George Mraz and Emil Viklický - two of the leading Czech jazz musicians united again. George Mraz is one of the most profiled bass players in the world and Emil Viklický is the "patriarch of Czech jazz piano"(the London Evening Standard). They perform a new Czech way of jazz, fresh ideas on traditional foundations and no least of all two of the most remarkable voices of jazz can be discovered on "Together Again".
A little while ago, the British "Guardian" wrote that ACT was on a mission to sign the best European pianists to its label. Creative virtuosos like Yaron Herman, Leszek Mozdzer and Gwilym Simcock bear witness to the fact that these pianists do not have to come from Scandinavia. And that they don't have to be young is now proven by the Emil Viklicky ACT debut "Together Again". The 65 year-old Czech national has perhaps stayed too down-to-earth for us to have discovered him earlier for what he is: the "patriarch of Czech jazz piano", as the London Evening Standard put it. And "one of the best contemporary pianists, whose touch, voicing and chords have a lot in common with the grand masters of taste the likes of Tommy Flanagan and Jimmy Rowles," as the American periodical Jazz Time wrote of him in 2...
line upGeorge Mraz / bass
Emil Viklický / piano
Produced by Siggi Loch
Recorded at Realistic Sound Studio by Florian Oestreicher, January 16 & 17, 2013
Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann
Cover Art (Detail) by Philip Taaffe / ACT Art Collection
