The Liška – Malina – Nejtek group caught the attention of the Artistic Director of the JazzFestBrno Festival Vilém Spilka as soon as he heard about it: "I actually bought a pig in a poke. I made arrangements with them a long time ago and I did not even know how they sounded. I did not care whether it would be bluegrass, or new age. "The debut album has already seen the light of day, and the visitors to this year's festival will also hear the trio live.
Fragile Bliss is a joint album of three strong personalities of the Czech scene – contrabassist Tomáš Liška (Druhá tráva, Pénte, formerly Milokraj, Points), banjo and wind player Luboš Malina (Druhá tráva, García, Malina Brothers, Kon Sira) and pianist Michal Nejtek (NTS, bands of David Koller and Michal Pavlíček). The album is nominated for the Anděl Award in the jazz category, although it is far from pure jazz. The Liška - Malina - Nejtek trio will perform at the festival on 10 April in the Husa na provázku Theatre. The following interview was conducted in Prague, questions were answered by Luboš Malina and Michal Nejtek.
Luboš, you play with Tomáš in Druhá tráva. Where did the idea come from to create a new instrumental group?
LM: I got an offer from Helena Plachtová, an event organiser from Český Krumlov, to perform one evening in November as part of regular recitals in Krumlov. I was supposed to play with a smaller band because the space was also smaller. So I went to Tomáš Liška and told him that we could put together a trio and we were thinking about the third instrument. Tomáš thought of piano, which I really liked because I was thinking about a line-up with piano earlier.
How did you then get specifically to Michal Nejtek?
LM: It was again an idea of Tomáš Liška because I am not very knowledgeable in these circles. I did not know too many Czech pianists on the border between classical music and jazz, but Tomáš suggested Michal Nejtek.
If I had to name an important Czech pianist, I would probably not think of you, Michal, because I have your name associated with electric keyboard and composing. Have you thought about contributing to the trio with other colours than just an acoustic piano?
MN: We thought about it and we also tested it during the rehearsal process, but finally we came to the conclusion that there will be very little electronics on the album. There is only one short thing from me which I produced by reworking a recorded sound. Otherwise, we realised there was no space for synthesizers and other added colours at the moment. It is, I wouldn't say perfect for us, but it is a form which we reached after a year of rehearsing. There is really no space for electronics, but I do not mind it at all. I am glad about the pure piano.
At the beginning of the project, there was one concert in Český Krumlov. I assume that it significantly differed from what we hear on the record today...
LM: The concert differed mainly in the repertoire because we did not have enough original new things. We played more of my songs that I recorded over the years in various forms. All the songs on the CD are new songs.
Who brought the songs?
MN: Most songs are from Tomáš Liška, several of them are from Luboš, and one from me. We had things in progress and gradually we shaped them somehow during rehearsals. When we were happy with it, we put it on the record, when we were not, we put it aside for next time.
Does this line-up, a banjo, piano and contrabass, have any role models on the world stage?
LM: American banjo player Alison Braun has a similar line-up in her quartet – banjo, piano, bass and drums. But the main difference is in the repertoire which is much closer to jazz in her case. But if I had to consider someone from the world scene as a role model, it would be Béla Fleck who often used the piano in his recent recordings and he even recorded the whole album with Chick Corea. It was an inspiration for me. As I said, I had already thought about some collaboration with the piano earlier, it was based on when I saw Béla Fleck with Chick Corea.
The album was released at the end of 2015 and now you will present it in concerts. So what are you planning?
MN: They are planning launches. The most important concerts will take place on 10 April at the Husa na provázku Theatre during the JazzFestBrno Festival and at the end of April in the Jazz Dock in Prague. And we have not mentioned yet that Kamil Slezák, a fantastic drummer who entered the project as if he had known it forever, is also featured on the album. Most of our concerts will be played in the trio, but if any special occasion arises, we will perform in a quartet with the drums.
Each of you has a number of other musical projects. How is this trio special to you?
LM: For me, it is a return to my dreams of touring in a tailcoat. When I was younger and I was studying classical music on the clarinet, I did not think of me once becoming a folk-rock musician who makes a living that way. And then when I became a folk-rock or bluegrass musician, I never thought that I would ever play anything that would resemble classical music. And jazz? Absolutely not. For me, it was a huge challenge and a lot of work. But it is something that interests me very much and I enjoy it a lot.
How close are you to jazz as a listener?
LM: I used to listen to jazz, but it is not an area that I understood too much. I like Pat Metheny and Chick Corea or syntheses, in which jazz plays a big role, but I am no great expert.
Michael, how is this trio interesting to you?
MN: It is something that I have already mentioned. That I only play classical piano here. And I am glad because I have the strongest ties to this instrument. I can work with the most dynamic and articulation variability on it, I am not so proficient in synthesizers. At the same time, it is nice for me in that now I play in many electric music bands where I have my fun with the samples and I had not played in anything acoustic for a long time. I associate this trio with music that was played in the late 1980s and was called "new acoustic music". There were a few albums that I really enjoyed when I was young, for example, Trijo with Vojtěch Havel. And in our project I would like to further develop some of this music, for example, a certain impact of repetitive music, minimalism, which was very popular here in the late 1980s, as well as compositional practices from "classical" music, maybe some jazz tones. However, the purity of form and expression is most important to me. Syntheses are popular now and I have a notion of pure acoustic music here.
And have you ever associated the sound of the banjo with this "pure acoustic music"?
MN: Not really, to be honest. I knew banjo distantly, I never worked closely with it but I like it more and more. It is an amazing instrument that offers opportunities that I was not able to imagine before. When you know it only from country and bluegrass, you feel like it is only an accompanying or only a solo instrument. But banjo offers many opportunities and I hope that I will be able to continue exploring it further.
Luboš, you play a specially modified banjo. Does it have any impact on the repertoire of the album?
LM: It has a major impact. I added two frets so I have 24 of them instead of 22. This allows me to play three full octaves. Two songs that were created for our trio start in the 24th segment with tone d3.
You also play wind instruments – kaval and whistle – on the album. How did this happen?
LM: Tomáš Liška wrote both songs and I think that when he was writing them, he thought of these instruments that I play. So that was certainly his intention.
What will happen to your trio after the spring tour? Will you continue in this line-up?
MN: We certainly think that we would like to. I am all for it. With our workload, there will obviously not be as many concerts as we would like but I hope that a new repertoire will be created and we will record something else in some time.
LM: I would also really like to continue. I think that it will not end with the album or the spring tour. I have ideas for more songs and I can see the huge potential, so I would like to continue.
Your album is nominated for the Anděl Award in the jazz category. Were you surprised by the nomination?
MN: I was definitely surprised by the nomination, even if only because we are in between genres rather than just jazz. However, it is pleasing news.
LM: For me, it is rather absurd, I never thought that my name could ever be associated with jazz, but I am slowly getting used to it. The nomination makes me happy even though I have had mixed feelings about the whole Anděl thing for a long time. But the Rón's statuette is very beautiful.
What else is ahead of you in 2016?
LM: We released an album with Druhá tráva and we would like to start working on a new album with our own songs this year. We will also celebrate our 25th anniversary. In addition, I play with my brothers in the Malina Brothers band, with which we recorded a CD with Charlie McCoy. And then I have a big debt that I would like to finish repaying this year. It is an album on which we have been working with Katka García and Věra Provazníková for many years.
MN: I have had a year more focused on composing than concerts which makes me happy. One bigger composition for the Berg Orchestra and dance group Spitfire Company is ahead of me. Then, some incidental music and hopefully a chamber opera at the end of the year. In terms of concerts, it is the Malina – Liška – Nejtek tour. A few days ago, I launched the album Phoenix (with Pavel Hrubý, Jaromír Honhzák and Dano Šoltis). A big concert of Michal Pavlíček with a big band on the occasion of his 60th birthday took place in Fórum Karlín in February. And during the spring, we should record material for a new album with the NTS trio in England.
