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Jazz Q
Amulet
- Format: CD
- Band: Jazz Q
- Title: Amulet
- Band's Origin: CS
- Style: Jazzrock, instrumental
- Rating: 4
- Release Year: 2020
- Recording Year: 2020
- Production Year: 2020
- Record Company: Studio Budikov
- Item's Number: SB 038
- Color of the Label:
- Edition:
- Extras: digipak
- EAN: 8594159980389
- Weight: 63 g
- Visual: new
- Acoustic:
- Cover: new
Studio Budíkov Release Information
Many argue, and I also agree with them, that any work of art must speak for itself. It needs no interpretation or comment. Music either catches one and elevates it in catharsis, or it's not good music. It does not matter the current mood of the composer or the performer, nor the conditions under which the work was created, nor the moods or situations of the players. At the moment of the creation of the work, its authors go aside and the music then lives its own life.
But my personal experience speaks differently. I've always wondered how the creation of that beauty actually took place, how someone resonates with whom, what were the relationships in the band, who agrees with whom in terms of opinion and what kind of discussion was accompanied by a mix of this or that song. Sometimes I felt it while listening, other times it was confirmed by a biography of a musician. In short: the picture was complemented by perceptions that cannot be heard from the recording, and I appreciated the human uplift even more in improvisation and in the atmosphere of the whole thing.
So on my last CD / LP, I decided to try to reveal something that is not audible on the record, but that could satisfy the listener's curiosity. Here are some notes on the process of creating the Amulet.
Jazz Q is in consolidated form after CD / LP Talisman. The band is perhaps the only one in our country and in Central Europe to play concert instrumental jazz rock (although I do not rule out that Zdeněk Fišer will come up with sung things in the future). It is worth mentioning that the new album is no longer as homogeneous in composition as the previous albums and that all members of the band have contributed to the diversity of the collection.
The coronavirus crisis, which essentially stopped all live performance, paradoxically had a beneficial effect on calm and the feeling of enough time to work in the studio. During the rehearsal, the usual burning was not done to the composer, which he wrote about for paralysis, and he still did not record well in the notes. Even the usual disillusionment with listening to freshly recorded material did not detract from the musicians' confidence. On the contrary, the recordings seemed quite audible after a few days. Not perhaps flawless (he's an omnipotent sound engineer to fix the little things), but full of strength and energy.
After recording and selecting the images, it is good to take a few weeks off from the recorded music. This will allow you to return over time, approach the recorded music with foresight and distance, and turn on critical reason and emotion again. As George Martin, the famous producer of the Beatles, wrote somewhere, it is desirable not to be carried away by the possibilities of recording something else in the open tracks; on the contrary, it is advisable to take from the recorded to the 'marrow' and thus find out where the strength, weakness, or essence of the musical idea lies.
It all happened, the mix was subjected to overwhelming criticism from all the musicians and you now have our new album in front of you.
The tetralogist is a bit like Coltrane's modal quart playing in superpositional harmonies with a beautiful guitar solo. Hammonds only confirm the historical parallel.
The game begins with a wah-wah vamp on the simple harmony of the piano. The chorus then decreases in the transparent harmonies of the Hammonds. Everything in a wobbly rhythm given by a croaking guitar.
Serendipity is a harmonic ballad influenced by Olivier Messiaen, performed mainly by Přemek's bass guitar. It lacks the usual jazz fifth harmonic progressions and final cadences, and the functions used are not logically related. In addition, Serendipity is a lucky coincidence.
With their name and harmony, Santanovské Silokřivky is reminiscent of the title Siločryry from our last album. Here are the usual harmonic clichés that the listener has heard a long time ago and knows what to expect in the solos. I also hope that he will get it from Zdeněk and from me with gusto!
The amulet features Zdeněk's correctly drawn guitar, which logically loses its intensity until Přemek's calm solo. The versions are clear, the refrains mahavishnovsky harmoniously disintegrated into a reduced scale and sagging bass lines.
On a foggy morning, a well-being written by Zdeněk and played by him in the past is laid out. He has pleasing harmonies, as if fused with his heart and guitar, which together with Přemek's bass guitar plays the primary electric piano only seals the almost acoustic sounds of both guitars.
Among us is Přemek's composer and soloist masterpiece. It's unbelievable how many timbres, from flageolets to bottom empty strings, a bass guitar can play at a murderous tempo and twice on top of each other. For a long time I couldn't understand the basic tectonics of a short composition, so I'm just happy to second there…
Filip's Hit It was intended for all four soloists, it plays well and has a logical harmony. It also bears the signs of transparency so necessary when writing for Filip's big band, where she also originally saw the light of day.
Wandering is a calm and logically written thing respecting all diatonic procedures. At the end, however, Filip's expressive drumming pulls him out of the monotonous rhythm, which gradually rolls all the well-being and opens into a fade out.
Amalgam is composed on a simple sequence of equally constructed chords. After the topic, however, the whole thing turns into solos in a double team. The last theme returns to the original rhythm.
Slanders appears as a confusing 10/4 composition hard phrased by clavinet D6. But don't be fooled. Leaving aside the unusual meter, Klevety is actually a puppet ten-stroke blues, which is played on a blues scale.
The merry three-quarter Fair is a fairground thunderous melody using the sound strongly influenced by the fair squirt in the keys.
Rytmožrout is true to its name and often even irregularly alternates 3/4 and 4/4 measures. In the end, Filip plays a solo in the fade out, respecting all the irregularities of the rhythm.
In the good tradition of my records, the last song of one album foreshadowed the first song of another album. So - what's next?
Martin Kratochvíl
Tracklist
1. Tetralog 4:52
2. Jinohraní 5:02
3. Serendipity 5:18
4. Silokřivky 4:17
5. Amulet 4:57
6. Mlhavé ráno 4:56
7. Mezi námi 2:10
8. Hit It! 5:43
9. Toulky 5:18
10. Amalgam 3:59
11. Klevety 5:02
12. Jarmark 3:37
13. Rytmožrout 3:56