Osian Roberts - tenor sax
Vít Pospíšil - piano
Dušan Černák - drums
Jaroslav Šimíček - acoustic bass
THE GHOST OF JAZZ
As a sax player in communist Czechoslovakia, I landed the weirdest job. It was a small role in a fantasy documentary about the famous prewar Czech jazz composer and theatrical alchemist, E. F. Burian. Wearing heavy minstrel makeup, I was to impersonate a nameless black jazz saxophonist who, legend has it, lived and played in Prague during the 20ies. Nobody really knew who this guy was or even whether he actually existed. He was more like a ghost of the past, an outlandish and picturesque apparition in a somewhat sheltered, petty bourgeoise Mitteleuropean milieu. And yet, that‘s exactly what jazz was to a lot of Czechs for decades: a dreamy, yet provocative mirage from a land far away. Later, under the oppressive regime, it also became a wistful and hopeful echo of freedom.arta.cz
