The creation of a new album by Ondřej Havelka and his Melody Makers on the 25th anniversary of the band’s existence, and preservation of a good cause - SWING OF THE NYLON AGE! Please help the birth of a new CD with its prepaid purchase! And maybe more…
Author: HOT JAZZ s.r.o.
All or nothing. Project finished on Apr 5, 2021 at 12:00.
This year we are celebrating the jubilee 25th season of our band's existence. How? We are sitting at home! (We will discreetly keep quiet about picking our noses). Is this a celebration? No way! Instead of giving concerts in the Czech homeland or in Europe and falling into a pure euphoria together with the audience, overwhelmed by the rumble of swing smash hits, it’s ... well... nothing.
We plan to record another album, which we would release on CD. And if we succeed in raising enough money, we will be happy to add a special edition of the black LP and also our new music video.
We are impatient, we are eager and we want to change that! And since we can't go to concert halls and theaters, we decided to lock ourselves in the studio and record music. Many fans and listeners have been asking us for new recordings for a long time, so we are happy to finally comply! But we need help - in today's difficult times, of course, we do not have enough money for production. Therefore we invite you to prepay the CD, which we will record, create and release from your pre-sent funds, and when it's done, we'll be happy to send it to you (de facto at a lower price than the final sale) - before it's released - and with the autographs of our soloists!
Will you join us in creating it?
Yours,
Ondřej Havelka and his Melody Makers.
Our CDs are usually accompanied by our beloved vinyl. However, this depends on how much money we manage to raise to possibly create a special edition of the black LP simultaneously. Given the disproportionate number of tracks that a CD and a vinyl record can contain, the vinyl would likely be released as a double album. However, as such, it would mean raising another CZK 100.000 (3.800 Euro) in addition to the target amount stated. If we manage to raise yet additional CZK 100.000 (3.800 Euro), we would like to shoot a music video as well. In that case, we offer our supporters who will have prepaid the CD an attractive opportunity to create a poll to pick their favorite track, and we will then shoot a music video for the winning song. So if our joint project succeeds, and you, our dear supporters, bring our project budget to a total amount exceeding CZK 600,000 (22.800 Euro), everything planned by us will most likely be created. What a joyful idea and a lovely enrichment of Czech swing music!
Time-wise we would like to direct everything toward our traditional pre-Christmas concert in the Great Hall of the famous Prague concert hall Lucerna. For this year, we have the hall reserved for December 5, 2021. At the moment, of course, due to the global pandemic situation, we cannot predict whether we will really be able to hold the concert, but we are ready and we are already looking forward to performing at Lucerna again!
P. S. After a few days of existence of our project, we are noticing the enormous interest in the announced vinyl LP record, as well as a large number of questions about its production or inclusion in the rewards. We are excited that there are so many lovers of beautiful sound among you! We also really like the delicious, warm and decently crunchy sound of gramophone records! And with that in mind, we finally decided to include a vinyl album as a reward as well, although at the moment the amount raised is not yet high enough for the production of the CD, let alone for the aforementioned vinyl. We are led to believe that a good cause, our project, will indeed succeed in the end, thanks to goodwill and contributions from all of you, and we have also come to the conclusion that, in fact, the two media can ultimately help each other: now vinyl will help the production of CDs and later, should enough money not be raised initially (don't cry wolf!), we can gradually supplement the additional necessary funds for the production of the intended vinyl LP record with the sale of the manufactured CDs. And because music connoisseurs are patient, we believe that those who order our new vinyl album will not be too angry with us should the production of the LP (God forbid) roll over into next year. In any case, you can be assured that everything we offer here will be produced, with great joy, and in the quality you have become accustomed to with us over the years! Therefore, do not worry! We will go vinyl also!
P. P. S. This is fantastic - there are still a few days left until the end of the collection campaign to create the album for our 25th anniversary, and we see that we have the funds available for both the CD and the vinyl, and we are happy to see that the amount is climbing towards the intended music video goal! So if we estimated everything correctly, we will be shooting our first new clip in many years! Well, we shall see.…
In any case, we thank you very much for supporting our project - we're thrilled with your manifested trust that we don't make plans in vain and that we can captivate you.
Thanks again for that and thank you in advance for your continued unrelenting support!
In other words, we have the studio reserved! At the moment we are dealing with more detailed steps to meet the recent necessary hygiene measures, which also make the whole project more expensive, but we are slowly and surely moving to the moment when we start!
Ondřej Havelka founded his Melody Makers 25 years ago to resurrect and play swing music of the 1930s and 1940s in an authentic form, as it sounded then. "Authentic interpretation" is not some formal spell. For many years, even classical musicians have been returning to the music of Baroque or Classicism in this way, because the works of old masters played in a period interpretive style on period instruments for which it was composed sound completely different, more beautiful. In the same way, Melody Makers play original swing pieces in a period arrangement style on original period instruments (especially historical saxophones are irreplaceable with their soft, flexible tone) and they have won the audience's extraordinary favor with their specific sound and expression. Today, thanks to their qualities, they are considered - not only by insiders - to be one of the best swing bands of their kind in the world.
Because we love swing! Because it is hot, charming, immortal! Because in its time, swing not only entertained the audience and brought them into a trance, but it was music that was very sophisticated in its structure, and its sophistication matches the music of Bach or Mozart. But let’s be honest: you can’t shake your booty to Bach all that great!
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