100 years of radio jazz live broadcast at the Vltava and Mladí ladí jazz open-air festival
On April 30, Czech Radio Vltava and the Mladí ladí jazz festival organise a large multi-genre open-air on Prague’s Karlovo náměstí. This year, the event is part of the centenary, which is closely linked to the history of jazz in the Czech Republic. Czech Radio Vltava joined forces with Czech Radio Jazz and the Gustav Brom Radio Big Band, and will mark the centenary with the 100 Years of Jazz / 100 Years of Radio project focusing on their common background.
Orchestral commemoration of jazz, the Czech Radio’s companion in a century-long broadcasting, became a creative challenge for a trio of young Czech arrangers and inspired them for an original big band remake of classical jazz pieces. The programme features compositions by Jaroslav Ježek, Jaromír Hnilička, as well as by Radim Hladík or Jaromír Honzák. A new insight into their classical pieces was arranged by Miroslav Hloucal, Jan Jirucha and Richard Šanda. A brand new composition by Tomáš Sýkora Swinging on Radio Waves, shifting from the “historic“ 100 bmp tempo towards the „futuristic“ 200 bpm, will work as a harbinger of what the next radio century has to offer.
That’s not all: the second, electro-acoustic part of the programme, will see five big band members come together with producer Aid Kid to remake the arrangements beyond recognition. The “Remix” is toying with big band rhythm, bits and pieces of melodies, soundscapes and noises. Here the new meets the old, radio history meets the future.