Back to the dreaded Mini Jazz Club series with No. 30: Alternativa, 1981

This particular EP, no. 30 in the consecutive series to which we've devoted so much love and attention, is really the brainchild of someone called Pavel Kralicek, who doesn't seem to appear in many places otherwise.  I would love to know I'm wrong about that.  Also appearing is the Czech Radio Ostrava Orchestra, aka Flamingo who was backup for my Maria Rottrova through the seventies.  Small world.

So what about the music?
Well, it's amazing, and it's tragic that this is all we have, from these fusion masters.  Would be wonderful if it turned out there's a full length album from Alternativa missing from the database.  The only possible misstep, surprisingly, is the inclusion of a M. Urbaniak track called Komar, which panders to a more commercial easy sound.  Apparently the ever-irritating Urszula Dudziak is performing the vocals on there too, with those bizarre chirping noises that never fail to make my kids laugh if by misfortune they overhear it on the car stereo.

The first track, apologies for getting tricked into buying a vinyl that wasn't at all near mint as advertised:





Here the sound is most similar to the recent Martin Kratochvil and the great Jazz Q, with the fantastic interplay between acoustic and synthesizer keyboards building up to that beautiful electric fusionary energy.  Just as good, in fact.

A great addition to the collection, altogether, and I'm sure everyone will agree with that.