Petra Vlková & Sonic Playground - The Album
(The Studio, Part three)
Some of you might recall the small two blog series about Petra Vlková & Sonic Playground, Petra Vlková – voc; Libor Šmoldas – g; Mikuláš Pokorný – p., going to the studio, if not here’s the link to refresh your memory, PART 1 and PART 2. What is more important is that the work has now yielded results, and what a result, if this doesn’t get some sort of recognition at the next Anděl Awards to come, I’ll be more than surprised. A 12 track release, built mostly on old jazz standards, so nothing special right? WRONG, because this is more than good, this is brilliant! Old standards, “oh no more, we heard them lots of times before”, yes that’s the first thing that comes into one’s mind and for a reason of course. Pure madness in the year of 2025 to go into a studio and to play these old tunes all over again, except if you have something special to offer… Petra Vlková & Sonic Playground have.
I haven't got a clue
Before reading any further, remember, this review is a very subjective assessment of how I feel about this record, also if you’re looking for the technical aspect about this recording, stop right here, not my way 
. So what’s so special about this release? To be honest, I haven’t got a clue, and yet I’ve been listening to it almost daily since I got my hands on it. All the 12 tracks should be familiar to everybody who listens to this type of music they call jazz. It’s not modernized, experimental in any way, you will for sure recognise every song, and still here’s something so special that gets your attention and holds you in a tight grip from the first track until the last, yeah, yeah a cliché, so what?
. So what’s so special about this release? To be honest, I haven’t got a clue, and yet I’ve been listening to it almost daily since I got my hands on it. All the 12 tracks should be familiar to everybody who listens to this type of music they call jazz. It’s not modernized, experimental in any way, you will for sure recognise every song, and still here’s something so special that gets your attention and holds you in a tight grip from the first track until the last, yeah, yeah a cliché, so what?Libors and his guitar is world class, we all know that, and listening to this record one hears the love he holds for the music, which he also very successfully conveys to us, but that doesn’t explain everything. Neither does Mikuláš’s very charismatic and nonconventional approach to his piano tell me why I fell for just this collection of the jazz standards, not to mention the seamless cooperation between these two virtuosos. And Petra… I follow this band as much as I can, because I see something here that is so rare in today’s music life, and I swear, Petra has never been better, her so personal and very special sound is like it was made for this record. The emotions and feeling this delicate voice transferred through the interpretation of these songs is, is,… well she has never been better! 
The content
A few words, very few about the content. Like I already mentioned 12 tracks, mostly old jazz standards even though the opening track is an old Beatles classic, Nowhere Man, an opening that couldn’t have been more on target, so sensitive and skilfull and from here it only gets better. A big thanks goes to the mixer who didn’t “clean” all of the background sounds, an attentive listener can hear the joy the trio has doing this recording. I asked the band who takes the credit for the arrangements, which of course is one big part that makes this record what it is, here’s the answer I received, “The arrangements are all improvised by all of us equally on the spot.” And that as you can guess helped me a lot to understand what makes this record so special, thank you very much! 
But altogether, this is a most have record for all of us that likes the old jazz standards with that little unexplainable twist that makes it stand out from the crowd.
about the content. Like I already mentioned 12 tracks, mostly old jazz standards even though the opening track is an old Beatles classic, Nowhere Man, an opening that couldn’t have been more on target, so sensitive and skilfull and from here it only gets better. A big thanks goes to the mixer who didn’t “clean” all of the background sounds, an attentive listener can hear the joy the trio has doing this recording. I asked the band who takes the credit for the arrangements, which of course is one big part that makes this record what it is, here’s the answer I received, “The arrangements are all improvised by all of us equally on the spot.” And that as you can guess helped me a lot to understand what makes this record so special, thank you very much! But altogether, this is a most have record for all of us that likes the old jazz standards with that little unexplainable twist that makes it stand out from the crowd. You have the chance to check out my statements about the greatness of this trio next time on Friday the 18th April at Jazzclub U Staré Paní (Old Lady) starting at 20.00. With the small reservation that this review is published on Wednesday the 16th when there were still tickets available.
Breaking News
I just had a chance to preview a still unofficial video of the opening track Nowhere Man. A video that’s shot in the studio during the recording of the song. It’s a masterpiece, a physical evidence that you don’t need a budget of $7 million (world’s most expensive music video ever made) if everything else is in its place. This video of the opening track shows in 5 min. everything that I’ve been trying to explain here about this record, more to think about for the decision makers at the Anděl Awards.
To be continued… 😀
