Morava, known to Westerners as Moravia, is
located in the eastern part of what is now the Czech Republic.
Bassist George Mraz has his roots in the Czech Republic,
although his family comes from southern Bohemia. Still,
he spent significant time in Moravia as a child, and he
absorbed some of the folk music and culture from that part
of his home country. Though Mraz studied at the Prague Conservatory,
learning to play classical music, he was interested in jazz
from early adolescence. After finishing his studies, Mraz
went to Munich, where he played with a number of musicians,
including Mal Waldron and Benny Bailey. He "just kind
of stayed there" until the Soviet invasion of Prague
made going home seem an impossibility. Mraz had been offered
a scholarship at Berklee College of Music, so he headed
for the U.S. It didn't take long for this bassist with a
great sense of time, fantastic intonation, and the ability
to play very melodically long to become a fixture on the
American jazz scene. Mraz played regularly with artists
such as Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Evans, Stan Getz, the Thad
Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, and Tommy Flanagan. After leaving
Flanagan in 1992 he began to form his own groups for recordings
as well as playing in the Grand Slam Quartet with Jim Hall,
Joe Lovano, and Lewis Nash.
Mraz has been in the habit of making yearly
visits to his home country, and it was there in 1997 that
he heard pianist Emil Viklicky and singer/cymbalom (dulcimer)
player Zuzana Lapcikova playing Moravian folk songs. Mraz
was inspired by the music, and decided to adapt them much
as Czech composer Leos Janacek and Hungarian Bela Bartok
did with folk music melodies. The result is a series of
arrangements of folk melodies and lyrics that combine these
central European traditions with those of American jazz.
You might expect the result to be somewhat academic or not
to swing, but that is certainly not the case. The music
is melodic and comforting, with plenty of harmonic interest
to allow these musicians a chance to stretch out and play
some very inventive music.
The album's opening track, "Aspen Leaf
(Na Osicce)", reminded me of the jazz standard "Autumn
Leaves" with its Jacques Prevert lyrics. Both songs
equate aging and death with the seasonal change signified
by the changing and shedding of foliage. In "Autumn
Leaves", though, the thought of the speaker's own mortality
is an echo felt less intensely than the absence of a loved
one. Whether the absence is occaisioned by death or abandonment
isn't clear. In "Aspen Leaf", however, the narrator
uses the same imagery to confront mortality head on: "Will
I wither like the leaf/Will I wither like the leaf/Will
I fall down like the leaf/Will I fall down like the aspen
leaf" contrasted with Autumn Leaves' "Since
you went away the days grow long/And soon I'll hear old
winter's song/But I miss you most of all my darling/When
autumn leaves start to fall."
The track "Myjava" swings like a
mother! There's great trio work here, with Mraz, Viklicky,
and drummer Billy Hart exhibiting dynamics similar to those
of the John Coltrane Quartet. Hart is perhaps a bit less
exuberant than Elvin Jones, but the way that Mraz and Viklicky
go at these phrases, that is probably just as well. We get
into the groove for 5 and a half minutes before the brief
vocal comes in, telling her lover: "If you marry
me/I will be a true wife of yours./I won't be unfaithful
like the first one."
Zuzana Lapcikova possesses a beautiful voice,
clear and bright, but with darker intonations that are appropriate
to the often-modal melodies and the subject matter of many
of the lyrics. Take a listen to her vocals on "She
Walks in a Meadow" or the stunningly beautiful "Desire".
In addition, her work on the cymbalom is very complimentary
to the work of the rest of the musicians, not at all a novelty.
On "Aspen Leaf" her playing blends in perfectly,
and her introduction to "Wine Oh Wine" sets up
the harmonic structure of the number before making way for
a straightforward swinging trio number donimated by Viklicky's
hot piano work.
Morava is a recording of lush beauty,
deep meditation, and warm, open humanity. There is much
great jazz playing here, so don't be frightened by the folk
music origins of the tunes. In mining the music of his homeland,
George Mraz has demonstrated that music is indeed an international
language and serves to revive cultural traditions, bring
people together, and entertain.
