I’d like to review these
three discs together for a couple of connecting
reasons. The first is that on the second disc
"Autumn in New York" there are two
tracks written by my cousin Mike Carr the
great British Hammond Organist who gave lessons
to Ondrej Pivec leader of the Organic Quartet.
The second and more relevant reason is that
the two groups are from the Czech Republic
and all three discs are from a Czech/British
company Cube-Metier.
It is great to be able to
review 3 discs from that country which I wouldn’t
mind betting is pretty well unknown to most
in jazz terms. All three discs show it should
be better known as a country where exciting
new talents are to be found.
"I remember the first
time I heard Jan Knop (aka NajPonk)…Other
musicians sang his praises with uncommon fervor,
but when I first laid eyes on him, I thought
they were pulling my leg. Stoop-shouldered
and doe-eyed, Jan looked more like a surly
choirboy than a musical genius. But when he
put finger to keyboard I knew he was the real
thing. What a touch I thought, and how he
swings!" So writes the US and international
journalist Siegfried Mortkowitz in the sleevenote.
I concur with that assessment in spades as
here is someone who has learned from the styles
of the greats in jazz piano and made them
his own. There are echoes of Red Garland,
Wynton Kelly, Oscar Peterson and of course
Thelonius Monk. He knows how to treat a great
ballad whether up tempo or bluesy and creates
that feeling that you’ve heard the piece before
even when it’s an original composition – just
listen to ‘For Funky Bobby Timmons’ and ‘Brother’
on the disc "Ballads, Blues and More"
or ‘Mr Beautiful’ and, indeed any of his original
compositions on "Autumn in New York",
especially ‘I’ll Remember 21st. May’. Just
spin ‘If I fell’, a John Lennon original,
to hear how inventive NajPonk is and what
damn good tunes Lennon wrote! There isn’t
a single track on either disc which disappoints
and I’ll bet a lot of listeners will simply
want to play the discs again as soon as they’re
over and people will find new and different
things to marvel over on every occasion. The
disc "Autumn in New York" is a tribute
to the city of jazz, and track 6. ‘Nine Eleven
2001’ is a direct homage to that fateful day,
however, though bluesy it is not over sentimental
but simply a beautiful tune wonderfully played.
In all the tunes on both discs he is accompanied
by first class musicians, the great bass players
Robert Balzar and Petr Dvorsky and by Martin
Sulc on drums and percussion. ‘Harlem Waltz’
by my cousin is a great tune and no-one would
guess it didn’t emanate from the pen of an
US composer as it is so evidently American
in temperament. The same goes for his other
tune ‘In the Groove’ but then Mike has been
writing jazz numbers since the early 1960s
so he has been honing his considerable talent
over more than 40 years.
It is Mike’s prodigious talent
as a Hammond organist that has been passed
on to Ondrej Pivec as is self evident on the
third disc "Don’t get Ideas". When
you realise that the oldest member of the
group Organic Quartet is still only 24, and
that the "baby" of the group is
Ondrej himself at only 22, it is simply wonderment
that takes over as you listen. In addition
they prove they can compose as well and no
less than 6 of the tracks were written by
Ondrej himself with the tenor saxophonist
Jakub Dolezal penning one and the guitarist
Libor Smoldas another two. This group really
swings – even the production team said they
couldn’t stop dancing in the studio during
the recording session! As NajPonk who was
involved in this album as Producer says "It
is quite a rare thing to hear a great Hammond
combo in our part of Europe". Both Pivec
himself and Tomas Hobzek study at Prague’s
Jaroslav Jezek College and Hobzek is currently
a member of the City’s opera orchestra(!)
while Libor Smoldas has received a grant to
study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston,
USA. Though Ondrej Pivec only founded the
Organic Quartet in 2005, the year this recording
was made, the group almost immediately won
the Group of the Year in the prestigious Philips
International Jazz Festival Competition, while
Pivec himself carried off the Best Soloist
award. It is difficult to single any one tune
out from this brilliant debut disc but I particularly
enjoyed ‘Just Chillin’’ with its laid back
style and summer sounding harmonies. Have
a listen to ‘Pantheola’ to get an idea of
how talented they all are and what an amazing
guitarist Libor Smoldas is as well as what
a great and lyrical sax player Jakub Dolezal
is. ‘Lonely Grey’, the last track, is a beautiful
ballad that demonstrates both the composing
talent of Ondrej Pivec as well as the brilliant
sounds each musician coaxes from his instrument.
The fact that the great McCoy Tyner’s composition
‘Inception’ sits comfortably with all the
other home grown tunes I think speaks volumes
for the considerable talent of this marvellous
group who I sincerely hope will find the audience
abroad that it richly deserves. Look for these
discs, and others, on the record company’s
website www.jazz4all.com
and snap them up!
Steve Arloff
CD Reviews
Cube-Metier MJCD 2528
