Last night the Emil Viklický Trio appeared at the small Seattle club Lucid, following up the film screening described in yesterday’s post. Lucid has the intimacy, camaraderie and absence of a cover charge reminiscent of jazz clubs in the 1950s and ‘60s. One significant difference from those days; at Lucid, as at many clubs today, the pianist must supply his own instrument, the kind that plugs into the wall. In the first set, Viklický, bassist Clipper Anderson and drummer Don Kinney concentrated on the pianist’s compositions from his recent Sinfonieta album and others inspired by his admiration for the Czech composer LeoÅ¡ JanáÄek.
The second set sitters-in included solo vocalist Berenika Kohoutova from Prague and three other actors from Rhythm On My Heels, the motion picture discussed in the previous exhibit. The music ranged from standards by Victor Young, Hoagy Carmichael and Sonny Rollins to “Bim-Bam,†a Czech popular song from 1941 that is a highlight of the movie. Thanks to photographer Stacey Jehlik for these shots of the festivities.
The west coast tour over, on his way home to the Czech Republic Viklický will play Monday night at Dizzy’s Club in New York City’s Lincoln Center. He, bassist George Mraz, drummer Billy Hart and the Czech singer and screen star Iva Bittová will reprise music from Mraz’s album Moravian Gems.