An exquisite pianist and musician, NajPonk is one of the pioneers of mainstream jazz on the Czech music scene. From the bottomless resources of mainstream jazz repertoire he has been picking gems for his own albums. But although his repertoire mainly consists of the so-called "standard" pieces, his recordings are informed by unusual inventiveness and his acute sense of style and rhythm. For each of the albums, NajPonk usually invites different collaborators; "What's Next" has been recorded together with the famous Swedish double bassist Hans Backenroth and Czech drummer Jir� Slav�cek. The selections chosen or this release include compositions by Milton Jackson, Count Basie, Danyel Gerard, and NajPonk himself, among others.

The double bassist and composer Jaromír Honzák, already four times awarded by ”Angel” award for Czech jazz album of the year, returns with his new album to the age-old inspirational sources of modern music, to the essence of music and its basic building blocks, in terms of both content and form. This is indeed where the title of the album, “Early Music”, comes from. Besides Honzák’s own compositions the record comprises an arrangement of an anonymous medieval composition and a piece by Oldrich Janota. Honzák’s partners on this recording are exponents of the Czech jazz efflorescence: David Doružka on the guitar, Vít Krištan on the piano, Luboš Soukup on the saxophone and Martin Novák on the drums.

Dorota Barova is a Czech singer and cello player well known to audiences as a member of numerous groups such as Tara Fuki and Vertigo. She has been playing, recording and collecting awards with both groups for more than 15 years now. She also performs with two popular Czech singers Aneta Langerov� and Lenka Dusilov� and in 2018 she unexpectedly entered into a new project of the members of the Slovak band Korben Dallas - Tugriki. Dorota Barov� is now releasing her long-awaited first solo album "Iluzja" (Illusion) consisting of her own new songs. The album was recorded in trio with the guitar player Miroslav Chy�ka (Illustratosphere, J.A.R., Sexy Dancers) and the bass player Jakub Vejnar (Muff) and with the pianist and singer Beata Hlavenkov� as a guest.

The saxophone player and composer Luboš Soukup is one of the leading exponents of the young Czech jazz generation which he has been successfully representing in Denmark, his new home of several years. In the Czech Republic he has been known above all as member of the Czech-Polish quintet “Inner Spaces” (the holder of the prestigious “Andel” Award for the best jazz album of 2012), of the progressive big-band “Concept Art Orchestra” (the holder of the same award in 2015), of the “Points” formation and a number of other projects. Soukup recorded this album together with his Scandinavian quartet and a special guest: the guitarist and singer Lionel Loueke who has collaborated with such luminaries as Herbie Hancock, Sting, Cassandra Wilson, Santana, Marcus Miller and Terence Blanchard. Soukup’s compositions recorded in the exquisite performance of his band boosted by Loueke’s sensuous energy offer an extraordinary musical experience.

Two years ago, a unique performance took place at the Archa Theatre in Prague in which the legendary Czech folk musician Dagmar Vonkov� performed her repertoire. This time, however, Vonkov� did not appear as a soloist but was accompanied by a band composed of eight major figures on the local musical scene: Beata Hlavenkov�, Dorota Barov�, Marcel B�rta, Oskar T�r�k, Milo� Dvor�cek, Jir� Slav�k, Marian Friedl, Petr Ostrouchov and the singer Lenka Dusilov� as guest. Animal Music now releases a live recording of this concert. The band was assembled on the initiative of the producer of the project, Petr Ostrouchov, who designed the program especially for the Strings of Autumn festival in the year of Dagmar Vonkov�'s seventieth birthday. The concert was offered as a tribute to this remarkable folk singer who has been part of the musical scene since the 1970s when she first came with her wholly original combination of traditional folk song with a unique approach to guitar play and an expressive way of singing. Remarkably, her music and reputation spanned the borders of Czechoslovakia. Accompanied on the piano, wind instruments, double bass, the drums, percussions, folk flutes or cimbalom, Vonkov�'s songs, characterized by a strong folk-poetic drive, can be heard in a new flourish of colors in the present recording. The many-layered arrangements are the work of members of the accompanying band whose own musical language draws on jazz and contemporary music as well as current songwriting and folk-song.

The phenomenal French-horn player Radek Baborak comes with a new album (his second on Animal Music) featuring music by the Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, in arrangements that were tailor-made for his eleven-member ensemble which unites foremost Czech and international players. Piazzolla's music - which listeners all over the world know as a one of the purest expressions of "tango nuevo"- does not feature French horn. Radek Baborak, however, continues on his pioneering mission of an arranger and a performer of Piazzolla's work in atypical line-ups. The role of the bandoneon - traditionally the carrier of the Argentine-tango sound - is here taken over by the French horn, the bass clarinet, violin and piano. Baborak thus succeeds in reaching his desired aim, which is not to sound as one of the many "revival bands" of Piazzolla's own legendary quintet. Instead, the arrangements let the music itself stand out and they highlight the masterful invention of Piazzolla who was able to combine in his compositions great expressivity and exulted passion with melancholy and humbleness. All those qualities remain at the heart of the interpretation by Radek Baborak Orquestrina while they are taken to a whole new level in this recording based on perfect harmony and vigorous interpretation.

Czech saxophonist and composer Luboš Soukup has been living and working in Copenhagen for ten years. The “Freetown” of Christiania is not only one of the local tourist attractions, but also the site of an excellent jazz club, the Børneteateret. Last year, Soukup invited his Prague colleague Vojtech Procházka (of Vertigo) to the club to perform two concerts together with himself and his Danish partners, double bassist Emil Brun Madsen (who is also the artistic director of the Børneteateret) and drummer Morten Hæsum with whom Soukup has been collaborating for many years. The recordings from those two nights form the basis of the present album. The vigorous playing, free musical expression and boundless imagination are the prime characteristics of these recordings whose authentic “rawness”, inseparable from the player’s common drive, presents an added value that would be hard to achieve in a studio recording.

Classical Music

• Czech jazz pianist and composer whose critically well-received debut album, Joy For Joel, Animal Music released in 2009. • Ms. Hlavenková found inspiration for the music on this disc in the song form and its fascinating simplicity. • “...an exceptional accomplishment on our contemporary music scene.” - Lubomir Dorůžka, critic, on 2009's Joy For Joel."

The British saxophonist Andy Schofield who is based in Prague and who has for many years performed with various formations, now releases his own album. "Suite for JT" is a forward-looking, original composition for nine players which Schofield created several years ago for Manchester International Festival and performed on its platform together with the illustrious pianist John Taylor to whom the piece is dedicated. For the first studio recording of this composition, the author has surrounded himself with musicians who belong to the elite of Czech jazz, including Jiří Slavík, Daniel Šoltis, Oskar Török, Vojtěch Procházka and Marcel Bárta.

Andrea Šulcová releases her debut album, "Opportunities", featuring her own songs. Her excellent singing and masterful songwriting are inspired by some of the foremost developments on the American songwriting scene. The twelve original songs and English lyrics, all authored by the young singer herself, draw on contemporary folk and pop music. The album is produced by Petr Ostrouchov who also performs in the accompanying band, alongside musicians associated with Blue Shadows, guitarist Josef Štepánek, double bassists Jaromír Honzák and Matej Belko, drummer Martin Novák, and pianist Vít Krištan, who all participated also on recent albums of Vladimír Mišík and Mirek Kemel. Some of them are members of Andrea’s concert band as well. Andrea started to focus on her own songwriting following her studies of jazz in Prague and Graz and after she established herself on the scene as a sought-after flutist (Concept Art Orchestra). In its own way, the album is her childhood dreams come true. The songs reflect the singer’s very personal and intimate experiences from the last four years in which she fought off a serious disease and had to put her professional career on hold.

The eponymous album by CPR Electrio marks the symbolic return to the Czech Republic of two jazz 'emigrants' living in New York City: The organist Ondrej Pivec and the saxophonist Karel Ruzicka, Jr.. The band's third member is the 'domestic' drummer Russell Carter. CPR Electrio perform groovy music blending dance influences, R&B, and funk. Although the musicians have found scope for solo improvisations, the album is above all a joint demonstration of their immense energy and sheer joy of playing.

Vít Krištan releases his debut album on Animal Music. Imprints contains a dozen pieces composed by Krištan and recorded by the permanent configuration of the trio Krištan performs with and the rhythm section of the ensemble Face of the Bass. The album features a variegated mix of original pieces that Krištan says, “All of them were inspired by my own experiences, places I have visited and people I have met, thus to a significant extent representing the imprints of my memory and my experiences.”

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Classical Music