Vilém Spilka On Jazz and Its Certain Future

Some believe jazz music is on its way out, but Vilém Spilka says jazz is not going to die. Spilka is a Czech jazz guitarist, educator, and founder and artistic director of JAZZFESTBRNO, an annual international jazz festival in Brno that hosts over 10,000 visitors each year. A graduate of the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU) in Brno, he has been the director of the university’s Department of Jazz Performance since 2011 and also teaches guitar. He currently holds the position of programme director at the crossover festival Strings of Autumn in Prague.

When he is not organising the programmes of these music festivals, Spilka writes and performs music with his current band, the Vilém Spilka Quartet. Their latest record, Waiting for Tom (Čekání na Toma), was released in November. We spoke about the inspiration behind his latest album, the influences of other genres on his jazz style, and the future of jazz music in the Czech Republic and abroad.

Photos for this article were provided by: Jakub Gulyás (1-2) Petr Neubert (3) Tomáš Brabec (4)

Tell me about your latest record, “Waiting for Tom”

Tom is the name of our saxophone player’s son. He is six years old and has autism. “Waiting for Tom” means that we are waiting for him to unfold, to speak, and to be a part of our world. If he wants to. The record is made up of original songs. The idea was to continue with the sound that we created in previous circuits, but at the same time bring something new.

Your previous album, released in 2016, with the Vilém Spilka Quartet, is titled Podvod (Fraud) and was nominated for the 2017 Czech Anděl Award. Would you say the album has an overwhelming musical motif or theme?

The album is a remake of popular songs by the famous Czech songwriter Jan Nedvěd. He is a former member of Spirituál kvintet (Spiritual Quintet), a famous folk group from Prague, and a founding member of Brontosauři, another popular folk group. He also has a successful solo career. I’ve been listening to his songs throughout my life, especially when I was young. I had them in me to a certain degree. Nedvěd’s songs have a particular quality in the writing, so I thought it would be a good vehicle for the arrangements in jazz style. The whole idea around that album was taking something which was never redone conceptually and doing it in the sound of our band.

Podvod is the name of one of Nedvěd’s songs. There is a sort of joke in calling the album by that name. We say, as musicians, that if you do something not sincerely, it’s fake, it’s a kind of “podvod” or fraud. We named it that to make fun of ourselves in a way. The idea is to be a bit ironic.

In preparing for creating this album, did you listen to Nedvěd’s music to get his sound in your head?

I listened to him quite a bit to select the songs we wanted to play on our album and also to get the feeling of each song. I think it’s important to be respectful to the songs in their arrangement. Not to copy it, but to maintain the soul of the song in the arrangement. Each of the songs have a different colour or different mood, and that’s what we wanted.

Going back in time, when you graduated from the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU) in Brno, you undertook an internship at the University of North Texas in Denton. I am curious, did your time in Denton, which is known for its music scene, end up informing your style of jazz?

Yes, Texas definitely did have an influence on my music. Perhaps today I am more open in my perspective on music, but at the time I was in Texas, 21 years ago, I thought that American jazz was the ideal. Now I’m more open to different types of music.

You mention that perhaps now you are more open to different types of music. What other genres have influenced your musical style?

I started with bluegrass, another genre of American music. That was my initial background. Also, Czech folk music was very important to me when I was growing up. That was the real base for me. Also, I should mention classical music because I played violin between the ages of five and 14. That’s another influence, perhaps not too obvious, in my music. All these influences are reflected in my music to a certain point.

You are the artistic and programme director at JAZZFESTBRNO, an annual music festival in Brno that has over 10,000 visitors each year. What is the mission of the festival?

In short, our mission is to look for new music and new acts which carry a message in their music and can speak to people. We try to open ears by providing original music. The selection of the groups is always a mixture of different approaches; some groups I approach, some groups approach me, and part of the program is also selected from groups touring throughout Europe. The basic characteristics of the programme is to have variety so that we can accommodate the different tastes of our audience. Not only jazz listeners, but also crossover listeners who like to listen to indie rock, indie pop, symphonic music, world music, or folk music. We try to be as colourful as possible. The event is 15 nights each spring and has featured a lot of legends, from Herbie Hancock to John McLaughlin. But we also try to feature less well-known groups. Part of the mission is to feature groups from our region.

How was the event started?

The festival was founded in 2002 by myself and two of my classmates from the academy (JAMU). We thought that there was not enough high-quality music in Brno at the time. There was a festival called Jazztival which started under communism and continued until around 1995, but there was a gap when there were no concerts of quality jazz in Brno. We thought we should start an event to feature these musicians and artists. We were lucky because we got Diane Schuur, who at the time already had two Grammys, to headline the concert in the first year. It was well attended and then after the concert, word of mouth helped us. Then we just went on from there.

What is the jazz scene like today in the Czech Republic? Is there a young audience for jazz? How do you see the future of jazz?

Jazz used to be very important for society, like in the 1930s to 1950s, which is no longer the case. When jazz started, it was important for pop music, especially in the swing era. It was the pop music of its time. Jazz’s status now is closer to classical music than pop music. It’s received the status of high-quality art music. In this respect, now its influence in society is less important, but it is important for many people who like to watch and listen to it. The level of jazz musicians is high – sometimes even too high, because maybe they become a little submerged in the technique. This could be hurting jazz music, but only in some of the cases.

As for the Czech Republic, the jazz scene is vital. Especially the younger groups are very open to new sounds. There is a good jazz scene in Prague and also Brno because there are two music academies – one in each city – with jazz programs. Part of the scene revolves around the schools. In general, jazz is not going to die. It’s found its place and it will stay there.

15/3—9/6 2020 .jazzfestbrno.cz

JOSHUA REDMAN QUARTET • CHRIS POTTER TRIO FEAT. BILL FRISELL • AVISHAI COHEN TRIO • LIZZ WRIGHT & FILHARMONIE BRNO • PAT METHENY • JASON MORAN SOLO • ERIK TRUFFAZ QUARTET • TENSION: SKALPEL • JAROMÍR HONZÁK DJ SET • DELVON LAMARR ORGAN TRIO • NUBYA GARCIA • LIBOR ŠMOLDAS NYC TRIO FEAT. ADAM NUSSBAUM & JAY ANDERSON • KAREL RŮŽIČKA QUARTET FEAT. CLARENCE PENN, PIOTR WYLEŻOŁ & TOMÁŠ BAROŠ • NIKOL BÓKOVÁ TRIO • CAMILLE BERTAULT • SZABÓ/TURCEROVÁ/ MACEČEK • POINTS SEPTET • FRANTIŠEK UHLÍŘ 70 • SKETCHBOOK QUARTET • E CONVERSO • ERDOĞAN TURUMTAY LIŠKA DÉS • KJI JAMU JOSHUA REDMAN QUARTET • CHRIS POTTER TRIO WRIGHT & FILHARMONIE BRNO • PAT METHENY SZABÓ/TURCEROVÁ/ WYLEŻOŁ & TOMÁŠ BAROŠ • NIKOL BÓKOVÁ TRIO