz/Fusion Gems from the Czechoslovakian Vaults compilations). The trio also includes František Uhlíř (Double bass) and Laco Tropp (Drums) and perform a range of compositions by members of the trio, Viklický & Uhlíř and also Duke Ellington’s ‘Cottontail’ and Ray Brown’s ode to Art Blakey ‘Buhaina’.

Among the varied tempo tracks Uhlíř and Tropp prove themselves to be quality accomplices to Viklický. Uhlíř provides a pulsating base for Tropp & Viklický to feed from, and shows his talents with pizzicato (plucked) and arco (bowed) techniques. His use of the bow in his own composition ‘Song for Jane’ adds great depth to the trio and is the main focus in a beautiful track. Tropp displays an enjoyably executed drum solo in ‘Cottontail’ and his rhythmic playing sounds terrific throughout.

For people who appreciate the modern talents of Sweden’s Esbjörn Svensson, Gonzales from Canada or the established greats such as Oscar Peterson, then Cookin’ in Bonn is a worthy equivalent and a tremendous album, displaying a piano fronted trio performing at their very best. Emil Viklický summed up the Beethoven Festival performance saying how “The piano was good, the crowd was enthusiastic”, the recording captures this positivism and, had Beethoven been alive to witness it, he may have slipped on his spats and joined in the jazzdance.

Cookin’ in Bonn released on Dekkor Records is available and Emil Viklický Trio are performing with Yaron Herman at the Pizza Express Dean Street as part of the London Jazz Festival on 18th November.

Links:
http://www.viklicky.com/
http://www.beethovenfest.de/index.php?id=429
http://www.dekkorrecords.com/