POZOROVATELNA (THE WATCH-TOWER)

Pozorovatelna is first Czech jazz fusion band's Jazz Q Praha full studio release. But still in 1970 they participated as band-collaborator on another great Czech fusion band Blue Effect studio release Coniunctio. Three years is gone, and the difference in their music is very big.

If there, on their first ever work in studio, Jazz Q Praha bring huge doze of free-jazz into common sound ( and Blue Effect with excellent guitarist Radim Hladik were mostly responsible for blues/jazz-rock part of common sound), there, on their real debut, Jazz Q is much more comfortable jazz-fusion band, with very jazz-rock guitar solos, compositions with strong structure and quite pleasant, almost polished sound.

It's difficult for me to say now, what was the reason of such changes, but in fact Jazz Q missed some their experimental rebellion, without officering something adequately impressive.

They play very competent jazz fusion there, with good guitar line ( according to moment's fashion), and it will be not correct at all to say they are boring or non-professional. In fact, they play good fusion, but play it ... safe. Even with some jazzy r'n'b female vocals.

Still good album for classic guitar fusion lovers. Three and half rounded till 4.

The first time JAZZ Q came on the scene recording-wise was with BLUE EFFECT and a record they did together called "Coniunctio" which was a wild affair, very avant. Back then in 1970 they were called JAZZ Q PRAHA and they had a completely different lineup except for the keyboardist. So here we are in 1973 and their true debut called "Pozorovatelna". This is an album i'd call a slow burner. They just don't break out that often even though I keep waiting for that to happen. The bass is very growly and we get some excellent drumming along with guitar and electric piano. Often we get this atmospheric and laid back sound that has this underlying intensity just under the surface, but rarely does it break out.

"Pori" has this drum intro which is followed by a calm then the beast starts to rise up before 2 minutes. Another calm then it starts to build before 4 minutes once again. It settles though and the guitar here reminds me of Fripp. Another calm 5 minutes in then this growly bass comes in followed by drums and guitar as the latter starts to light it up. Killer section as the beast is up. Keyboards replace the guitar after 8 minutes then we get another calm before 10 minutes. It's building before 11 minutes. What a song ! "Pozorovatelna" opens with growly bass, electric piano and drums and it's fairly laid back. Guitar before 1 1/2 minutes and it's relaxed. The bass is really growly after 4 minutes but the song continues to stay in check.

"Trifid" has this catchy but laid back start with electric piano, bass and drums. Guitar before 4 1/2 minutes and it's tasteful, although he will start to rip it up before 6 minutes. Guest female vocals before 7 1/2 minutes once the guitar stops. "Klobasove Hody" has these deep and growly bass lines to start then the drums and electric piano join in. The sound picks up, then it picks up even more 3 minutes in with the guitar leading the way and at times being aggressive. It settles back late to end it. "Kartgo" is kind of haunting with bass. Guest violin and sparse piano join in. It's still dark and atmospheric. It starts to pick up 3 1/2 minutes in to end it.

The guest female vocalist on the song "Trifid" is Joan Duggan and she would be front and center on their next album called "Symbiosis". A solid 4 stars and I must admit that if this had more powerful sections to go with the laid back ones this would be 4.5 to 5 stars. Still this is an easy one to recommend.

I first got in touch with Jazz Q by way of Modry Efekt and their collaboration on Coniunctio (1970). That album was a sort of free form jazz-rock excursion. Not really my cup of tea but certainly interesting. My interest in Jazz Q grew over time and I got myself the CD box set for christmas. It wasn't all fun and games but there are something about them that is, however you look at it, intriguing. Their universe is of their own making, though highly inspired by contemporaries in the genres of jazz, fusion and jazz-rock.

This, their first album, is in many ways their best. It builds in some aspects on the sounds of Coniunctio, though not nearly as intense as that album. The music on Pozoravatelna is certainly more noodling and spacious, though interrupted at times (thank God) by more frantic outbursts.

The album is almost entirely instrumental, apart from some vocals added by Joan Duggan. The playing is impeccable and the sound, especially the guitar, is quite raw in a good way, as much of the early 70's jazz-rock.

I think that Pozoravatelna is a bit too heavy on the noodling and the jazz is in a too pure a form for me personally. The interesting parts are those that rock, where the band kicks and tears up a storm. That's where I start to dig it. The best song is "Trifid" which balances their jazzy side with rock wonderfully.

All in all I'd say that this album, along their next, is the best of the lot. Their fusiony style got too slick and noodling for my taste in the years to come, leaving much of the raw elements aside. Too bad, really. On the other hand, if you are into fusion I think Jazz Q has a lot to offer. Highly skilled and competent they do produce top notch fusion. I guess it is just not for me. My rating will be three stars and that is by my personal taste. If you like fusion, I guess you could rate it four.

Pretty unusual and, at times, awesome jazz-rock, jazz-fusion, and sometimes even proggy music from the Czechoslovakian scene in the early 1970s.

A1. "Pori 72" (13:00) a four-part suite of mostly slow, spacious, tension-filled KING CRIMSON-like bass and drum interplay with pensive electric piano and electric guitar intermittently adding some chords or notes. I really love the creativity of bass player Vladimír Padrunek. Just after the start of the third movement, one that is much more active and dynamic, if rock-oriented--around the five minute mark--Lubos Andrst begins a guitar solo that is right in league with any of the wildest eruptions that John McLaughlin ever did in the previous three years! Martin Krtochvíl even gets into the frenzy with his Fender Rhodes while the rhythm section creates a kind of SANTANA "Waves Within" (from Caravanserai)-like foundation beneath. And then in the second half of the fourth movement he does it again, this time with some more latest-greatest effects on his electric guitar--this time the sound that Robert Fripp on "Book of Saturdays." Outstanding: both of Lubos' solos. Overall, this is a very unusual, intriguing, and definitely interesting song--one that I like very much. (24.5/25)

A2. "Pozorovatelna (The Watch-Tower)" (6:45) the first half is jazz-fusion of the bluesy type, Martin Kratochvíl's Fender Rhodes often bending the sound toward the contemporary J-RF direction but then riffing off some bluesy runs to make one question that commitment. Guitarist Lubos Andrst's guitar play (and tone) on this one is definitely all blues- rock/blues. I like the chunky bass: it reminds me of someone playing underwater. (13.125/15)

B1. "Trifid" (9:20) an intriguing start that seems to offer tons of potential, but then the bluesy solos begin and with it the rather simple foundational play continues, making me sad for the missed opportunity. The long electric guitar solo sixth and seventh minutes sounds a lot like the work BUDDY GUY (which is not a bad thing, just not your usual J-R Fuse finding). Then, out of the blue, at the 7:11 mark, the singing voice of a woman comes into the picture telling us that she loves [somebody] so in a very polished, seasoned alto voice. Wow! Weird! Especially when she starts to go into her own Clare Torey "Great Gig in the Sky" vocalese. Not a bad song just an odd mish-mash of seemingly disparate parts and missed opportunities. (17.5/20)

B2. "Klobásové Hody (Sausage Feast)" (5:38) opens as a slow, plodding MILES/HERBIE-like spacious adventure into space with chunky bass and spacey reverb-treated Fender Rhodes being the most conspicuous instruments in the field. Midway through the song (at 2:35) the music turns raunchy raw R&Blues rock just like JEFF BECK's with rolling bass line, two-step drum beat, and loud, in-your-face blues-rock guitar play--sounding like a reworking of "Freeway Jam" (a song that wouldn't be coming out to the public for another couple of years. (8.75/10)

B3. "Kartágo (Carthage)" (4:28) the presence of plaintive violin in the background of this slow, background cinematic music is pretty cool as I keep expecting the appearance of a Max Schrek-like vampire from behind the shadows. Martin's Fender Rhodes takes over the lead in the second half of the song, feeling as if channeling his own improvisational internal world, playing as if almost introspectively. Very cool song. My second favorite song on the album. (9.25/10)

Total Time 39:11

Very nice rendering of the individual instruments (though, admittedly, the field is rather sparse with usually only four or five tracks being occupied) though I am not always a fan of the sounds the band and its musicians (and producer and engineers) have chosen for the instruments. The first and last songs are huge winners (I am choosing, as usual, to review only the songs that were released on the 1973 vinyl album release

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of what amounts, at times, to creative, adventurous Jazz-Rock Fusion, at others more Blues-Rock or R&Blues-Rock music. Definitely a wonderfully intriguing listening experience!