SAKOBI

SAKOBI is a new project from bandmates from the Vilém Spilka Quartet. Radek Zapadlo plays saxophone, Vilém Spilka plays double bass and Martin Kleibl plays percussion. Because they have been working together for a long time in other groups, they share a close musical connection. Radek Zapadlo has enjoyed success on the Czech jazz scene for two dozen years, currently mostly alongside Matej Benko and Ondřej Ruml, and plays in the Cotatcha Orchestra, his own formation Four in Blue and the aforementioned Vilém Spilka Quartet. After eight years at the Brno Philharmonic, Martin Kleibl oscillates between a range of genres from classical to pop, plays in the duo OK Percussion with European-class marimba player Martin Opršál, accompanies singer Petr Bende, and is the driving force behind the Vilém Spilka Quartet. For the purposes of the SAKOBI project, Vilém Spilka has replaced his main instrument, the guitar, for the double bass, which he began playing during the Covid pandemic.

At the concert, the trio will play, among other things, the repertoire from their debut recording released by Bivak Records. All the members of the group participated to the album not only as instrumentalists, but also as composers. Zapadlo contributed the melancholic dumka Cesta za modrým sluncem (Journey to the Blue Sun), while Martin Kleibl’s song Na cestě (On the Road), on the other hand, is typically uplifting Latin jazz. Vilém Spilka supplied the rest of the repertoire, with his individual pieces revealing the most varied musical and non-musical inspirations – from his native Brno to Japan, to which there is also a reference in the cryptogram of the group’s name. The title of their debut record is the Japanese word Banzai!, which means something like Hoorah or Yee Haw! Stylistically, the album is more or less unclassifiable, drawing from the traditions of jazz and other African-American styles, as well as from folk music from Moravia and elsewhere. SAKOBI is not just a unique project in terms of its repertoire. A trio consisting of saxophone – double bass – percussion is a relatively unique concept on the Czech scene which provides the opportunity for intensive musical communication and free expression by its individual members.