Last month I spent 3 nights in Prague and I thought I share my impressions from this trip with you.

It was my first time in this city, so I did the regular sight-seeing stuff like the Charles Bridge or the Castle, ate the famous Trdelník and enjoyed the perfect scenery in this exceptional city.

The evenings were reserved for visits to local Jazz clubs and I had the chance to see 3 different clubs:

1. Jazz Club Reduta: A very nice and cozy Jazz club. The band we saw was called “Tarapaca Jazz” and is formed around the pianist Jaroslav Bárta. The band played mainly their own compositions. The sound was pleasant, not too loud and not to soft,  the drinks were not too expensive and the program of the club is rather traditional, so if you search for a relaxing atmosphere with good Czech jazz musicians this is the perfect choice.

http://www.redutajazzclub.cz/en

2. Jazz and Blues Club Ungelt: We spent the second night in this club and we heard the “Luboš Andršt Blues Band”. They played very traditional Chicago-Blues, but Luboš is a great and very intelligent Blues guitar player. The club is rather small so expect it to be a little bit louder. The program of this club is more Blues-oriented and Luboš Andršt plays regularly here.

http://www.jazzungelt.cz/

3. AghaRTA Jazz Club: This is the club with the more modern jazz oriented program. When we were there we saw Ondřej Kabrna & Flying Power. Ondřej is a excellent piano and organ player. He was accompanied by a cool guitar and bass player named Kryštof Tomeček.  The club is very popular and right next to the old-town square, so it might be difficult to find a seat when you arrive later in the evening.

http://www.agharta.cz/

All clubs have live music every night and they present local musicians. Prices for admission and drinks are reasonable. The musicians were all excellent and they find a mixed audience of local people and tourists every night.

Prague seems to have a very active and lively Jazz scene and if you want to escape from the beer-drinking crowds and selfie-stick equipped tourists then visit one of these clubs.

I got a set of new CD Releases from Posi-Tone Records:

• Ed Cheery: Soul Tree
• Ken Fowser: Standing Tall
• Tom Tallitsch: Gratitude
• Walt Weiskopf: The Way You Say It

Then a new CD from Dr. Lonnie Smith called “Evolution”, I obviously bought Gregory Porter “Take Me To The Alley” and finally a brand new CD from the Daniel Bennett Group called “Sinking Houseboat Confusion”.

And after 40 years I finally got “Wish You Were Here” from Pink Floyd. Not much to say here except that I remember looking at this album cover every week in the store in the 70′s but never really had the guts to buy it….

I added some events for the next 2 weeks in Bern, Fribourg and Lausanne and I have to say, that great music is on its way.

I will also commence again writing regularly. I got a lot of new CDs, which are worth to talk about and I saw and hopefully will be able to see interesting concerts in this season.

So, welcome back.

Let me talk about two upcoming events:

1. Hiromi comes to Switzerland: Japanese pianist and composer Hiromi Uehara gives four solo concerts in Switzerland. Form March 27 to March 30 she plays in Basel, Geneva, Berne and Lucerne. The concerts are all in classical concert halls, where usually symphony orchestras are playing. So extra challenge for her, because I would assume the audience attending these concerts has a more classical background.

I have not been able to see her live, but I bought her latest CD “Move” and I was really impressed by the power and extraordinary musical expressions in her playing. Her sidemen on this album are also excellent musicians with a wide background. Bassist Anthony Jackson worked with Chick Corea, Steely Dan and Paul Simon and drummer Simon Phillips played with Toto, The Who, Judas Priest and David Gilmour. Personally I would like to see her with these two sidemen if possible. To give you an idea of how this trio sounds I added the following video:

2. Jazzfestival Bern: The other event that is around the corner is the Jazzfestival Bern. This festival starts on March 17. The opening night features Roy Hargrove on trumpet and italian singer Roberta Gambarini with the Swiss Jazz Orchestra.

Closing night of the festival is on May 24 with Terry Lyne Carrington’s “Money Jungle” and the Ellis Marsalis Quartet. In between there will be concerts with Terence Blanchard, Cassandra Wilson, Kevin Eubanks and Spyro Gyra. Even if I think this festival is a little bit too much spread over two months it allows you to see free concerts with great food in a tent outside the hotel “Innere Enge” and the guys at the jazz festival Bern have the right touch to find interesting young musicians to play there.

Let me introduce to you a luthier from my hometown Augsburg, Germany. His name is Stefan Sonntag and he is one of the finest luthiers in Germany. He is not only able to build excellent guitars but he is also very actively organizing workshops with some great guitar players.

Typically he organizes an autumn workshop in France and this year for the second time a spring workshop in Italy.

I just received the invitation for the workshop in the south of France from  October 21. – October 25. 2014. This year Stefan invited Mimi Fox from San Francisco and Ulrich Hoffmeier from Berlin.

The spring workshop in Bolzano, Italy might also be quite interesting for vocalists. Jazz-vocalist Jeanne Gies and Jazz-guitarist Howard Alden from New York together with Helmut Nieberle, a long-time friend from Stefan, are the instructors at this workshop which takes place from April 25 to April 28 and there are still seats available.

During the workshops you can also play and try out Stefan Sonntag’s instruments and if you are interested on playing a real “classic”
archtop Jazz guitar, excellently constructed and built, with a perfect acoustic and electric sound then this is the perfect opportunity.

I am a lucky owner of one of Stefan’s guitars and I’m very happy with this instrument. Stefan is able to fulfill many different ideas and visions and he is capable to build an instrument according to your specifications.

I wanted to have an archtop guitar (“archtop” means that the top of the guitar is arched) with a 17″ size body and a floating pickup. I tried out some guitars but I always found one or more things to complain about the guitars I tested, so in the end I had a list of things which I didn’t like and a vague idea of how the guitar should look like and went to Stefan Sonntag’s factory and tested some guitars to find the right size of body and neck.

The picture here on the left shows the model I ordered. It is a J17 Standard guitar which is his “more elaboratly decorated version of the solid built Sonntag archtop”. The guitar has a full acoustic sound,  can be very loud even without amplifier and produces the perfect Jazz sound. I had to wait for some months to get the  guitar to be built, but the waiting was worthwhile: I got my perfect guitar.

If you want to read more about Stefan Sonntag please check his website under:
http://www.sonntag-guitars.com 

There is also a nice video (in German) where you see Stefan explaining how to build a guitar. For those of you who do not understand German here is the summary: “Take a tree and cut away everything that is not part of the guitar.”