Jazz Articles about Frantisek Uhlir

About Frantisek Uhlir

Album Review

Czech jazz double-bassist Frantisek Uhlir, a composer, educator and leader of the Frantisek Uhlir Team & Strings (F.U.T.), based in Prague, presents the highly acclaimed Coming Home album of original music penned especially for his band, founded back in 1987. Considered one of the finest bass players on the European jazz scene today, Uhlir has recorded many albums as a side musician, as well as a couple of recordings as leader. He is known as a proponent of the “so-called ...

Album Review

The KUH Trio: Old Souls

Read "Old Souls" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 16, 2021

Here is yet another European trio whose name is an acronym, in this case, K for guitarist Edi Kohldorfer, U for bassist Frantisek Uhlir, H for drummer Jaromir Helesic, who when numbered together (or even singly) are Old Souls. Uhlir (70) and Helesic (73) are Czechs, while Kohldorfer (age unknown but has been around the block more than once) is Austrian. Their initial recording as a group consists of ten original compositions, five each by Kohldorfer and Uhlir.

Album Review

Frantisek Uhlir: Story of my life

Read "Story of my life" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 14, 2020

Story of My Life is a seven-part suite (plus prologue) written by the outstanding and well-traveled Czech-born bassist Frantisek Uhlir to appraise his life as a musician and evoke in musical terms memories of his boyhood home, his love as a teenager of music and sports, his studies at the Brno Conservatory, his life as a working musician, raising children of his own, the vicissitudes of life, and his gratitude for the good fortune that has come his way. Uhlir ...

Album Review

The MUH Trio: A Step Into Light

Read "A Step Into Light" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
September 18, 2020

The “MUH" in the MUH Trio is an acronym depicting the surnames of its members, pianist Roberto Magris, bassist Frantisek Uhlir and drummer Jaromir Helesic. Magris is from Italy, Uhlir and Helesic from the Czech Republic. A Step Into Light isn't their first walk around the block; they've been working together on and off for years, and recorded an earlier album, Prague After Dark, also for JMood Records, in 2016. That experience pays dividends, as the trio's ...

Album Review

Frantisek Uhlir: Story of my life

Read "Story of my life" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
July 22, 2020

Recognized as one of the finest bassists in all of Europe, Czech Republic-born Frantisek Uhlir, presents Story of My Life, a self-produced personal project in celebration for turning seventy years-young in 2020. He does so in swinging fashion. The album booklet contains photographs with details of many proud moments throughout his life. An intentionally designed aspect of the album is the importance of the number seven to the leader. He composed a seven-part suite full of swing and swagger supported ...

Album Review

The MUH Trio: A Step Into Light

Read "A Step Into Light" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
March 24, 2020

One of Europe's top jazz trio groups is simply named The MUH Trio, with the acronym representing world-renowned Italian pianist Roberto Magris, and bassist Frantisek Uhlir and drummer Jaromir Helesic, both prominent on the European jazz scene, most notably in Prague. Though playing together for some time, A Step Into Light is the group's second album and follow up to their critically-acclaimed debut Prague After Dark (2017, JMood Records). The music can be described as traditional straight-ahead jazz ...

Album Review

The MUH Trio: The MUH Trio – Prague After Dark

Read "The MUH Trio – Prague After Dark" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
March 17, 2017

Dating back to the 1980s, Italian jazz pianist Roberto Magris had been working with jazz luminaries such as Kai Winding and Eddie Lockjaw Davis while also performing extensively with Eastern and Central European artists. Late in that decade he recorded three albums with his quartet/quintet formation on they performed across that same region. In the 1990s Magris developed an affinity for the Hammond organ and toured throughout the Americas in that capacity. Among the dozens of top artists he has ...