Singer Vojtěch Dyk and the Brno B-Side Band, led by Josef Buchta, have had just completed a short dream tour. Last week, they had five joint concerts with American Kurt Elling, Grammy winner, rightly regarded as one of the best jazz singers of today. The following interviews took place in the Janáček Theatre on Wednesday, 4th of December. The orchestra had played a sold-out concert at the Mahen Theatre on Tuesday and it had just finished an afternoon rehearsal in the Janáček Theatre. About two hours were left until the next sold-out concert…
Josef Buchta (founder and band leader of B-Side Band, organiser of the Moravia Music Fest)
Kurt Elling performed in Brno during the Moravia Music Fest back in 2011. I suppose that that is when the story of your cooperation began to unfold…?
Yes, Kurt Elling performed two years ago as the main star of the Moravia Music Fest in Scala Cinema. Back then, we opened a bottle of wine after the concert, we talked briefly and I played a B-Side Band record for him. We agreed then that it wouldn’t be impossible for us to do something together. About half a year later, we heard from him again that he would like to do something. This communication went on for nine months until we had agreed on everything. Today, our first concert is behind us and I must say that we are all excited about our cooperation with Kurt. He is a humble man who, however, puts a lot of energy into his singing. And every one of us sees the cooperation with him as a very beneficial thing.
I noticed during a rehearsal that Kurt Elling approaches the cooperation in a truly humble way but, at the same time, he does not hesitate, for example, to give advice to musicians from the rhythmical section. Do you seem him a bit like a teacher?
He is, after all, the best jazz singer in the world and everyone certainly likes to hear from someone like that. His remarks do have, of course, their logic but they are only slight nuances, such as in the sense that its good already but it could be even better.
How did you put a repertoire together with Kurt Elling?
He more or less made his own decisions. He sent us about six or seven songs that he wanted to sing. Out of those seven, I chose what we liked, we agreed on that, and eventually he sings four as solos and one as a duet with Vojta. Therefore, the initial selection was his but, for example, the song Nature Boy was not there originally. But it is our favourite; we requested it and he agreed.
I realized that the B-Side Band and Kurt Elling had one interesting thing in common. Besides jazz classics, you and he also rearrange the world's popular music hits. How is your approach different?
Kurt is in a position where he does not have to make as many compromises as we do; he can stick to a cleaner genre. And when he then makes a record, on which he has remakes of pop hits, those are such unreal adaptations that the central theme can hardly be recognized. We – and Kurt understood this – have sold out large venues such as the Mahen Theatre, Janáček Theatre, and the Congress Centre in Prague, twice. And that would not happen without some compromises.
Yes, but you really succeed at offering jazz to the masses. Do you feel something like responsibility?
When I started the B-Side Band, I wanted to do big band differently. My goal was a band that would play for a lot of people. We did not want to rehearse for a year and then do a concert for fifty people. There have been several big bands like that in Brno over the last twenty years, and such a concept did not attract me. Finally, there were several happy coincidences and one of the really major intersections was joining powers with Vojtěch Dyk. I must say, however, that he helped us, but we also helped him. Only with the B-Side Band did the entire country understand what kind of singer he is. I do not want to judge the band Nightwork, but his technical and improvisational skills did not show with them, but they did with us. Today, we have a massive audience and we are trying to give people something from each of us and also educate them a little bit. The repertoire is about half and half; we include even more demanding pieces but the entire dramaturgy cannot be like that. That would not end well.
How is Vojtěch Dyk exceptional to you as a singer?
He is absolutely free. On stage he behaves like a child to whom you give a toy. At the beginning of the concert his switch turns on, he goes into a completely different world and he fully manifests his ability to improvise and show his heart. I have worked with a number of other singers but I have never seen anything like that. It is not just about singing, charisma or popularity. It is the entire personality. And there have not been too many signers like that in our country over the past fifty years.
What are you planning with the B-Side Band for next year?
Next year, we want to record an author's record, the repertoire for which is almost complete. We are preparing a Slovak tour in the spring. And we also have a plan for 2015: Vojta thought we could do one big concert at the O2 Arena.
Vojtěch Dyk (singer (not only with the B-Side Band); Anděl 2012 winner in the category Singer of the Year):
Vojta, when did you first hear about Kurt Elling?
Around the age of sixteen, I got one of his CDs. That is when I first heard him. However, it didn’t appeal to me much back then. It was too complicated for me. I preferred more of pop music. But gradually, I found my way to him.
Even Kurt Elling himself walked a long path. At first, he sang old and classical music in choirs, had his gospel period, until he got to jazz and, through it, to jazz adaptations of pop songs. How did you react to the fact that you would sing on the same stage with a person of such scope and, in particular, of such qualities?
First and foremost, I could not have imagined it at all. I did not think it possible that someone from the Czech Republic could invite a guest from America, and especially someone who is so well-known in jazz music. In the Czech Republic, most people do not know Elling, but musicians know him very well. And thus it seemed unbelievable to me that something like this was possible.
But, eventually, it happened. What impression do you have of Kurt you as a person?
I came up with the term "positive mafia" for him. His demeanour, but even the way he walks, how he sings, it all reminds me of Chicago of the 1930s and the 1940s. But, at the same time, there is something from the new age in his personality, that sort of openness, given by the American mentality. Because nothing is a problem for Americans. Notice how often Kurt Elling uses the word "sure" – "Sure, do it however you want, I will join in." I think he had a nice trip to the Czech Republic and we tried to make it more pleasant for him.
You talked about the fact that you had to find a way to Kurt Elling's music. Did you previously have a tendency towards jazz or, specifically, to big bands?
To jazz, yes, but not particularly to big bands. It is a coincidence that Josef Buchta contacted me…but I guess we were supposed to meet. I had jazz all around me, however, because there are many jazz players in our extended family.
Singing with the B-Side Band is a completely different discipline than playing with your own band, whether it was Nightwork or anything else in the future. What do you think is the main difference?
Singing cover versions is more difficult mainly because I have to learn many lyrics, which is something that I do not like doing. And so I hope that I will contribute to the next CD as an author. On the other hand, I have a greater sense of freedom in big band singing. A singer in a big band can really show what he’s capable of.
Big band thus helped uncover some features of your vocal personality. At the same time, however, many people go to B-Side Band concerts mainly because of you, so actually you indirectly teach the crowds to listen to jazz. Do you feel something like responsibility?
Probably not responsibility, because nobody forced me to sing jazz. It was not written anywhere that I have to promote big band. I just really like it and think that it is also fun for those nineteen guys with whom I stand on stage. And, when we invite Kurt Elling, then some thirty to forty from the masses, who come to see some Dyk and some B-Side Band, which is what they know, will continue to listen to Elling. And that is great. It would be brilliant if jazz became mainstream.
But it used to be mainstream in the 1930s and 1940s…
Of course, and maybe it will come back. I think the time, when a singer comes on stage with a CD, gives it to the sound engineer and the record gets jammed twice during the concert, will pass.
If we talk about jazz as being mainstream, I have to bring up Kurt Elling’s latest album, 1619 Broadway, on which the singer pays tribute to several generations of authors of American musical melodies and evergreens. Are you interested in the golden fund of American pop, or is contemporary work more important to you?
For me, contemporary work is more important. Not that I would not use the old melodies at all but Kurt really lives off of it. For example, he adores John Coltrane and, in the song Resolution, he exactly copied his saxophone solo, which is extremely difficult for a singer. I have much more fun doing, for example, a song by Rage Against The Machine in a swing guise.
What you do expect in the near future?
Now I’m focusing primarily on rebuilding my summer house. When I am done, maybe it will finally happen that I will be able to make music there myself. Meanwhile, I will be touring with the B-Side Band and we may prepare for another interesting guest. And I will also put my new band together.
